Alhaji Al-Amin Aliyu, an accountant, entrepreneur and grassroots politician, is the CEO of Rahama City Suite in Bauchi who actively worked for the election of Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar. In this interview with GEORGE AGBA, he accuses Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara of engineering a protracted political rift with the governor to wrestlepower come 2019, a plot which he believes is dead on arrival.
When will the political rift between Governor Mohammed Abubakar and the National Assembly caucus from Bauchi State be settled?
Point of correction; there is no political rift between our governor and anybody. As far as I’m concerned, it is a disagreement between two high profile political gladiators over how the state and the people should be run and governed. It is about the preponderant self-aggrandizement of one against the populist, welfarist and people-oriented disposition of the other to the subject of governance. Governor M.A. Abubakar is a man of courage and principle who is out to fend off the political buccaneers and undertakers who thought they could intimidate him into submission. We are proud of the governor for standing his ground with Almighty God and the good people of Bauchi State on his side. I maintain that the governor has no rift with anybody. He is the father of the State so he cannot have a rift with anybody. However, having disagreement with people is normal especially where such disagreements are based on principles.
But Speaker Dogara told media editors in Abuja last week that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) might lose Bauchi in 2019 if the governor does not change his ways?
Speaker Dogara cannot play God in 2019 so his talk is baseless and unfounded. The alarm has no basis at all because the governor is working round the clock to deliver on his campaign promises and give full meaning to the change mantra. As we speak, the entire state is a huge construction site with major infrastructural projects across all the critical sectors going on now. Governor M.A. Abubakar-led government is walking its talk. He is implementing his campaign promises. It is a major proof that our people acted rightly when they voted massively for him in 2015. A leader should live by his word. This is the essence of probity in public service as well as accountability and political inclusiveness. The projects are spread across the entire state, across the entire senatorial districts of the state. A God-fearing and people-driven administration such as we have now in the state today should be guided by honesty and sincerity. That is what the governor is doing. And do you know what we find particularly amazing in the whole thing? The governor keeps saying he has no choice than to do what he is doing because the people gave him the mandate and that, in fact, he considers it a great favour and privilege to serve the people of the state with all his soul, body and spirit. Imagine such amazing humility!
But Dogara said that no major developmental projects are being executed in Bauchi State unlike in neighbouring states of Plateau, Gombe and Adamawa?
You may have observed since the beginning of this interview that I have tried with great pains to avoid any questions relating to what Speaker Dogara said or did not say about our governor. Look, we have a tradition of respect for our leaders because in our religion, we believe God put them there. So, we strictly abide by this. However, I am very disappointed in Yakubu Dogara. Since he became Speaker, he has been seeking pleasure in undermining the exalted office of our leader, Governor M.A. Abubakar. You see, there can only be one governor at a time in a state. Our governor was massively elected by the overwhelming majority of the people of Bauchi State so he deserves to be respected. He is the father of our dear state, the custodian of the political destiny of our people. How come it is only Speaker Dogara that is at war with the governor of his state? Is he the first Speaker in this country? Was somebody not there before him? Was Aminu Waziri Tambuwalnot the Speaker? He did very well. Did he fight his governor?
But Dogara keeps saying that his rift with your governor stems from his push for good governance in Bauchi State?
Which good governance is he talking about?Charity should begin at home. Let him start his good governance crusade from the seat of the Speaker. The truth about the so-called rift with the governor is about the subject of sharing the resources of our state which the governor screamed, never! That is all. Now he has turned his commentary on affairs in Bauchi into a means of releasing political tension. We will henceforth resist it because God sent the governor to govern the state at this critical time. They are not happy that our state enjoys tremendous industrial harmony since the state government has been paying salaries, pensions and gratuities as and when due. They have done everything to instigate labour to antagonize the government but instead the relationship between the governor and labour has remained even more cordial to the benefit of governance in the state. Dogara and his co-travellers should not under-estimate the governor. He should not under-rate Bauchi people. We can no longer tolerate the antics of this motley crowd of power mongers who are merely angling for power come 2019. They want power without responsibility. Please ask them: what have they done with the mandate of the people? What have they brought to the table of development in Bauchi?
But he has dispelled rumours that he is running for governor in 2019?
We are grassroots politicians; so we can feel the political pulse of the moment. You see, the game he is playing is to continue to engineer political rift with the governor to create imaginary chaos across the state and hawk the false impression that the state is up for grabs in2019. That plot is dead on arrival, I can assure you. Dogara should not underestimate the Bauchi people. But I know that some of them will get the shocker of their lives in 2019,especially now that INEC has rolled out the 2019 general election timetable. But let me assure you that the good people of Bauchi State are unanimous in their conviction that the Bauchi gubernatorial continuity ticket is for Governor M.A. Abubakar of the APC. What I’m saying in effect is that in view of the several giant achievements and milestones attributable to his administration, there is absolutely no vacancy in the Government House. I am aware that the governor does not like to talk about it,especially now that he is fully engaged with delivery on all his campaign promises. We will not keep quiet about it otherwise political ‘busybodies’ and buccaneers will take the centre stage. We must ensure that this does not happen.
Still talking about the rift, Dogara has accused the governor of stalling many reconciliation moves. How do you react to this?
Nothing can be farther from the truth. The fact remains that this reconciliation initiative is the governor’s idea because he is a man of peace. Let me tell you that 50 APC chieftains comprising 20 LGA party chairmen and 30 exco members once visited Speaker Dogara without success, just as all the 6 Emirate councils under the leadership of the Emir of Bauchi, the Speaker of the State’s House of Assembly, the state’s APC chairman and the state’s Elders’ Committee did. There was no positive result. All these were the governor’s initiatve. For a man who, in all honesty has done better than most of his colleagues who are in their second term, he deserves another mandate to continue to deliver democracy dividend and make our people happier, more prosperous and hopeful for their future. As we speak, development is taking place simultaneously across all the 20 LGAs of the state in the different facets of the lives of our people: education, water supply, rural electrification, health, agriculture, the civil service, security, youth and women empowerment.
But do you think there can be an end to all these high profile rifts because it is the common people that are usually caught in-between?
I have told you that, to me, there are no rifts whatsoever. What we have are pockets of disagreement at the commanding heights of the divide. If anything, it is the ordinary people that stand to benefit immensely from the face-off because the governor knows he has the mandate of the people of the state to deliver in the state. It is unfortunate that the federal actors are missing in action as they have nothing to bring to the people except chaos, strife and crisis. It is pathetic. Gov M.A. Abubakar’s democratic credentials are visible, credible and laudable. It is also noteworthy that in this recession, he has committed his government to prudence and frugality, cutting down on frivolities that constituted a huge drain on scarce resources. It is amazing and reassuring.