From Yahaya Audu, Bauchi
Senator Malam Ali Wakili representing Bauchi South at the eight Assembly has disclosed that his present face off with Bauchi State Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar is that he broke all their campaign promises they made to the electorates and party executives at the local levels.
Wakili who also double as the Senate Committee Chairman on Poverty and Social welfare stated this yesterday at his residents in Bauchi while distributing Cars to his campaign directors.
He said, “those of us from the national assembly have little problem with the executive, one is that our words should be our honour. When we were going round, we promised the party officials that if they give us the nomination and we win the governorship seat we will make all the ward chairmen to be the councillors of their respective wards, we will make the party chairman at the local government level to be the caretaker committee chairman “.
According to him, God answered their prayers and took over power and the state Chief Executive Governor M. A Abubakar said no he does not know about such promises saying they were mere political promised.
“We came and said our people need self determination and that the former government gave some of them what they desire in terms of district headship, village headship and wardship and we said that some of us are in various respect members of that clan and that we are going do everything possible to strengthen the institution, that we are not going to do anything to debase the institution and that the fair they were entertaining that we are going to dethrone them will not happen but unfortunately the governor dethroned them”.
He said “we agreed that we are going to have local government elections so that there will be democratically elected local government chairmen in place, when he came he said for certain reasons he can not have elections. Even within the ravaged region of Borno and others where they are bedeviled with security threats and Yobe they have had local government elections and we no reason why we should not have”.
“Then we said that the Teachers, the Pensioners, the workers must get their stipends as at when due and that all the backlogs must be paid, greatful, we understand that the civil servants are not owing salary but the teachers are still owing salary, the pensioners are owing close to 2 years pension and some of them have died, some of them are bedridden with stroke, some of them have sold their assets, some of their children and wards can’t go to school and other things, those are the basic problems, we said that there must be accountability, probity and transparency. If some of these things are addressed then we said that there must be inclusiveness in the running of the affairs of the government”.
He said once these problems are adress there will be no rift among the Bauchi State Governor and members of the National Assembly.
Wakili explained that if the Governor will agree to do that, “we don’t have personal problem, we don’t have personal ego with him, we campaigned for him, first we were the one who nominated him, we ensured his success as the flag bearer and we went to the crannies to ensure that he became the governor, so there is no anything against that one, what is happening are those five to seven problems that I mentioned to you, once he can redress that one the reconciliation committee doesn’t need to come to Bauchi.
