Gov. Abubakar’s Attack On Me And My Colleagues Is Borne Out Of Sheer Malice From A Drowning Man That Cannot Deliver Governance—Senator Wakili
- He Sees Himself as An Emperor Hero
- How He worked Against Buhari at The Last Presidential Primaries In Lagos
In this Exclusive no Holds barred interview with universalreporters247.com the Senator representing Bauchi South Senatorial District, Senator Ali Wakili gives vivid details on the real reason Governor Abubakar is fighting him and other of his colleagues at the National Assembly, he also speaks on the shameful role the Governor played at the last APC Presidential Primaries in Lagos, where worked against President Buhari in favour of the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, he also spoke of other things.
The Excerpt:
Sometime late last year, your state Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, in a chat with newsmen, stated that the reason why you and your colleagues in the National Assembly are fighting him, is because he refused to buy exotic cars and build houses for you and your colleagues in Abuja, as requested by you people soon after he won the 2015 Governorship election in the State. What is your response to these allegations?
The allegations of request for the purchase of exotic cars and houses in Abuja is not only uncharitable, laughable but absurd; most especially coming from somebody that occupies the exalted Office of the State Governor. It is sad that Governor Mohammed Abubakar allowed his emotion and indiscretion to take the better part of him and played too much brinkmanship that has made him a laughing stock. It is a cheap blackmail that even the most gullible and the most infallible mind cannot buy or be hoodwinked into. It is an unstatemanly allegation. Where there is morals, such cheap blackmail should not come from a leader who cherish to arrogantly and continuously remind all who care to know that he is such so and so. To answer you, it is preposterous, scandalous, and disgraceful and has no iota of truth. It is all malice from a drowning man that cannot perform his basic role of providing basic services and good governance to the resilient people of Bauchi State. He said it with the intent to blackmail and denigrates the members of the National Assembly that he and his cohorts have christened Abuja Politicians, for our audacity to question his imperialistic tendencies and the need for him to be accountable to the Citizens of Bauchi State. It is a cheap blackmail that cannot stand. I expect him as a Legal Practitioner to be above this level. It only happened in his wildest imagination and hallucinations.
Last time you and your colleagues from the National Assembly from Bauchi and other top stakeholders of the Bauchi APC stormed your party National Headquarters in Abuja, over the issues in the party in the State, will it be right if someone say the party in the state has been hijacked and what is the National leadership of your party is doing to salvage the situation.
When some months back we visited President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR and Chief O. Oyegun, the National Chairman of the APC here in Abuja, it was purely our patriotic duty as bonafide sons of the State, who have no other State than Bauchi to try through the instrumentality of the party to arrest the dangerous drift in the State deliberately orchestrated by the Governor M.A. Abubakar. The Party came on the wave of popular support. The State is the greatest bastion of the support base of President Buhari. Sadly due to the arrogant nature of the one that says, I know all more than anyone, I am the only lone Emperor that must tower above all Citizens and Residents of the State, the non-inclusiveness, the alienation of the different strata of the society, the non-payment of salaries in an agrarian and Civil Service State like Bauchi, the bullying and throwing of the Governor wherever he goes; the resurgence of the dreaded “Sara-Suka” group to terrify perceived and potential contenders, the non-probity, accountability and transparency in the running of the affairs of the State became imperative and mandatory for us from the National Assembly, some Founding Fathers, Critical Stakeholders to rise to the occasion.
We have to resort to the Presidency and the party with visible tensions within the State due to all I enumerated after wise counseling, advise and consultation with the Governor had failed due to his obsession with power that only belongs to Allah, as he often boasts that as the Governor he will not share his powers with any other person; forgetting that constitutionally his powers are not unbounded. We want to speak and demand for good governance through probity, transparency and accountability; we want to demand for the judicious use of the State’s resources not constant travelling abroad in the name of looking for investment where the meager resources of the State are fritted without commensurate benefit. We demand that all categories of workers and pensioners must have all their outstanding salaries and emoluments paid as the Federal Government had provided some bail out and loans from some Commercial Banks taken in the name of salaries. We requested for inclusiveness in the running of affairs of the State amongst the repository of the Founding Fathers, those that facilitated the merger; those that contested for Party Leadership Primaries but failed, the Aspirants of the various elective Office that spent resources, time, energy to sell the Party, Critical Stakeholders with integrity.
