Some top politicians from Bauchi
state on Friday at the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Secretariat in
Abuja, alleged wrongdoings, including misuse of funds, against the state
governor, Mohammed Abubakar. The politicians, led by Speaker of House of Representatives,
Yakubu Dogara and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, accused the governor
of misusing the N8.6 billion bailout funds given to the state by the Federal
Government.
The politicians arrived at the APC secretariat at about 4.50 p.m.
for a closed-door meeting with the party’s National Chairman, Chief John
Odigie-Oyegun, and some National Working Committee members. Before the group
left the secretariat at 5.15 p.m., one of them, Sen. Ali Wakil (Bauchi-Central)
told newsmen that issues discussed at the meeting revolved around non-payment
of workers’ salaries and non-utilization of bailout funds. ”You know that
Bauchi is an agrarian and civil service state and we must do everything to see
that workers are paid as and when due. ”We are not comparing ourselves with
Osun or Edo or other states that have backlogs of nine months; it is not our
business. ”Our people must be paid as and when due and the remaining balance of
the stipends must be paid and all the unending verifications must end,” Wakil
said. Also speaking, Sen. Suleiman Nazif (Bauch-North) revealed that the state
chapter of the party was not at peace. ”Everything is not okay with the APC in
Bauchi State. ”Therefore, we needed the attention of the APC at the national
level to come to the rescue of the APC in Bauchi because there is fire on the
mountain in Bauchi APC. ”There are so many issues, but these are party issues
and we felt that there was a need for us to come and discuss with our leaders
and those issues are being handled. ”The national chairman has assured us that
he will take a drastic measure immediately and address the APC Bauchi pending
problems,” he said. Nazif denied that the visit also had something to do with
the 2016 budget padding allegation against Dogara, saying ”no, no, no, it is
not about padding; it is about APC Bauchi politics”. On the allegation that he
and Dogara were sponsors of the crisis in the state, he said, “it is not about
2019. ”It is about solving the APC problem in Bauchi and ensuring that APC
remains united in Bauchi and as you are aware, APC’s strongest hold in the
North is Bauchi as far as northern politics is concerned. ”So, there is a dire
need for us to come to the national secretariat and we can assure you that the
national chairman is on top of the matter. “We will go back to Bauchi, to our
key supporters and tell them exactly what transpired. ”Nobody is against the
governor, the governor is against himself.”
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