A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara has condemned the Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed for attributing the hardship in the country to the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu.
Dogara described the governor as “a crass opportunist who knows only how to extort and exploit people and situations.”
The ex-Speaker who was responding to the governor’s recent outburst against President Tinubu, said a leader was supposed to nurture and inspire the people he leads into positive action rather than “indulging in wanton self-adulation and praise.”
Dogara explained that the job of leaders, irrespective of the political affiliation they belong was to bring the national protest to a responsible end, by appealing to governments to meet some of the legitimate demands of the protesters, most especially, hunger and pervasive insecurity.
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“But Gov Bala Mohammed does not only do so, he thrives in it. Not long ago, I said of him, “any time the Governor speaks either by himself or through his aides, it is always an outburst of profanity which debases and demeans all of us,” Dogara observed.
Dogara, in a statement personally signed and made available to journalists in Bauchi at the weekend, alleged that, “When Gov Bala was in court after rigging himself into office and desperately needed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to save him, he was busy singing his praises to the highest heavens, not even minding the fact that he is the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum.
“Just months after President Tinubu saved him, he has turned around to describe the President as, “now inept, incompetent and incapable of running Nigeria. I will even invite him to chair our 2027 presidential campaigns if he continues this way”, Dogara further recalled Gov Bala utterances.
He added, “This level of unbridled disrespect is unparalleled. In months, Gov Bala Mohammed has transmuted from being a ‘Hallelujah boy’ to the undisputed cheer-leader of a pack of wolves who are trying so hard to soil the president beyond redemption.
“It is certainly not a time to engage in blowing all the dog whistles at once in the irresponsible manner Gov Bala Mohammed did. For me it didn’t come as a surprise because I had long ago, both in writing and on live TV, denounced him as a thug who speaks in the manner of thugs and understands only the language of thuggery”.
He explained that Bala Mohammed run Bauchi state for a little over six years now with no functional social amenities, saying Bauchi is one of the states with highest number of out of school children in Nigeria, yet he has built no functional school.
“Just one example: My Alma Mater, the famous Bauchi Teachers College located right under his nose, now lies in ruins. Let him tell the world which of the hospitals in the state is fully functional and how many doctors he has employed. The list is endless”.
“It is good that the world gets to know what we are up against in Bauchi State and the price we are paying for foisting a tasteless joke on the state and elevating a cavorting charlatan to the position of a Governor. Dignity still matters in public office and it’s unlikely that Gov Bala Mohammed will ever have it”.
“Yet, his graver vice is cowardice, reflected in a willingness to lie to the public to please and appease, heedless of the inevitability of its contradiction an hour later and the consequences thereof. Right now, he has turned Bauchi state into a prison of mirrors where his revealed lies are answered with new lies”.
Dogara concluded, “Those who think he misspoke are dead wrong because that is who he has always been and as Maya Angelou said, “When someone tells you who they are, believe them.
“As it is, we wait to see whether the Kaura 2027 his cult followers printed on their gowns will be a political slogan or an expiry date”.
