Bauchi: Why Abubakar Is In Suspense

Governor Muhammed Abubakar lost the supplementary elections conducted in Bauchi State last Saturday to his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rival, Senator Bala Mohammed despite running a more robust campaign.

Gov. Mohammed Abubakar

Senator Bala Mohammed was the beneficiary of the angst the people of Bauchi had for All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate, Muhammed Abubakar.

Abubakar won the Bauchi State governorship election on a platter of gold during the APC Tsunami that swept through the north in 2015. He, however, soon picked a quarrel with almost every stakeholder that helped to actualize his dream of becoming the number one citizen of Bauchi State.

Chief among reasons for Governor Abubakar’s fall was what some described as his haughty disposition.

In a widely publicized interview in a national daily just before the election, the governor was quoted as saying that “I don’t need Dogara’s (referring to Speaker Dogara) constituency to be re-elected as governor of Bauchi State. The total votes from his area is not more than 70,000.”

That disregard for Dogara’s constituency was mainly because of the fact that the constituency had remained firmly attached to Dogara in his political movements since he first represented the constituency in 2007.

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Governor Abubakar had added, “I didn’t need him in 2015 and I won’t need him now. The Speaker is a lightweight politician.”

His assertion that he did not need Dogara according to many political operators was also reflected in most of his politics as the governor came to emerge as undoubtedly the governor with the least political attachments in the state since 1999.

The governor was also not helped by what his critics described as his low performance in terms of infrastructural projects, especially in Bauchi metropolis.

PDP’s Bala Mohammed didn’t spare any chances in this regard during his campaign, as he emphatically echoed this claim for most of the campaign.

Others include his inability to pay pensions and gratuities to retirees in the state, conduct local government elections in four years, along with his poor press relations.

In retrospect, no one can say for sure if the governor’s disputed citizenship (he’s alleged to have come from Kogi State) played a key role in his loss as he was elected governor in 2015 even with the awareness that he might be a citizen of Kogi State.

As of today, after the rerun elections in the State, PDP’s Bala Mohammed is in a clear lead with 5,318 votes, but can’t be declared a winner until the court determines the outcome of Tafawa Balewa results.

In the polls conducted two weekends ago,  the PDP candidate polled a total number of 469,512 votes against his closest opponent, the incumbent governor, Abubakar of the APC who polled 465,453 votes. From yesterday’s result, PDP polled 6,376 votes while the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 5,117 votes.

As of today, after the rerun elections in the State, PDP’s Bala Mohammed is in a clear lead with a difference of 5,318 votes, after polling combined total votes of 475,888 against his rival’s 470,570 votes. However, Bala Muhammed can’t be declared a winner until the court determines the outcome of Tafawa Balewa results where the PDP is also believed to have won.