Former Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has alleged that the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, knelt before FCT minister Nyesom Wike in 2018 to receive funds to sponsor his governorship campaign.
Dogara revealed that the former Rivers Governor, Wike, mandated a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dan Osi Orbih to deliver the Bauchi State party’s governorship ticket to Mohammed with his interventions.
A statement by Dogara on Tuesday, said that he would be a coward “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.”
According to him, “I need to remind Governor Bala Mohammed that in 2018 PDP gubernatorial primaries when we were not too sure he will 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.
His response to me was that are you sure you are in control of the process 100 percent? I said, I wasn’t too sure and he said to me leave it to me, I will help you sort it out.
“To do it, Wike first of all made his bosom friend and close ally, Chief Dan Osi Orbih the Chairman of the Panel for the primaries and said I should discuss whatever I wanted with Chief Dan. We got talking and on the eve of 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 said that after the emergence of Mohammed as the party flag bearer and having promised to sponsor all the party candidates if he gets the ticket, “we were rudely awoken to the reality that Bala Mohammed had no money for his own campaigns let alone for other candidates of the party.
“Initially I thought it was some kind of a funny joke but as time went by, I realised to my utter bewilderment that it was true. It turned out Bala Mohammed had lied to us about his financial capacity.”
“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 lest he thinks you are still angry with him.
“I sent for Bala Mohammed and when he came Wike’s aide handed over the package to him and he collected it while almost kissing the ground. Wike therefore gave us the lifeline we needed to kick start Bala’s campaigns. 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.”
