From Our Correspondent
Bauchi State APC Youth Form (BAYF), has expressed its concern to the continuous stay of Professor Sule Bogoro as Tertiary Education Trust Fund (tetfund) executive secretary despite his active participation in partisan politics in the 2015 elections in Bauchi state.
Expressing the concern, State Coordinator of the Forum, Bello Pate who aspired to the State House of Assembly on APC platform in Ganjuwa and Auwalu Bakaro, has called on the presidency to set a probe machinery in motion of the management of Tetfund in the interest of probity and transparency.
According to them, for the APC administration to achieve its set goals of sanitizing and restoring the fading glory of Nigeria, the stewardship of the likes of Professor Bogoro should be thoroughly probed to strengthen the records and restore confidence in the APC system of probity and justice.
“Professor Bogoro was a renowned PDP pillar in Bauchi state. He actively participated in all PDP activities including nocturnal electioneering campaigns behind the scene. He disbursed dollars as if he was printing the currency to support PDP and its contesting candidates in Bogoro, Tafawa Balewa, Dass and few other places. He was against the candidature of President Muhammadu Buhari. Why should such a partisan personality, be allowed a breathing space in an administration he assiduously fought but now pretending to be a loyalist. What has he got to offer the administration other than deceit and pretence?”, they asked.
The youthful politicians further reveled that apart from use of dollars suspected to have been looted from tetfund, Bogoro attempted the use of ethnicity and religion to secure votes for Goodluck Jonathan in Christian communities across the state as he did in 2011 elections, adding that, “he is today priding himself as a consultant to Nigeria’s First Lady’s pet project and went the extra mile to hire miscreants and writers to launder his image on the pages of newspapers with public funds all in an attempt to bury his past shame and portray him as a reliable technocrat to be trusted by the presidency.
The presidency should not be fooled by the pretence of loyalty to relax on its oars until tetfund is thoroughly probed and the chaff sifted from the grain.
“Public funds budgeted by tetfund for trainings etc were diverted to PDP campaign as alleged while efforts are now being intensified to actualize those trainings as a cover to the malfeasance”.
The Forum said, “should the government fail to probe tetfund, we are organizing a peaceful rally in Abuja to expose the political atrocities committed by Bogoro in 2011 that cornered him the plum job he now enjoys and the role he played against APC and its candidates including Hon. Yakubu Dogara in 2015 that should not be wished away”, they said
The forum stated that in his usual character, Professor Bogoro believes that every opposition has a price tag to be silenced, “we are not the critics he knows that can be bought with public funds. We are APC founding members and we shall continue to press our case to the logical conclusion without fear of intimidation, threat or connivance including the use of compromised security agencies. We shall stand firm until justice is done not minding from where Professor Sule Bogoro hails from”.
