•Governor Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir (center)
Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir, yesterday, said policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his party, All Progressives Congress (APC), are inflicting pains on Nigerians, calling for reversal of the policies.
Bala Mohammed declared that the APC administration has, through its economic policies, “caused more pains, hunger, and anger to the citizens, hence the reason for the #EndBadGovernance protests.”
The governor was speaking when he flagged off the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) campaign and presentation of flags to the chairmanship candidates of the party for forthcoming local government elections in the state, reports Nigerian Tribune.
He said that the nationwide broadcast by the president on Sunday failed to address the grievances of the protesting youths, who took to the streets to protest hunger and hardship.
According to him, “The president did not take inputs from governors who are closer to the angry citizens. We are with them. We have always respected people, especially their opinions. The protests have shown us many things. It has appeared that the All Progressives Congress leadership has done nothing.
“I listened with all attention to the speech of Mr. President, and I said, with humility and courage, that what he said was empty! It did not agree with the situation. It did not address the problem and challenges.
“The problems are not youths only, it’s for us as leaders – from the president to subnational levels and to the local government, and we can see the manifestations with different colorations – from the North to the South.
“In the North, there is a very big problem. The new policies of the federal government are not working. They have to understand that. It is their problem. It is their programmes that have caused us these problems, so they have to change.”
The governor also said that the state government is ready to change its ways to bring good governance “and not to think it is time to pass the buck and blame the governors or local governments.
“I have heard, and with regrettable attention, some of the Ministers of the federal government that are saying that we have been given 70 trucks, N570bn, how much did the federal government get?
“Why should they bring policies that are causing pain? On your behalf, I’m telling Mr. President, Tinubu, to change his policies because it’s not working. Anything he does, affects us in every corner, in every political party, as our leader.
“If he continues like this, in 2027, I will invite him to be our campaign director – because everywhere will be PDP, and we are going to win because it will be a self-inflicted injury. We know it’s time for governance, we as opposition are keeping quiet because we don’t want to overheat the polity because the federal government is doing so many things to cause disaffection, and we want to say with humility, this must stop,” he said.
Bala Mohammed, who is the Chairman, PDP Governors Forum, said that his counterparts in the states controlled by PDP have listened to the protesters, including the APC governors, but the federal government has always given excuses.
He also said that unemployment is everywhere and Nigeria education is not working, genuine policies of the federal government are not working, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu has to understand that it’s his problem and it’s their program that causes all the problems affecting the country.
Bala Mohammed said that, “If the federal government is not ready to change, we in Bauchi State, we are ready to change for the development of our state.
“It’s time for governance, we are quiet because we don’t want to overheat the politics.”
According to Bala Mohammed, “The ongoing protest by the Nigerian youths, all the PDP governors and some of our colleagues from the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) has listened to your demands which we will do the needful since the ruling party in the country has failed.”
The governor added that protests must be solved so that the country would not be destroyed completely.
