2023 Governorship Race: Senator Bala Mohammed Set To Reclaim PDP Ticket After Losing Presidential Primaries
By Abdullahi idris, Bauchi
There are strong indications that having lost his presidential aspiration after his defeat in the PDP presidential primaries held last weekend, Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir is set to pursue his second term reelection bid as Governor.
It will be recalled that his name conspicuously appeared on the ballot paper of the state gubernatorial primary held last Thursday a development the State Chairman of the PDP, Hamza Koshe Akuyam described as an “error from the national Secretariat of the party”.
He said that, “the error was from the party’s national secretariat, as you have seen the name of His Excellency, Senator Bala Mohammed in our Governorship primary ballot papers, it was an error from our National Secretariat” .
Koshe Akuyam added that, “His Excellency, Governor Bala is not contesting the Governorship election now in Bauchi, he is among those that are contesting for the office of the President in the forthcoming presidential primary of our party.”
However, the general believe is that Bala Mohammed used his childhood friend and former SSG, Barr Ibrahim Kashim as a front in the gubernatorial race while he pursued the presidential aspiration to a logical conclusion.
The Governor had on several fora expressed his interest in going for a second term as Bauchi State Governor but his presidential aspiration came up along the line which made him to bring in his loyal friend in the person of Barr Ibrahim Kashim to hold forth for him as the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP.
He had always said that he was going to do what was done in the 2019 general elections by the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal who lost the PDP presidential nomination and went back to pick up the party’s gubernatorial ticket which was then won by his Deputy.
The insinuation is that, as the processes of the gubernatorial nomination continue, the former SSG, who is the elected gubernatorial candidate will at a point relinquish the ticket to Sen Bala Mohammed in line with the electoral law and guidelines of replacement and substitution of candidates.
The Governor was recently quoted saying that, “It is not easy to be in all places at the same time, but, I am doing it for you because we have to put Bauchi on the map”.
According to him, “There are some more eminently qualified people to do governorship and presidency in Bauchi state.
We hid behind for too long and it is time for us to accept with humility and present ourselves so that we can provide services to this country.”
Bala Mohammed then concluded that, “We are going to do it with humility and as democrats, whatever happens, it is to the glory of God.”
With the presidential primary now over, political analysts and onlookers are waiting to see what happens next in Bauchi state as regards the PDP gubernatorial ticket which is presently being held by Barrister Ibrahim Kashim.
Reacting to the political situation in Bauchi state, a former member of the State House of Assembly, Aminu Tukur said that, “I have stated earlier that Governor Bala Mohammed will put a proxy to enables him stage a come back on loosing the Presidential ticket. This is where we’re now” .
He added that, “The man bearing the PDP ticket for now is the compromising type, easy to submit and be humbled.
You may recall what happened in Sokoto State in 2019, with the inability of Governor Waziri Tambuwal to secure the Presidential ticket; his stooge simply abandoned the ticket to create a vacancy, this is exactly what will happen here, Bauchi State”.
