Dogara Knocks Bala Mohammed, Says Wike Funded His Governorship Poll in 2018

•Discloses how they “rigged” PDP primary for Bauchi governor

Chuks Okocha and Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has labeled Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, as a serial betrayer and an ingrate over his recent outbursts against the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.

Dogara delivered the rebuke yesterday in a statement.

He said Wike, then Rivers State Governor, facilitated Bala Mohammed’s success in the 2018 PDP gubernatorial primaries at the expense of  the formidable Senator Abdul Ningi and ensured Mohammed’s victory at the polls by funding his governorship campaign.

“As someone, who knows so much because I was the provocateur of the events between the two that I will speak to, I consider my silence not just cowardice but complicity.

“I should not be misunderstood to be defending Wike but simply stating the raw truth that I know and I really don’t give a damn if the truth makes Wike look good.

“For starters, need I remind Governor Bala Mohammed that in 2018 PDP Gubernatorial primaries, when we were not too sure he would win because, his then major opponent, Senator Abdul Ningi, was the one who constituted the state party structure and had a bosom friend as Party chairman, it was Wike we turned  to for help.

“I had called Wike to plead with him to help us in Bauchi without necessarily disclosing to him that it was Bala Mohammed that we wanted delivered.

“To do it, Wike made his bosom friend and close ally, Chief Dan Osi Orbih, the Chairman of the Panel for the primaries. Chief Dan was in Benin city and we needed to get him to Bauchi for the assignment, it was to Wike that I turned to again and his response to me was, ‘my brother, I have told you not to bother about this.

“Tell Chief Dan to come to meet me in Port Harcourt’. I did just that and amazingly Wike provided the private jet that flew Chief Dan to Bauchi and out of Bauchi for the assignment.

“I can say without fear of any contradiction that Wike bore all expenses for the exercise. It’s therefore shocking that this so called transactional character called Wike did not place any condition whatsoever for his support,” he said.

Dogara explained that despite his emergence as the party’s standard bearer, Mohammed could not finance his campaigns and that of other candidates of the party.

He said that the fundraiser held in Abuja for Bala was a flop because of his inability to build enough goodwill to help his cause despite serving as FCT Minister for almost six years in the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

He said a committee that organised the fundraiser at the then Lady Kwai Hall, Sheraton Hotels, Abuja only succeeded in raising a paltry N48 million.

But, to cover up their shame, he said he and two then serving senators resolved to seek assistance from Wike again, by flying to Port Harcourt without informing Wike that they were coming with Bala.

Dogara said while waiting at the Government house, Wike visage changed when he was descending the stairs to join them as soon as he saw Mohammed and he was frosty to him for the very first time.

“He asked us to join him at the dining room for breakfast but excused me while those on my delegation waited. He was like, ‘Speaker why did you bring Bala to my house’ without even caring to find out what our mission was?

I said to him, ‘I thought he is your friend since both of you served in the same cabinet under President Jonathan’.  He said to me, ‘Let me tell you what you don’t know. When we were ministers, Bala Mohammed allocated plots of land to all ministers except me’.

“He also recalled how he humiliated him when he went to see him in his office as a colleague minister just to get an approval to increase the number of floors on a building he had in Abuja, not to beg for plot which he refused to allocate to him.

“He said Bala Mohammed kept him in his waiting room for hours and later sneaked out of the office. That from that day he made up his mind never to have anything to do with him again.”

According to him, Wike added, “I wish, you had told me it’s Bala you were rooting for but whatever you want I will assist you guys because I don’t say no to a brother but I assure you, you will regret your decision if Bala Mohammed becomes Governor’. The rest is history,” Dogara stressed.

Dogara explained that Wike then offered to join them at the dining where he confronted Bala with these issues in the open and the presence of all.

The former Speaker said Bala admitted and pleaded for forgiveness assuring that he was now a changed man.

“To cut the long story short, we passed the night at the Government House and the next morning Wike called and directed that his cash assistance be handed over to me to pass to Bala.

“I said, ‘your Excellency, it’s better I call him so that he can collect the assistance himself least he thinks you are still angry with him’. I sent for Bala and when he came Wike’s aide handed over the package to him and he collected it while almost kissing the ground.

“If Bala has forgotten how much we left with that day, I will remind him. Wike didn’t stop there, he gave us a private jet to ferry us back to Abuja. And I must add that was not the only time Wike helped  Bala with resources and logistics.

“What is baffling is that the so called transactional Wike did not demand for anything in return nor place any condition for all that he did. Believe me, this is not the end of the story but let’s leave it here.

“With all these, my question to Bala is what happens to the golden adage that you don’t attempt to break the calabash from which you once sucked honey? For Bala, power is a poison and anyone who questions how he wields it, for that reason, is an eternal heretic that must be crushed at all cost.”