We demanded from the National Headquarters the need to rescue the State Chapter of the Party from the clutches and ambit of the Governor that has made the Party to loose grip, respect from the members. We demanded for the enforcement of the re-instatement of some of the Officers, the National Headquarters said we at the State level does not have the power to expel as only the National Convention can do it; to Hon. Shuaibu Rahama, Hon. Harsanu Guyaba. Similarly, we demanded the recall of Baraden Lar Adamu, the Vice Chairman South. We similarly demanded for the detailed accountability of the relief materials sent to the State by the wife of the Mr. President, Her Excellency Hajia Aisha Buhari, the rice given to the State through the Hon. Minister of Education and the 200 numbers of Tricycles specifically meant for the IDPs. We also demanded from the Headquarters of the Party the formation of all Party Constitutional members and not political bootlickers of the Governor. We also demanded for the democratization of the Local Government through elections and not the mis-norms of Caretaker Committees that he hastily and arrogantly constituted. We insisted that inherited Districts, Villages and Hamlets Areas created by the Administration we took over from should not be tampered with in-line with our campaign promises but which the Governor went ahead to dissolve.
For over one year now, that Governor Abubakar mounted the saddle as your state Governor, there has been series of internal wrangling between him and some of your co-stakeholders in Bauchi APC, including you, what is he not doing well that has warranted this series of crisis between him and the major stakeholders in the party in the State.
The above answers should suffice. However in summary are his continuous reneging of his words, vows and agreements, his non-inclusiveness, his averseness to probity and transparency, the non-payment of all outstanding salaries, allowances and pensions; non prioritization of education as to student feeding arrangement in boarding schools, non-payment of WAEC fees that affect the children of the under-privileged, unending verification of workers, failure of utilities most especially in Metropolitan Bauchi, arrogation of the monopoly of wisdom, knowledge, good judgment only to himself amongst others.
There has been accusations and counter accusations between you and the Governor of sponsoring protests against each other, for instance you have accused the Governor of sponsoring protest for your recall and that of your colleagues in the National Assembly and the Governor has accused you and your colleagues of sponsoring protest for the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari, what is the whole truth about these allegations and counter allegations.
You are witness to some of the lackeys, man-Fridays and political cohorts masquerading as patriotic members of the party championing for good governance organizing themselves, staged protests with covers of apparatus of the State, going to desecrate the sanctity of our heritage i.e. the Palace of Emir of Bauchi, to the House of Assembly where the Speaker received them and to the Government House where the Governor came out personally to receive them and made bombastic statements of his support for the recall of your recall. Ironically this is someone that has pathological hatred for President Muhammadu Buhari from his days as a Public Officer in strategic Institution of the State, to his disdain for the aspiration of the President at the stages of the APC Presidential Primaries. It is to everyone’s knowledge that he was the team leader of the campaign team of one of the Aspirants, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, he was the one that divided the delegates in favour of his aspirants, and he was the one that disbursed all logistics for that aspirant to the detriment of President Muhammadu Buhari. Former Deputy Governor Garba Gadi, Senator Mohammed A. Mohammed, Colonel Umar Tilde (rtd), Musajo, Ali Saidu, Dr. Dabo, Hon. Sanni Abdu, Senator Salisu Matori etc are living witnesses to the ignominable role played he played at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere Lagos in December 2014.
