Yuguda an APC mole in PDP, says FCT minister

Bala Mohammed, federal capital territory minister, has described Isa Yuguda, Bauchi state governor, as “a mole and an unabashed fifth columnist” in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for accusing him of masterminding the stoning of President Goodluck Jonathan’s convoy in Bauchi.

Yuguda caused a stir on Saturday when he told the BBC Hausa service that his party, PDP, was responsible for Thursday’s attack on the convoy of President Goodluck Jonathan.

He specifically said some senior personalities based in Abuja organised youths in the state to perpetrate the act, which led to the injury of six operatives of the department of state services.

But the FCT minister has now accused Yuguda of “hobnobbing with the All Progressives Congress (APC) at night and running to the PDP in the morning”.

“The attention of the minister of FCT, Bala Mohammed, has been drawn to an allegation by the governor of Bauchi state, Isa Yuguda, that he was the sponsor of the thugs that attacked the presidential campaign team of President Goodluck Jonathan in Bauchi on January, 22 2015,” Nosike Ogbuenyi, the minister’s special assistant on media and publicity, wrote in a statement.

“It is simply irrational for Yuguda to allege that the minister hired thugs to stone and embarrass himself while addressing the presidential rally in his home state. By this claim, Yuguda has proven correct the allegation that he has been hobnobbing with the APC at night and running with the PDP in daytime.

“The question that the governor must answer quickly without equivocation is: why did the thugs not stone him whilst he was addressing the same rally, on the same podium and on the same day? Yugudu should also tell the world why he has suddenly turned into an APC spokesman by exonerating the opposition party of culpability in the attack of the PDP presidential campaign team in Bauchi.

“Many Nigerians still remember recent media reports that Yuguda is the real godfather and sponsor of the APC gubernatorial candidate in Bauchi state and that he has not been campaigning for President Jonathan’s re-election in the state. Again, history is there to expose the governor as an unabashed fifth columnist in the PDP.

“It would be recalled that the first attack Bala Mohammed received for wholeheartedly supporting Goodluck Jonathan (then Vice President) was in 2010. The same Yuguda, early in 2010, did everything humanly possible to recall and politically annihilate Bala Mohammed from the national assembly as the senator representing Bauchi south senatorial district.

“Bala’s only sin was that he mobilised fellow lawmakers to invoke the famous ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ to confer powers on the then Vice-President Jonathan to act as president while former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was away in Saudi Arabia receiving medical attention.”

Ogbuenyi recalled that Yuguda’s second attack on the FCT minister came later again in 2010, when he deployed enormous energies into creating all manner of obstacles to block his return and re-registration as a member of the PDP in his native Alkaleri LGA of Bauchi state.

“Again, that attempt was futile as it failed disastrously for Yuguda. Since then, Bala Mohammed has become a force to reckon with at the highest echelon of the PDP.

“Furthermore, in 2011, political thugs who were protesting the victory of President Jonathan in that year’s presidential election razed down a two-storey building belonging to the FCT minister and nearly killed his mother and other relatives in Bauchi. The thugs touched none of the property of Governor Yuguda. The simple reason Bala’s house was torched and his relatives traumatised was the unequivocal support and contributions to President Jonathan’s electoral victory.

“On Thursday, January 22 2015, those who are conversant with the negative trend of Bauchi politics since the Yuguda era were not surprised when the FCT minister paid another price for supporting President Goodluck Jonathan. Bala Mohammed was stoned and assaulted by political thugs while he was on stage passionately addressing the PDP presidential campaign rally. Those behind the attack on Bala Mohammed clearly are those who do not want his star or that of the president to shine. Unfortunately for them, they are too late on that mission.”

He also reaffirmed Mohammed’s commitment to supporting Jonathan, adding that he would not be deterred by attacks on him.

“All that said and done, the minister has no apology whatsoever for consistently supporting his principal, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. He supports him because he believes in Nigeria’s oneness and peace as well as the Transformation Agenda of his administration. The minister will never be deterred by attacks on his person and/or malicious fabrications by selfish, mischievous and insincere politicians,” Nosike added.

“Bala Mohammed has consistently repeated that politics is not a do-or-die affair, hence he sacrificed his gubernatorial bid to allow peace to reign in Bauchi state. He is also sharply aware that this is the time for everyone to focus on issues that would promote rancor-free campaign and elections to ensure victory for the PDP. It is on these bases that it would be ridiculous to suggest that Bala would hire thugs to attack the PDP and discredit the governor in the state – more so, because he is not contesting any position with the governor.

“Finally, we wish to state categorically that based on his personal convictions and principles, Bala Mohammed cannot sponsor thugs to stone himself or his boss. We therefore enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to completely disregard Yuguda’s outrageous allegation. In fact, anyone who believes his wild allegation would believe anything. By Yuguda’s latest embarrassing conduct, he has successfully exposed his chameleonic character as an APC mole in the PDP. We call on Isa Yuguda to please respect himself by leaving Bala Mohammed alone.”