Bauchi state governor and presidential hopeful in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Bala Mohammed, said President Muhammadu Buhari failed as president because he surrounds himself with “liars and sycophants.”
Mohammed, who was in Katsina on Sunday night to meet with PDP delegates ahead of the party’s presidential primary, said Buhari has not provided good leadership to Nigerians.
Mohammed said the country is in complete “disorder” because the president lacks the political will to act.
“Katsina is a state that produces good leaders for the country. We know what the late Umaru Musa Yar’adu’a did when he was president, even this one who is now the president (Mr. Buhari) we know that he is surrounded by a bunch of liars and sycophants.
“They tell him lies every day and you know how soldiers are. He doesn’t know how cunning people can be and he barely knows how the government works. He doesn’t reach out to the poor in the local areas, but he sits there and believes everything they tell him. He thinks that everyone is an honest person. But I am different because I know what governance is… We need someone with the exposure and the intelligence to turn the situation around,” he said.
“The country is in disarray and things are falling apart as if there is no government in place, and that is not how we are known as Nigerians. There is poverty on earth. People are hungry. The problem of insecurity is always increasing, people can’t go to their farms, children can’t go to school and people can’t travel to visit their loved ones… like in a folk tale… in this Katsina you people are being bothered by bandits and this is the state of the president. Does this sound like a comedy show to you? Just like the stories in folk tales. And it’s like the security officers don’t even know what they’re doing,” Mohammed said.
We have failed as leaders
The Bauchi governor added that leaders in the northern part of the country have failed to protect the common man.
He said poor people in rural areas just need to be protected, but the leaders couldn’t even guarantee that.
“Our deceitful ways led us into this mess. The common man of the north suffers a lot. If he is traveling, he is not safe, not even at home, he is still not safe, people keep getting lost like in a dream… and there is nothing we have done. We have woefully failed as leaders,” he said.
How I rebuilt Bauchi
Mohammed also spoke about how he has made an impact as governor in Bauchi state.
“I reached out to traditional rulers, teachers and local leaders because they are crucial in ensuring the safety of life and property. What I do is be fair to everyone, regardless of religious or tribal differences, and that has been part of the reason why Bauchi is safe.
“We have taken giant steps in all sectors, especially in the education and health sectors. Primary health centers were built and equipped medicines were delivered at subsidized prices, local government council secretariats were also rebuilt, and 4,000 were built to ensure the return to school of school-age students. That’s why I don’t go to Abuja to look for anything because I don’t have anything to go to”. he said.
He is among the 17 candidates for president under the PPD.
Mohammed and former Kwara state governor Bukola Saraki were heralded as the North’s “consensus candidates” by a former vice-chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Ango Abdullahi, although the other three Northern candidates who are in the running for the PDP ticket immediately rejected the statement.
The other candidates from the North are the former vice president, atik abubakar; Sokoto Governor Aminu Tambuwal, and economist and businessman Mohammed Hayatu-Deen.