Assembly, Honourable Maryam Bagel, has condemned the
unguarded utterances of her state Governor, Mohammed Abubakar against
President Muhammadu Buhari.
Governor Abubakar made the dirty utterances shortly after a meeting between the
president and governors in Abuja last week over the Paris Club Funds.
It will be recalled that while addressing journalists in Abuja shortly after the meeting, Governor Abubakar was quoted to have said: “Don’t forget, this is money that belongs to us. We are not begging
for anything, but demanding what belongs to us and that it should be
paid to us.”
Bagel who is the only female lawmaker in the 31-member Bauchi State
House of Assembly (BAHA) made the call while speaking on the floor of the House during a plenary session presided over by the Speaker, Kawuwa Shehu Damina.
Bagel lamented that it was not the first time the governor would make such unguarded
and reckless comments against the person of the President.
She said: “The Governor last week mentioned in an interview in regard
to the Paris Club funds in which President Buhari cautioned lack of
utilisation by certain governors.
“It was a great concern to me because it wasn’t the first time that he
has been found to be saying such similar things against the president.
“For instance, in July 1, 2015, two months after he came to office,
the President promised bailout and the governor was reported on radio
during one of the Jummat mosque in Bauchi, that the president had not
given him a kobo, so all this issue of bail out he (Governor Abubakar)
wasn’t given money.
“Less than a month after Governor Abubakar was also reported in the
newspapers where he said that the bailout was just a mirage, that the
federal government wants to do it but don’t have the money to do it.
“That time I felt it wasn’t good for him to say that because the
bailout actually came and he didn’t come out to say it wasn’t a
mirage, and how it was utilised many people in Bauchi State are
questioning it”
The state lawmaker stressed that the governor’s latest utterance on
the Paris Club fund was embarrassing.
Bagel said: “He is not the only governor in that meeting and I don’t
think he is the spokesman of the governors so why would he be the only
governor to be coming out to talk against the president?
“The President has done so much for the north east. The issue of
insurgency, he tackled it.He has given us so much in Bauchi State and
Bauchi is always taken to be the second home of the president.
“Instead of our governor to be coming out to appreciate what the
president has done, it saddens me to see our governor being the first
to castigate the president in such manner and I feel he should be
called to order.
“I think the House should caution the governor to work towards
bringing development to the state, to perform his executive duties.
“You know for over four months now there are no commissioners, so let
him do what he is supposed to do to bring develop to the state and
stop embarrassing the state by being the first among 36 governors to
respond negatively in the issues concerning the president”
