Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has alleged that it is the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike that facilitated the gubernatorial aspirations of Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir by ensuring that he got the PDP gubernatorial ticket in 2018.
The latest development is coming at the wake of the media war between Senator Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir and Nyesom Wike which has now taken a new dimension with the joining of the former Speaker, Yakubu Dogara in the war.
Dogara also alleged that the Bauchi State Governor, in 2018, towards his gubernatorial campaigns collected money as support from Wike as Governor of Rivers State then.
The former Speaker made the allegations in a statement he made available to journalists in Bauchi on Tuesday titled: ‘Governor Bala vs HE Wike: Let the Truth be told’.
In the statement, Dogara stated, “Governor Bala Mohammed’s recent outbursts against His Excellency, Nyesom Wike, the Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory though not entirely surprising, have only served to expand the vistas of ingratitude and treachery based on what I know.”
He stressed, “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.”
Yakubu Dogara added, “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.”
The former Speaker added, ”That is just the beginning of the story, I hate to tell but I must. After the emergence of Bala 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.
He stressed, “Initially, I thought it was some kind of a funny joke but as time went, I realised to my utter bewilderment that it was true. It turned out Bala Mohammed had lied to us about his financial capacity. So, we had a meeting at my then residence at Wuse 2, Abuja to help raise money and we thought since Bala Mohammed was one time Minister for nearly six years, he must have built enough goodwill we could harness if we organised a fundraiser for him.
“A committee was put in place and we spent N20 million to organise the fundraiser at the then Lady Kwai Hall, Sheraton Hotels, Abuja. Before then, I had asked Bala Mohammed to give me a list of some of the people he had helped while he held sway as Minister for FCT. He obliged me with the list and after calling just four people on the list that I know so well, what they said to me jolted me and I reserve that for some other day.”
“But suffice to say that I knew the fundraiser will be a flop so I was already thinking of alternatives. And as predicted, we had the fundraiser and to cut the long story short, all we raised from the fundraiser was a paltry N48 million and If you deduct the N20 million invested in organising it, that leaves you with a net of N28 million. I have the records and our stakeholders are there to bear witness to this,” he added.
According to him, ”When it was obvious the masquerade will soon turn to a human being, I told our then two serving Senators who are alive and can testify that the only option we had was to go to a friend and brother, then Governor Wike for assistance. We got tickets and flew to Port Harcourt with Bala Mohammed without informing Wike that we were coming with him.”
He explained further, “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. He 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.”
Yakubu Dogara added that Wike confronted Bala with these issues in the open and in our very presence. Bala admitted and pleaded for forgiveness.
He added, “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.
“Wike therefore gave us the lifeline we needed to kick start Bala’s campaigns.“
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 anything in return or place any condition for all that he did. Believe me, this is not the end of the story but let’s leave it here,” he added.
According to the former Speaker, “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.”
“When Wike was his benefactor, he said he knew Wike had done better than him and referred to him as ‘someone who is courageous, focused and determined, a person qualified and competent to help salvage Nigeria’. His words not mine. Now that Wike cuts off the benefits, he is a dead wood, former friend and a ‘transactional politician’.”
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