Bauchi gov denies hand in alleged plans to foment trouble in Nigeria

In the wake of intelligence report that there were plans to cause crisis in the country, Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed has absolved himself from such alleged plans, declaring that he was not aware of such neither was he part of it

The Governor also denied the alleged plans to cause trouble in the country, in connivance with unnamed serving and former Governors in the North-West subregion of the country as alleged.

Mohammed who was speaking to Journalists at the Government House on Thursday shortly after receiving the report of the panel of inquiry on land use and farmer/herders clashes as well as inauguration of a 45 man white paper implementation committee, said that he was disturbed to have seen an insinuation on the pages of national dailies that some governors in the North were trying to cause trouble in the country.

A visibly worried Governor Mohammed said: “Let me use this medium to clear the issue of some Governors and of course I have seen some insinuations that a North-East Governor –may be referring to me or some kinds of insinuation that I’m trying to foment trouble or cause riots in Northern Nigeria in conjunction with a former Governor and a serving Governor.”

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The Governor said that he was surprised to have seen such insinuation despite his “antecedent” and because of the “insinuation consenting to me, I want to categorically dissociate myself from this kind of action. My antecedent as a civil servant, a Senator, a Minister does not show this kind of action” .

He declared that, “We are working very hard to make sure that Nigeria and Northern Nigeria is safe. Some people are threatened may be because of the rising profile of some of us, and they are using this to cause disaffection between some of us and security agencies,”.

Though the Governor did not mention his alleged accusers and the full allegation, he urged the security agencies to swing into action to investigate and if he was found wanting or guilty “please come and prosecute me irrespective of our constitutional protections, because to me, this is the last thing I could do” .

He stressed that, “I believe in Nigeria project, I believe in the unity of Nigeria. My personal ambition will cause me to extract against Federal Government. Bauchi State has benefited so much since I became the Governor from the Federal Government,we got over N12 Billion from President Buhari led administration to build houses. We gotten a refund of over N12 Billion with which we have used to set Bauchi on a path of prosperity”.

Bala Mohammed further said that, “We have benefited so much from the Federal Ministry of Finance, we will be the last to cause disaffection between the state and the federal government. Those who are looking for reason to raise their profile should look for other means. They should not use Bala Mohammed for this,”.

The Governor who frowned at any move to destabilize the country stressed that unity of Nigeria was not negotiable because according to him, “As Nigerians, we have come along way together, nothing can separate us, we are closely knitted together through various ways and means. We must continue to tolerate each other”.

By Yemi Kanji, Bauchi

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