Bauchi State Secretary of Government (SSG) Ibrahim Kashim won the gubernatorial primary of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the state on Wednesday.
However, Kashim won the primaries as Governor Bala Mohammed’s representative, who will soon win them back, as Mohammed lost his presidential candidacy.
Kashim was the only challenger in the contest, at an elaborate event attended by the governor and his deputy, Baba Tela.
The win for Kashim, who became SSG in June 2021, makes him the first man in the state to earn his most coveted match ticket without publicly declaring his ambition or producing a single poster or campaign banner.
Sources familiar with the circumstances leading up to his “miraculous” victory said Kashim was the last-minute pick for Governor Mohammed, who won 20 votes in the opposition party’s presidential primary on Saturday night.
lone candidate
Although everyone was aware of the farce, delegates at Zaranda Hotel Bauchi, the venue for the primary elections, duly cast 656 votes (one invalid vote) to affirm Kashim as their party’s gubernatorial candidate in 2023.
At the end of the vote, the returning officer, Hassan Grema, said: “By the powers conferred on me by the PDP constitution, I hereby declare lawyer Kashim Ibrahim as the winner of the PDP gubernatorial candidacy for the 2023 general election. . ”
Bauchi State Secretary of Government (SSG) Ibrahim Kashim won the gubernatorial primaries of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the state on Wednesday
Kashim, with whom many delegates at the event were interacting for the first time, in his acceptance speech said that with his nomination, the PDP was poised to “win the next general election in the state.”
“The race has just started for 2023 and the PDP is ready to beat any other opposition,” he said.
“We must be a united party to be able to defeat others in the general elections. I call on all of you to unite and give the maximum support needed to win the general election in 2023,” said Mr. Kashim.
The former SSG then took the time to commend Governor Mohammed “for providing determined leadership that has transformed Bauchi State far above his peers.”
He assured members of his party that he would consolidate the administration’s gains if he were elected governor next year.
Farce
Despite Kashim’s victory speech, many in the state know he is not a genuine candidate.
Sahara Reporters had published a report on May 1, citing a Bauchi-based local online newspaper, Wikitimes, detailing how Messrs. Mohammed and Kashim had a secret pact that led to the latter’s secret resignation.
Sources within the Bauchi PDP told PREMIUM TIMES that the SSG was only being used as a character in Governor Mohammed’s political subterfuge.
“The SSG is the governor’s plan B, in case His Excellency fails to win the presidential ticket next week,” a source said last week.
“Clearly, Attorney Mohammed, who is barely known by many in Bauchi, is just helping his boss defend himself until the presidential primary elections are over.”
Ironically, Section 35 of the Election Law is usually exploited to allow such a farce to happen.
The Law states: “A candidate may withdraw his candidacy by means of a written notification signed by him and delivered by himself to the political party that nominated him for the election and the political party must transmit said withdrawal to the Commission no later than 45 days before the chose. .”
Many agree that it is rare for a first-time governor hoping to be re-elected to dismiss it in the way that Mohammed and his SSG wanted Nigerians to believe.
Bauchi state map
Another Bauchi PDP chief who asked not to be named in this report said, “If the governor really left state politics forever, he wouldn’t settle for his SSG as his replacement when there are big names like Lt. Governor Senator Tela. around him.
“The PDP, regardless of being the ruling party in Bauchi, would lose the 2023 election if the SSG proceeds to appear on the final ballot,” the source stressed.
As Governor Mohammed was receiving a report from his Presidential Aspirations Contact and Consultation Committee led by a senator, Adamu Gumba, he made a comment about his plans on how he would pursue the PDP presidential candidacy and secure his seat in Bauchi at the same time.
The former FCT minister joked that he would entrust his gubernatorial candidacy to a less ambitious politician whom he trusted to return it to him when asked.
“Bauchi can be better if I am in the center”, Sahara Reporters aforementioned Mr. Mohammed as saying.
“But certainly, we have to manage the two together. I told my brother and colleague that he should not be happy to send me so that he can take over the governorship; I’m going to do the two together like Matawallen Sokoto (Governor Tambuwal) did in 2019.
“I’m going to test it and I’m not going to give it to someone who won’t give it back to me when I get back,” Governor Mohammed said.
“One of my brothers, a formidable and cunning politician, Matawalle Sokoto (Aminu Tambuwal) did it before, so we are going to try it too,” Mohammed was quoted as saying by the Sahara Reporters publication.
Governor Mohammed and his party are expected to use Section 35 of the Electoral Law to secure his second term as governor.
Mr. Kashim, who is believed by many in Bauchi to still oversee the affairs of the Governor’s Office as SSG despite his resignation, will soon be writing to inform his party of his intention to withdraw as a gubernatorial candidate.
not unprecedented
When that happens, Governor Mohammed won’t be the first person to go after two rats at the same time.
Sokoto State Governor and Presidential Candidate on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) platform, Aminu Tambuwal
As the governor said, his counterpart in Sokoto, Aminu Tambuwal, did the same in 2019. After his loss in the PDP presidential primary in Port Harcourt that year, he returned home to retrieve the governor’s ballot from a proxy whom he had urged to take the ticket in the gubernatorial primary.
This was also the favorite game of former Senate President Bukola Saraki, who was also a candidate in Saturday night’s PDP presidential primaries along with Messrs. Tambuwal and Mohammed.
In 2011 and 2019, Saraki used powers to secure the PDP’s senatorial candidacies while seeking the party’s presidential nomination.
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