Mohammed Abubakar has been in office as Governor of Bauchi state for four good years now and has proven to be an astute, resilient, focused, determined and prudent administrator who introduced some positive changes in governance in the state.
He lost his re-election bid on March 23, 2019 after the rerun election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) held in 15 local government areas of the state in controversial circumstances.
It is noteworthy that Abubakar didn’t lose the election due to incompetence or because people don’t like him, but it was as a result of conspiracy by political elite and religious leaders who ganged up against him to achieve certain personal interests.
The gang include Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and all members of the National Assembly from the state, with the exception of two or three, who were determined to launch campaigns of calumny against him.
The animosity between the governor and the National Assembly members, including Dogara, Senators Isa Hamma Misau, Nazif Gamawa and other House of Representatives members, was triggered by the governor’s refusal to buy them luxury cars and houses in Abuja as was the tradition in the past.
He turned down that selfish request of the law makers because he swore with the Holy Quran during his inauguration that as the chief executive of the state, he would not mismanage the state resources.
Since then, they turned to be his political foes. Secondly, religious leaders like the renowned Sheik Dahiru Usman Bauchi and the popular salafi preacher Ustaz Idris Abdulaziz also criticised the governor in their Jummaat sermons in their mosques without any plausible reasons.
Sheik Bauchi said he supported PDP’s Bala Mohammed because he has been so kind to him.
So you can see that none of them accused the governor of mismanagement of resources as reason for rejecting his re-election bid. Despite that, Abubakar won at least 15 local government areas out of the 20 during the election but was allegedly defeated with votes from Bauchi local government area that has the highest number of voters in the state.
Remember that the two scholars are from Bauchi local government area where they openly campaigned for PDP.
The people of Bauchi state can vividly remember that when Governor Abubakar took over on May 29, 2015, he inherited an empty treasury and outstanding four months salaries owed to workers by his predecessor and outstanding gratuities worth over N15 billion which he had to settle.
He equally inherited 105, 000 staff with monthly salaries of N5.1 billion though the state gets less than N5 billion monthly from the federation account.
The governor at several fora explained that Kano state with 44 local government areas has 92, 000 workers on its payroll as against Bauchi which has only 20 local government areas but has 105, 000 staff.
That indicates that Bauchi state government spends more on salaries than Kano which has more internally generated revenue and many other states.
Abubakar had to devise means of generating funds to pay the backlog of the four months salaries left by his predecessor and maintains regular and prompt payments knowing that Bauchi is a civil servants state.
We give thanks to God that Bauchi unlike many states pay salaries regularly and does not owe any worker his salary.
The governor in recent time set up a committee to pay outstanding gratuities to retirees worth billions of naira that were not paid from the past administration.
Aside that, the governor embarked on roads construction across the state.
It is only a committed and astute administrator that could cope with the challenges of inadequate resources, inherited gratuities, salaries but still be able to carry out other capital projects.
For instance, the governor dualised Gidan Mai to Awalah, Awalah to Giwo Academy Road, Wuntin Dada to Miri roads in order to reduce accidents and beautify Bauchi city.
Other ongoing projects are the Federal low-cost roads, Azare metropolitan road as well as the 115 kilometers Misau to Udubo road.
President Muhammadu Buhari had during his first visit to the state commissioned the Gombe road and State House of Assembly road rehabilitated by the governor.
Indeed, the governor was able to achieve all of these due to his prudence and blocking wastages in governance. Immediately after assumption of office, he slashed his salary and that of his deputy governor by 50 per cent.
He deducted those of his aides by 30 per cent, bearing in mind that being in government is not for personal gain but public service.
He said he contested for governor to contribute to the development of the state.
He pointed out that if it was to make money, he wouldn’t have joined politics because he was contented with what God has given him.
Other achievements recorded by Abubakar include construction of 19 new primary health centres, resuscitating the moribund Bauchi fertiliser blending plant and procurement of 500 tractors for farmers to boost agriculture in the state.
The governor allocates 20 per cent of state’s annual budget to education sector, leading to the renovation of classes, establishment of vocational colleges for male orphans in Bauchi, female orphans in Misau where they would be taught skills and trades for self sustenance under the Bauchi State Orphans and Vulnerable Children Agency (BASOVCA) within ‘just’ four years.
Remember these were achieved despite economic recession faced by the nation and the empty treasury he inherited from the past administration.
A lecturer at the Bauchi College of Agriculture, whose name I will not mention as a civil servant that is not allowed to be partisan, opined that lack of resources to fund some projects is the governor’s major challenge.
Considering how the governor was able to manage the bankrupt state and executed projects that impacted positively on the citizens, it is hoped that he will reclaim his second term mandate in order to consolidate on the gains otherwise the state will go back to square one.
Bauchi writes from Bauchi, Bauchi state.