But because of the nature and psychology of our people for the trust, confidence and belief in the integrity and leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari and that whoever appears to be working against Mr. President, he will have the people’s disdain and anger. It thus became a weapon of blackmail and tool for use against your perceived ones, as the people might show wrath on him. At the election of the principal Officers of the Assembly, the President twice said that the elected members should use their discretion in-line with the Constitution to elect their choice as he is ready to work with all. However due to some internal maneuvers within the party members, those of us that stood by Senator Bukola Saraki were mischievously portrayed as enemies of President Muhammadu Buhari. The mischief is out of fear of tomorrow and that with our engagement, contributions and outreach we became threats to the non-performing Governor and to ruin us, was to sponsor that misguided actions which to go to town to hide under the name of Buhari to malign us. Thank Allah it didn’t work as the Citizens of the State realised the Governor wanted to cover his inadequacies by hiding under the name of President Muhammadu Buhari. The issue of the impeachment in the Senate was a hoax. It was never initiated by anyone in the Senate, but for their expediency and for cheap blackmail they went to town to say we from the State at the Senate were part of the hoax. Remember I said the easiest way to destroy a political career of one is to sell the dummy that he is anti-Buhari. As I said because the Governor was not performing he needed to take the attention of the Citizens from his inadequacies and heap it on us. As providence would have it he and his hirelings and political jobbers and clowns have forgotten that a week before the hoax we were seen at a Press Conference with other members of the APC Caucus led by Professor Adeyeye, the Senate Whip restating our loyalty to the Party and ever-readiness to defend the Buhari Presidency.
In spite of the accusations against the Governor that he has not live up to the expectation of the people of Bauchi that voted him into office, he has constantly maintained that he has lifted Bauchi State from obscurity to an Eldorado height in terms of seeing to the welfare of workers, infrastructural development and provision of other social amenities, how true is this assertion by the Governor.
He may be living in the world of himself, deluded by his illusion, camouflaged by his naivety as he is surrounded by political illiterates; neophytes that like him who have no vision of what the State should be but rather I am the Governor. Is it the poorly performing contract of the celebrated CBN roundabout to railway dual-carriage way that has become a scourge and death trap? Is it the unending verification or the excruciating pain and hardship brought to the workers and pensioners? Is it the non-truth as to the sum of loans he has taken within the time he became the Governor? Is it the continuous pelting from the people that today he now moves as if we are in a war zone, where the number of troops outnumbers the citizens? Remember when I was campaigning for elections I said people looked to the days of Muazu as we were accusing the then Governor Malam Isa Yuguda. Today we are thinking of the need to apologise to Malam Isa as when we were having congregational hearing on Airports we realised that out of all the State Airports, his own was the least cost. Go on the streets from the Market Square to Schools, to gathering of people, to the food and tea vendor’s place; take a ride in the bus, NAPEP or Achaba and hear the people’s opinion that you may not want to repeat it, very appalling. So far he is the worst performing Governor. In the fullness of time we shall remind him of the little work he is doing with Federal Government Grants to all States for the erection of Health Centres and that it is not his own initiative.
It was alleged by the Governor’s media aide that you and your colleagues are ganging up against the governor ahead of 2019, do you have ambition to run for office of Governor of Bauchi State come 2019.
The allegation of gang-up for 2019 against him if said by his media aides is very preposterous, though if you look into their pedigree and antics and gullibility; they can say worse things beyond that. Remember they were the locust that destroyed the chances of one of the party’s gubernatorial aspirants, Dr. Lame, when they were close to him, but sadly they for their selfish interest ran to the Governor that they are now holding him hostage, continuously alienating him from good reason, counsel and good people. You don’t need any gang-up against the Governor in 2019. He has already spoil all his chances by himself. Maybe when he descends from his Olympian Heights, maybe when those media aides begin to think of the negative effects of the their infallible propaganda against us and all those perceived to be patriotic in the local media stations in Bauchi, at state and local Government functions, at the Government House and concentrate in uplifting the life of the people, he might untangle himself.
Ambition is legitimate in my religion and within the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I have said again and again that I am living for today and not for tomorrow and that only God will know what Senator Wakili will become in 2019.
