Yakubu Dogara, a former speaker of the House of Representatives has accused the Bauchi state governor Bala Mohammed for allegedly priotising the construction of private mansions, flyovers and government houses over education and provision basic amenities to the people.
The two politicians have been engaged in a war of words following the governor’s recent criticisms of President Bola Tinubu’s polices. In a statement on Tuesday, the former speaker, said the governor has failed to address the growing population of Out of School Children (OoSC) in Bauchi state.
Dogara was reacting to yet another statement by the governor who described him as an “opportunistic political turncoat”, seeking to retrace his step after abandoning President Bola Tinubu, the candidate of his party in the 2023 presidential election.
Below is the full text of Dogara’s response to Mohammed’s statement in issued on Monday in the unending war of words:
Governor Bala Mohammed’s response to my callling him out for truculent buffoonery refers.
If one may ask, is it not romantically foolish to wait to be personally provoked before speaking out, as if the destitution he has subjected our people to by mismanaging our scarce resources is not enough provocation?
For the record, the piece was not meant to patronise anyone much less the President who has more than enough capable hands around him to handle such matters.
That the presidency totally ignored such unhinged bumbling rants demonstrates only one thing, which can be summarised in one unpleasant word that I hate to say.
Ordinarily, I should not dignify him with a response of any kind just because I know my message would be lost if interpreted by people who struggled to leave the university.
As expected, his response was a
celebration of acquired hubris and lust for power as usual.
In any case, I don’t expect him to know that the merger of the two is the marrying of Godzilla to Frankenstein – what the English call, ‘batshit crazy.”
Since I don’t have the time to summarise my position in simple English, I will oversimplify this so that he can get the message as clear as daylight.
If Bala Mohammed’s government priotises construction of private mansions, flyovers, and government houses over education in a state that bears 64.67% burden of out- of-
school children (OoSC), which is the highest in the country, and they call that transformation or development, then good for them. But it is as unfortunate as it is traggic because the State will continue to pay the price for decades.
I have reproduced the statistics of OoSC to prick his conscience in case it is still not seared.
OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN
Percentage of OoSC: Top 12 States
1. Bauchi: 64.67%
2. Birnin Kebbi: 64%
3. Zamfara: 60%
4. Yobe: 58%
5. Jigawa: 56.33%
6. Borno: 53.33%
7. Gombe: 53%
8. Sokoto: 52.33%
9. Niger: 40.33%
10. Katsina: 39.33%
11. Adamawa: 32%
12. Kano: 31.679%
# Statisense (UNICEF, 2023)
The governor also claimed that he built primary healthcare centres in my constituency.
Nothing can be more ludicrous because these are places where he won’t take even his sick puppy to for treatment.
Bauchi state’s healthcare system has totally collapsed under his watch to the point that presently we don’t have up to 25 doctors in the entire state’s public hospitals.
If we have them, let him produce their names and the hospitals
they are manning.
He thinks the sophisticated Bauchi people are fools.
On hypocrisy, may I humbly request him to tell Nigerians who he worked for in the 2023 presidential elections.
After collecting money from ATIKU’s campaign, he turned around and lied that he worked for PBAT thereby denying the people who worked hard for PBAT, their due reward.
What manner of hypocrisy is this? If this is not the very textbook definition of hypocrisy, I wonder what it is.
My stance on the 2023 election was unequivocally clear and he called that hypocrisy? Governor Bala Mohammed please tell us, if you are a man of courage, who did you work for in 2023 presidential elections?
Just tell us and I will withdraw and profusely apologise to you for calling you a cavorting charlatan. But if you cannot, just own it.
Also, having effectively conveyed my message, I won’t bother to respond to your charade anymore but incase you are still interested in saying more about me, I challenge you to a debate on good governance on any platform of your choice and you are at liberty to pick the moderator.
If you have anything to say about
me, be man enough to say it to my face.
Lastly, if I were as juvenile as he is, we would probably be talking about how his arraignment for financial crimes by the EFCC was frustrated in the week of his inauguration to save him from the humiliation of missing his inauguration and the immunity which he was so desparate for.
Maybe you have forgotten about it.
Do you want us to talk about that and one other subject matter, do you? This is not a threat because it will only take place if you consent to it.
Anyway, you have never been true to friends, so I don’t expect you to be true to the public but you can retrace your steps and redeem the lost years if you want to. It’s up to you, Mr Governor.
Rt. Hon. Yakubu
