Bauchi Elders Mount Pressure on Buhari over Dogara

Nseobong Okon-Ekong

In what may be a political game changer, some political leaders from Bauchi State, including the immediate past Governor of the state, Alhaji Isa Yuguda; serving and former senators, former ministers, and leading stakeholders have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of the 2019 elections, insisting that he must work with their son, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara.

In the open letter written to him, the Bauchi elders begged Buhari to take steps to resolve the political misunderstanding between different interest groups in the state.

Some of the leaders who indicated their support for Dogara are Yuguda, three former ministers, namely: Alhaji Muhammad Bello Kirfi, (Wazirin Bauchi), Muhammad Habib Aliyu (Tafidan Ningi), former Minister of State for Transport, and Dr. Ibrahim Yakubu Lame, (Santurakin Bauchi), former Minister of Police Affairs.

The senators who signed the petition included Senators Suleiman Nazif Gamawa, Bauchi North, Isah Hamma Misau, Bauchi Central Senatorial Zone, Salisu Matori (Danmasanin Bauchi) and Senator Bala Adamu Kariya.

Also listed as signatories to the petition are former Speaker Bauchi State House of Assembly, Alhaji Muhammad Noma (Jarman Bauchi); Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Yusuf M. Tuggah, and Major General Yakubu Usman (rtd).

In the letter entitled: ‘Expression of Solidarity’, the petitioners commended the Speaker for providing quality leadership and representation.

The letter read in part: “We the undersigned elders and stakeholders of Bauchi State hereby wish to express our firm solidarity with our worthy son and political leader, the Rt. Hon Dogara Yakubu, Speaker House of Representatives, who has been providing us with quality leadership and representation at the national level.

“We recall how Dogara worked tirelessly deploying enormous personal resources and commitment to ensure President Buhari’s victory during the 2015 general election and of the APC gubernatorial election in Bauchi State.
“We are therefore dismayed and alarmed by the unfolding ugly political tension and unnecessary misunderstanding between the executive arms and the National Assembly.

“Since his emergence as the Speaker in June 2015, Dogara has helped in bringing about the desired stability in the House of Representatives which resulted in passage of people-oriented legislation that helped the country exit the biting recession.
“The Speaker has helped push every piece of executive communication from the president, including bills and requests which the president, on many occasions, acknowledged publicly.
“We wish to remind the president that Bauchi State is his second home and we have consistently given him 100 percent support in all elections since 2003.”
“Our son, Dogara, has tremendous goodwill in every nook and cranny of the state due to his philanthropic, humanitarian and altruistic gestures over the years.”
The added: “In view of the above, we wish to, on behalf of the entire good people of Bauchi State, passionately appeal to President Buhari to kindly intervene and bring about a quick solution to the political impasse threatening our nascent democracy.”