By Tony Adibe
A political pressure group known as Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed Vanguard (BAMV) has advised the key opposition parties’ presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 General Election, Abubakar Atiku, his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi and that of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso to drop their presidential ambitions and rally round the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed in 2027 for the overall interest of Nigeria.
Addressing the southeast members of the BAMV today during their zonal congress themed, “Reechoing The Call on Governor Bala Mohammed To Rescue Nigeria Come 2027,” held at the BridgeWater Hotel, Enugu, the BAMV National Director Protocol, Hon. Peace Iheanyi said that it was only Governor Bala Mohammed who is suitably qualified to rescue Nigeria, come 2027, from the current bad-governance which the Nigerian masses have experienced under the present APC-led administration.
“It is on this note that we call on the leading presidential candidates of the opposition parties in the 2003 presidential elections in the persons of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the NNPP to rally round Governor Bala Mohammed in 2027 for the overall interest of our dear county,” Iheanyi said.
She said that presently, Nigeria is at a critical crossroads, recalling that August 1st to 10th marked a pivotal point when Nigeria’s youth marched out in their millions during the #EndBadGovernance protests to convincingly register their grievances of the untold hardship inflicted on Nigerians by the clueless APC-led federal government.
“Today, the Naira has lost over 100% of its values against the Dollar. It stands at over N1,600. A bag of rice is over N100,000. Inflation is over 40%, the highest Nigeria has ever experienced. The government removed fuel subsidy and floated the Naira without any plan on ground to mitigate the effects on the populace. I can go on and on but the point has already been made,” Iheanyi said, who quickly asked: “Can things be handled differently?”
She provided the answer; insisting that Mohammed has all it takes to “salvage our great nation, Nigeria and snatch her destiny from the jaws of unprecedented hardship and gross incompetence which bad governance by the APC government has sadly placed on the citizens.”
She recalled that in the last nine years, the APC-led government has shown itself to be “nothing but a power grabbing and propaganda contraption, which has no interest in governance and the wellbeing of Nigerians. That is why it has no strategy for wealth creation but only interested in reckless borrowing, policy inconsistencies and treasury looting which has devastated our economy and wrecked the Naira which our party handed over to them at N167 to a Dollar in 2015.”
The APC-led government, she claimed, had compromised the country’s national security and currently superintending over the escalating bloodletting, terrorism and unrelenting acts of banditry to the extent that mass killing is becoming a new normal in our country.
“Under the APC-led government, all the productive sectors of the country have been crippled. Infrastructure decay and skyrocketed costs of food and essential commodities have made life unbearable in Nigeria,” according to Iheanyi, who added: “The only hope is returning the PDP to power in 2007, and we must not fail our citizens and compatriots.”
It is against the gloomy backdrop that BAMV was reechoing the urgent and vital call for Governor Bala Mohammed to contest the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the PDP, according to her.
She recounted that BAMV started in January 2020 as a coalition of civil society organizations which believed in democracy, good governance, and accountability in Nigeria. She said that those civil society organizations decided to form a group to canvass for good governance and accountability from political leaders at all levels of the government in Nigeria.
According to her, the BAMV would take the campaign to all the six geo-political zones and 36 states of Nigeria including the FCT, Abuja.
However, while speaking in an interview with NewsBitsng.com, the National Secretary of BAMV, Habibulah Umaru said that Governor Mohammed was a detribalised leader, who could unite the country and restore peace in all the regions.
On the key reasons BAMV would want Nigerians to rally round Bala Mohammed in 2027, Umaru said the Bauchi Governor has done quite a good number of things even as then FCT minister under former President Goodluck Jonathan during when he transformed the FCT, Abuja where he constructed a number of roads, adding, however, “I mean I cannot mention the exact number of roads because they are so many.”
Also, as FCT minister, Bala Mohammed “construct schools with both teaching and learning materials in the FCT education sector; appointed indigenes of Nigeria into enviable positions; he gave them job opportunities irrespective of where they come from; and that’s why we see him as a detribalized politician who will unite the country if given the opportunity”, according to Umaru.
The BAMV National Secretary further said that as Governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed “has constructed over 130 roads since assumption of office only five years ago; and he has also been able to adopt some policies that would improve the revenue base of the state; right now, the IGR has improved tremendously. That’s why we believe that once he is given the opportunity to, in fact, pilot the affairs of this country, he can do more. Now, time cannot permit me to enumerate all his achievements, but this is just a tip of the iceberg.”
Umaru further said: “When you come to Bauchi, you see road network everywhere. And as I am speaking to you now, Governor Bala Mohammed is constructing a number of flyover bridges. You need to come down to Bauchi to see things for yourself because seeing is believing .”
In Bauchi education sector, Umaru recalled that Mohammed has been paying the registration fees for students’ WAEC, NECO and JAMB – students who are indigenes of Bauchi state. He noted that Mohammed also has “given automatic employment to the students of College of Medicine and Mid-Wifery; and gave a kind of empowerment on quarterly basis to alleviate the sufferings of the people, and he is putting smiles on the faces of the people. That is why we believe if he is given the opportunity to lead Nigeria, he will certainly transform the whole of Nigeria.”
