Bauchi Governor To Personally Compensate Aggrieved PDP Aspirant
By Abdullahi Idris,Bauchi
Aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bauchi State, particularly aspirants in the last primary elections will be pacified and have been urged to support the party to victory in the 2023 general elections.
The assertion was made by the State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir while receiving a report of the Reconciliation Committee set up to look into the grievances of the aggrieved members.
Governor Bala assured that he will look within his personal resources and compensate them while the party too will have to look into the issues as soon as possible.
Bala Mohammed received the report on Thursday at the Council Chambers of the Government House charging that the party must start strategizing for success ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The governor urged all the aggrieved aspirants to follow in his footsteps of embracing the spirit of sportsmanship in any contest, pointing out that even though he lost the Presidential Primary election, he never expected anything from the PDP presidential candidate.
He said that the PDP in the state provided a level playing field for all the aspirants, adding that he will create a forum to personally meet with all the aggrieved aspirants to leverage their nationalistic feelings.
According to him, “As a governor and contestant, I know the importance of reconciliation, I know that even our party at the national level is battling with the issue of reconciliation and that is why I did not waste time after losing the presidential bid, I had to come back to you and you accepted me wholeheartedly’.
He added that “I must seize this opportunity to express my gratitude to the PDP family for looking inwards in ensuring that all grievances are addressed, especially for those who lost.”
Bala Mohammed further said that “It is not easy to contest and lose and of course accept the loss.I have seen your recommendations, of course, the issue of refunding money is not within my powers because the money has been paid to the national coffers, but I will look within my personal resources to see if I can give some succour and solace to those who lost”.
“I will not dip my hands into the pockets of the state government to pay for political party aspirants, but certainly I know their importance and pedigree,” he said
The Governor urged all the aspirants who emerged as candidates of the party to eschew arrogance and impunity, saying that in party politics, there is no victors, there are no failures as everybody are co-travellers in the journey towards building the nation.
While submitting the report to the Governor, the chairman of the PDP reconciliation committee in the state, Senator Bala Adamu Kariya, said that the Committee assignment was successful as it interacted with all the aggrieved aspirants who opened up on so many issues concerning the outcome of the primary election.
He highlighted some of the recommendations of the report to include the refunding of money for forms to all aspirants who voluntarily withdrew from the Primary election, giving of assistance to all aspirants who contested and lost the election and the reconsideration for reappointment for all political appointees who contested the primary elections and lost.