Why is it that nearly all National Assembly members from Bauchi State, almost all the traditional rulers and some preachers, as well as elites and stakeholders in the Bauchi Project are not with Governor Abubakar, what could be his sins?
We are supposed to ask the Governor that question. He is the one that alienated all those very important groups. No one can play politics and lead the State without taking cognizance of about six stratas of the society and the segment of the people, the religious Clerics are very important and influential most especially the role they played in chasing out the PDP. Rather than respect, they get scold from the Governor and his praise singers to the extent of going on the local media to attack some of them over their stand or comments on the administration. Remember they have a powerful tool better than the Governor as their pulpit are more powerful than all the media and propaganda machines at the disposal of the Government.
The traditional rulers who are the Custodians of our heritage are being treated contemptuously. We are human beings, no one reaches certain status that is hereditary and you want to pull him down. It is not like ours that we go through elections at the end of four years. You have dethroned them despite promises that it will not happen. How can they cooperate with you? Today for example in my local Government of Tafawa Balewa, well over 70 Village Heads were thrown out. Take an average of each of them having 10 members of their family and those members mostly have their own family, what happens? I have reiterated times without number that my ambition as of today is to make a world of difference from past Senators that represented the District. Alhamdulilahi those of them that saw me as an unknown quantity became alarmed about my activities in the Senate and outside. Those charlatans that today are praise singing the Governor were part of those that during the campaigns said there should be no SAK that I cannot perform but became alarmed on how I blended into the Senate becoming a household name not only in the State but outside. Similarly their plausible accusations during the campaign were debunked by my weekly home coming, community outreach and relation; generosity and unfettered access by my Constituents. Further my inter-personal relations with all despite difference of your social level, ethnic extraction and religious calling worsened the situation and the non-performers begin to think that I harbour a gubernatorial ambition. Remember I belong to a powerful block of a political group that played prominent roles in the formation, elections and all important happening in the Party. The group has become so formidable that all are jittery and scared. However let me leave with my popular slogan “Allah kadai Yasan me Ali Wakili zai zamo 2019” meaning only the Almighty Allah knows and predetermines what Ali Wakili will become in 2019.
Bauchi has the greatest repository of educated elites that have held various positions at all levels of Government, it has great intellectual base with great scholars, and Bauchi has been the nucleus of Northern politics. You came with your arrogance and delusion of power to say you cannot defer to some of them, you have problem for yourself.
The workers that have always held the State and ensured the level of development prior to his assumption, but he has antagonized them, pauperized them to the extent that some have died. Allied to the workers are the Artisans, the traders and the economy of the State. These three depend on the constant payment of salaries, pension and emoluments as it is an agrarian and Civil Service driven State and economy. These two most important groups he also marginalized and antagonized. And that when he manage to pay these salaries he celebrate, knowing that it is his right and not a privilege.
The critical stakeholders of the party, all the elected officials most especially the Legislators at the federal level, founding fathers of the party, those that toiled to build the party, those numerous aspirants that committed time, money and their health and brought the party to an enviable position prior to his surreptitious entry and providence smiling on him to become the Governor through their sweat, now he says they are inconsequential. He runs an exclusive Government where he is the one that that knows everything and all things despite Socrates saying that the wisest person is the one that knows nothing, or where he asserts that if you are the smartest person in a room, it means that you are in the wrong room.
The people who are all the greatest assets who have defied all encumbrances to elect him for good governance are disappointed. Teachers are not paid, no running water in the taps. The metropolitan towns that were hitherto clean became refuse dumps everywhere. The street lights that we accused the past Government of high maintenance became extinct. Light to important public places were cut off due to non-payment of bills including the citadel of power of the State i.e. the Government House where he superintend as Emperor Hero. Rather than good governance you brought back the activities of the dreaded Sara-Suka terrorising and terrifying all.
With all these myriads of problems facing the State, what are your colleagues doing to ensure that succour comes to the doorstep of Bauchi people.
