Honorable Mohammed Aminu Tukur was a local government chairman and two term member of the Bauchi State House Assembly, now a senatorial aspirant for Bauchi South Senatorial District. He spoke with ALI GALADIMA on sundry issues. Excerpts…
There are concerns about the chances of the APC in 2019? Are you sure your party can win?
It is a known fact to all of us that the APC has all along been the party to challenge in any given circumstances and believing that the president is having the widest support with everybody clamouring for the president to contest again, I am sure that APC will definitely have the mandate of the people of Bauchi State.
I am talking of a specific scenario, I wouldn’t want to nationalise the issue but obviously the President has all that it takes to get the people’s votes in Bauchi State but believe me, any imposition on the people of the state will definitely be challenged. I stand to tell you that if APC fields the present governor in the 2019 election, then the party would be history in Bauchi State. I hold no reservations saying this.
Are you saying this with all the changes taking place in Bauchi State?
Can you tell me anything that you noticed that is a change in the entire process in Bauchi? Previous government was known to be looting the treasury, the scenario still exists. Let me give you an example with my own local government. If you go to the headquarters of my local government during the last tenure of Isa Yuguda’s administration, secondary schools in Bununu were overhauled and completely renovated. A brand new secretariat was built for the local government and maternity clinic and the primary health care center were equally renovated and put to standard. A new cottage hospital was equally built in Bununu during the four years of Isa Yuguda.
I want to know just a single block that is worth five million naira that is beign built by the present government in Bununu, the headquarters of Tafawa Balewa LGA. I am challenging the governor to tell me anything that they have done in Alkaleri, Kirfi, it is zero all over. Then what is the face of change? Everybody can attest that things are beign done like a kind of free license to do whatever you want with an inept House of Assembly that cannot even challenge anything.
Let me tell you, the governor said before the world and the President that he had procured 500 tractors. Where did he get the mandate to purchase even five tractors? It is not captured in the budged of 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Where did he get the mandate to make the procurement? So this is an impeachable offence, the governor should not purchase anything outside appropriation. Where did he get the mandate to make such a procurement?
But some of the governors’ aides said he is just about to procure the tractors. Isn’t that what he said?
He told the world that he had procured 500 tractors, not that he is going to procure, he has procured already. Thereafter when we challenged him and his commissioners came up to say that 40 are already on ground, people should go and see. Why would he tell the President that he has even procured five tractors as at that time? It was thereafter that 40 were brought in and I am still emphasising, where did he get the mandate to make such a procurement?.
Let me make an addition, in the 2017 budget, there was provision of N20 million for the procurement of mini tractors for youth empowerment scheme, only N20 million and there was a provision of N56 million to refurbish 28 tractors, that is N2 million per tractor for refurbishment. That was just what was in budget of 2017 and in 2018 there wasn’t any provision to procure even a tyre, a brand new tyre to a tractor. Where did he get the mandate to make such a procurement
Are you saying there is no dividend of democracy in Bauchi State?
Let me tell you, by the scenario that has happened in Bauchi, it has been shown to the world that the governor is still what he used to be as a commissioner in-charge of INEC in Rivers State. That element in him has manifested and surfaced without anybody saying the contrary, we have come to know him very well and through that he doesn’t believe in democracy, but he is a dictator to the core, he is nothing more than that.
PDP has never done it in this type of scenario. Everybody can see it even if you don’t have the capacity to participate, they can even do it just you to convince people that something happened.
But the governor said his doors are opened to all aggrieved members of the APC. Have you approached him?
We don’t have to go to him because he hasn’t any element of trust in him, we don’t trust him any longer, there isn’t anything truthful about him and about his antecedents and his behaviors.
You are aspiring to be Bauchi South Senator, do you think you would be given the ticket?
I have said it, we belong to the APC where we have been shortchanged and where we are now in a competent court of justice looking for redress. Should we fail to get what we want, I have made mentioned that we will go to where we feel it is convenient for us to contest and win election. Believe me, we can go to any length and anywhere and win our election because we know our capacity and we know our relationship with the ordinary man on the street.
