Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Mohammed has warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders in the state to steer clear of the feud between the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar and the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.
After a closed-door stakeholders’ meeting, he held with chieftains of the party, the governor advised all candidates of the party in the state to respect Atiku as well as the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP.
The meeting was attended by the party bigwigs and candidates contesting on the platform of the party in the forthcoming general election including the state PDP chairman, Alhaji Hamza Akuyam, the deputy chairman, Alhaji Bala Hadith and newly appointed campaign director general of the party for the 2023 elections, Hon Farouk Mustapha.
Other PDP bigwigs who attended the meeting included the deputy governorship candidate, Auwal Jatau, speaker of the State Assembly, Hon Abubakar Y Suleiman, the deputy speaker, Danlami Kawule, and candidates contesting in the State and National Assemblies as well as the 20 LGCs chairmen.
Bala Mohammed advised, “I don’t want anyone of us to get involved in the controversy at the national level. It is above us. Leave it to me to handle it as your leader the way l am handling it as your leader. Certainly, we cannot afford it because it will have dire consequences on us.”
The governor stressed that the PDP candidates in the state must steer clear of the current controversy in the PDP at the national level in order not to be consumed by it.
Recall that the party is currently facing serious challenges as the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar is having a face-off with Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike who lost to the former vice president in the party’s presidential primary.
The Bauchi State governor while addressing the meeting, which started at about 12:00 mid-day on Saturday, emphasized that all the candidates in the state must steer clear of the raging controversy.
He then urged the candidates to focus on the challenges in the state saying, so far, the administration has been able to address grievances that arose in the aftermath of the party primaries amicably.
He further advised candidates to accept the fact that the party is supreme to any member, hence any complaint must be addressed within the ambit of the party guidelines saying, “Whatever we become we must remember the party is supreme. We have problems but it’s about swallowing our problem for the greater benefits of the bigger picture.”
The governor also said that he convened the meeting in order to confront the challenges ahead of the 2023 general election and ensure that the PDP does not lose the state in 2023.
“We have done quite well but l believe we will do better. I called for this meeting for us to sit down, reminisce, discuss and address new challenges, especially looking at the electoral act, our party guidelines, and of course our personal challenges to regroup and refocus”, he added.
According to him, “We are confronted with a long period of electioneering and campaign. It’s going to take a lot of time so we have to strategize. We have so many projects and programmes we have not completed. We have fulfilled 80 per cent of our promises but the party is not going to win at the Government House but at the villages where we come from”.
Bala Mohammed added that “The candidates are the most important variables now because the party has finished its own, meaning we must manage scarce resources. The people appreciate what we have done but we cannot afford to be complacent”.
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