What we are doing with my colleagues to bring succour to the myriads of the problems confronting the State is a public knowledge. All discernible minds, Citizens of not only the State but the Nation have seen us consulting with President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC National Chairman. This was after we have all exhausted avenues to give him good advice. These actions of ours have led him to begin to wage a ferocious war of blackmail, intimidation, threat against us. He has ensured that we are tagged Abuja Politicians when ironically he comes and stays in Abuja more than some of us. He has ensured that we are shut out of the State media. He has sponsored and encouraged our daily denigration with all the local media in the State with unimaginable spurious allegations. He has mobilized some misguided youths to try to embarrass us whenever we are in the State. He has thrown decency to the wind; desecrate the Office of the Governor by blatantly telling lies against us that he has become a laughing stock. Even the most skeptics and reasonable ones that have bought into his propaganda before have seen his folly when he alleged that we requested for vehicles and houses from Abuja. The allegation is a deception with a view to pitch us against the people, to see us as unpatriotic, to see us as selfish.
What has been your contribution to your constituents and Bauchi in General?
My contribution to my Constituency and the State is known more than what the Constitution has spelt out and what my instincts, values dictate. Constitutionally I am to represent them and to ensure that laws for good governance, social and economic well-being, security of the people are guaranteed. Similarly when it comes to sharing of resources, projects and other goodies of the State, they are adequately catered for. To the glory of Almighty God, to my credit and to the surprise of my traducers I have performed well. No one can deny our visibility within the proceedings of the Senate; no one can deny the candour of debate that the honour and dignity of the Constituency and the Constituents have been uplifted. From the screening of Ministers, to the issue of Population Control, decay in Infrastructure, Budget, Security of the Nigerian State; incessant road accidents, loss of our values; issues of Fulani Herdsmen, Cattle rustling, Education, Waivers and their effect on the economy, Merits and demerits of allowing Rice to come through the Land Borders, Railways: Creation of the North East Development Commission etc. We have given the country the say of the Constituency. From the Governor M.A. Abubakar to all if they will be truthful, they know they have a vibrant Senator, as I know but he and others may not agree to admit publicly that great Nigerians have told them of kind words and good impressions about Senator Malam Ali Wakili, mni in the State despite being a first timer.
Above all the degree of synergy, cooperation between me and the Members, Hon. Members of the Federal House of Representatives, Senators of the adjacent Constituencies from neighbouring State, a lot of developmental Projects have been put into the Constituency. There has been close rapport with Speaker House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara; Hon. Sanni Abdu of Alkaleri/Kirfi Federal Constituency, Senator Bayero Nafada, Senator Danjuma Goje from Gombe and Senator Dariye of Plateau. About seven roads were budgeted for in the 2016 Budget, and we ensured that it is not only coming to fruition, but was carried over in the 2017 Budget.
We have strengthened our educational systems by providing many Schools with Mobile Science Laboratory equipment; we have sunk Wash-Hand Boreholes for irrigation purposes, and provided thousands with Irrigation Pumping machines. We have strengthened and empowered our party members and executives with adequate means of transportation, by many benefiting from our magnanimity with motor-cars, motorcycles, tricycles, grinding machines, tailoring equipment, and other things that can improve the quality of their lives. In line with Sustainable Development Goals, we have tried to strengthen the Health sector with potable drinking water and Health Clinics within the Constituency. To prepare our people to meet local, national and international challenges, in terms of education in this era of the usage of information and communication technology, we have built some ICT Centres in Kirfi and Dass to prepare them for Computer-based Examinations.
The Interview continues in Part 2, watch out for real reason, Governor Abubakar is fighting Senator Wakili and other federal Legislatures of Bauchi origin, his usual onslaught against them, how he orchestrated the purported call for the suspension of Senator Wakili, even as he is used the recent 3 weeks leave as an alibi so not to put the blame of the purported suspension on, as well as other sordid tales of his government.