Let me put it to you in a question form; do you think we will allow them to go scot free without fielding a candidate in any party of our choice? Let the seat be declared vacant, we will act, we wouldn’t allow them an inch to surpass us, we wouldn’t allow them to do that, yes we are ready for them.
How do you feel about ward congresses?
We have written to the national about all that was done in Bauchi and we admonished and you know feel very much happy with the position of the INEC. With regards to the congresses in Bauchi State, we feel very embarrassed by the activities of the security institutions in the state who danced to tune of the governor.
Believe me, we have realised what we want to be done. I mean we just need a kind of free and fair playing ground such that everybody can be seen to be participating, and the right to decide who to lead us, should be given to us as bonafide members of the party, but that was not given to us. So having realised that, even the national leadership of the party is not all that serious to yield to our demand for fairness, for equity, for justice.
We have decided to go to court, we are now before a competent court of law and we have the conviction that we will definitely get the best of judgement because we have our facts and figures handy. We have given warning letters, we have given warning press briefings with regards to the process, we have given them all that it takes to tell them that we know our stand and we know what we are doing, yet they decided not to attend to us.
It is known to all of you that the congress committee who conducted ward congresses, when they came to Bauchi they could not even allow us to see them, our forms were given to us in bits; the first set of about 60 per cent of the forms was given to us by 2:07 am on a Saturday in the middle of the night and the remaining was given to us by11a.m. in the morning and by that time, they have already written their delegates. The leadership of the party had already listed or rather, caladestinely been done at the instance of the Government of Bauchi State.
Now, the provisions of the congresses are crystal clear. The forms should be sold to eligible applicants and they should return the forms within 24 hours period between the return of the forms and the congress. The national executive of the party is aware of the fact that we have been given our forms on a Saturday by 11 am and by the provision of the congress rules, the congresses should be shifted to Monday not 11am on a Saturday.
You still have at least 24 hours to go and distribute it to your respective wards across the state to fill the forms and bring them back. Assuming we were able to bring the forms back on Sunday by 11am, that is exactly 24hours, we still need 24hours by the provision of the congress laws. The congresses should have been held on Monday and it was stipulated that the congress is not mandatory that it must be on Saturday but it must be conclusive by Monday, that was the resolution of the national headquarters of the party and this was bastardised and thrown to the dustbin in Bauchi. That is item number one.
Item number two says that the congress committee should not take their results to anybody other than the appeal committee. The appeal committee is supposed to start the appeal process on Tuesday and they must wind up by Thursday in the morning. When the appeal committee came to Bauchi we could not even see them, we can’t even reach them even on telephone, all their telephone lines that were known to us were no longer going through, we had to go from one place to the other looking for them but they were no where to be found. We notified the then National Chairman of the APC about the entire thing that have was done in Bauchi State and I need not to say that he refused action but definitely he was silent and you know, without necessary attention given to our case.
It was along the line that we decided to lodge a case before a competent court of law that is the Federal High Court in Abuja and we are optimistic that we will get the best of judgement. But let me put it with emphasis, should the court fail to yield into our demands as bonafide and genuine members of this party, believe me, we can go to any length and make a decision to dump the party and move elsewhere, this is the obvious, nobody can tramp on our right and go free, we wouldn’t t do that, we wouldn’t allow that, it is obvious.
Why didnt Speaker Dogara show up during the ward congress?
Let me tell you, I can vouch in for the Speaker, the budget was supposed to be passed on that day, he had to be there, he is the principal, I mean he is a figure to reckon with at the National Assembly and everything was saddled on him to handle.
They passed the budget on a Thursday and on Friday they had to sit down at the house leadership, you know to package it all and take it out for presentation to the Presidency. That was done that Friday, even in the evening, now how would he be able to be in Bauchi knowing that he was engaged with national issues? That was it, he was extremely very busy on that particular Thursday and Friday morning it was in national interest, rather than the premodial interest that has to do with only his constituency. Afterall, he has active lieutenants who can handle his constituency very well for him.
