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Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has condemned Governor Bala Mohammed’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s speech on the #EndBadGovernment protests.
Governor Mohammed had described the president’ nationwide broadcast during the recent hunger protest which rocked the country as “empty” noting that it failed to address or assuage the protesters.
But responding yesterday, Dogara said: “It is certainly not a time to engage in blowing all the dog whistles at once in the irresponsible manner Governor Bala Mohammed did.
“No doubt these are trying moments in Nigeria; with lots of nerves in the air and lots of spitting into the political wind.
“The job of leaders, irrespective of the political tribe they belong to, is to ensure that we bring this crisis to a responsible end by appealing to governments at all levels to scramble to meet some of the legitimate demands of the protesters, most especially, hunger and pervasive insecurity in the national interest.
“For me, it didn’t come as a surprise because I had long ago, both in writing and on live TV, denounced him (Mohammed) as a thug who speaks in the manner of thugs and understands only the language of thuggery.”
Dogara believed that the Bauchi governor is not a true leader
“Bauchi State is home to tested leaders who were not raised like mushrooms and who will not dare speak or operate in a manner that reveals contempt for rules, precedent, order, stability and national cohesion. But Governor Bala Mohammed does not only do so, he thrives in it.
“Not long ago, I said of him, anytime the governor speaks either by himself or through his aides, it is always an outburst of profanity which debases and demeans all of us.
“A leader is supposed to nurture and inspire the people he leads into positive action as against indulging in wanton self-adulation and praise.
“Bala Mohammed has run Bauchi State for a little over six years now with no functional social amenities. Bauchi State under him is one of the states with highest number of out-of-school children in Nigeria, yet he has built no functional school. Just one example: my alma matter, the famous Bauchi Teachers College located right under his nose, now lies in ruins. Let him tell the world which of the hospitals in the state is fully functional and how many doctors he has employed? The list is endless.
“Yet, in the midst of destitution and squalor that Bauchi State found itself under his watch, he has built the biggest Government House for himself and his family and the best family house in northern Nigeria, if not in the whole of the country.
“Next, he wants to build flyovers in a city that has no traffic congestion, albeit for Keke and Okada riders. If anyone has ever wondered how the bottom of misgovernance looks like, this is it.
The irony is that when the youths he has refused to build schools for, who have no access to affordable health care and employment opportunities chose to revolt, it is PBAT’s (President Bola Ahmed Tinubu) policies that is the cause.
“What a display of ravenously wayward sense of entitlement. Just merely looking at what H.E Nyesom Wike achieved in just one year as FCT minister which totally dwarfed what Bala Mohammed achieved in his six years as FCT minister is an open rebuke to his inept and visionless leadership which is now self-evident in Bauchi State.
“Governor Bala Mohammed as a renowned crass opportunist knows how to extort and exploit people and situations. I once wrote about this and I quote a line: “So much for the motion on the doctrine of necessity as if some of us didn’t know the events that preceded it and the main drivers of the motion.
“The governor ought to know or should be told that moving against an ailing and bedridden president (late Umar Yar’Adua) who was desperately in need of prayers instead, in the manner which he did, was not an act of courage but cowardice. Let him name any motion he moved against the government while the late president was well and in charge.
“To hit someone who you know will have no chance of hitting back is a master stratagem of a wimp, and only wimps get paid for.
“After taking up the FCT ministerial portfolio as payment for the hatchet job in a manner a hunting dog is served some portion of the meat of its prey, is it not shameful to flaunt same as an achievement? History has never been kind to those who stabbed the vulnerable.
“To buttress the point being made, when Governor Bala Mohammed was in court after rigging himself into office and desperately needed PBAT to save him, he was busy singing his praises to the highest heavens and telling the world how amazing PBAT was, not even minding the fact that he is the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum.
“Just months after PBAT saved him, he has turned around to describe the president as, ‘now inept, incompetent and incapable of running Nigeria. I will even invite him to chair our 2027 presidential campaigns if he continues this way.’ This level of unbridled disrespect is unparalleled. In months, Governor Bala Mohammed has transmuted from being a Hallelujah boy to the undisputed cheer-leader of a pack of wolves who are trying so hard to soil the president beyond redemption.
“It is good that the world gets to know what we are up against in Bauchi State and the price we are paying for foisting a tasteless joke on the state and elevating a cavorting charlatan to the position of a governor. Dignity still matters in public office and it’s unlikely that Gov Bala Mohammed will ever have it.
“Yet, his graver vice is cowardice, reflected in a willingness to lie to the public to please and appease, heedless of the inevitability of its contradiction an hour later and the consequences thereof. Right now, he has turned Bauchi state into a prison of mirrors where his revealed lies are answered with new lies.
“Those who think he mispoke are dead wrong because that is who he has always been and as Maya Angelou said, “when someone tells you who they are, believe them.
“As it is, we wait to see whether the Kaura 2027 his cult followers printed on their gowns will be a political slogan or expiry date.”
