As the 2015 general election draws closer, the political atmosphere in Bauchi State is turbo-charged as aspirants engage in a flurry of activities to outwit one another.

By Suzan Edeh

Now, some of them have intensified consultations  with stakeholders, holding mid-night meetings, house-to- house visitations and seeking for endorsements of political god-fathers as a routine.

Another twist is that many politicians have also resorted to defecting to political parties that hold greater prospects for them.

One party that is gradually bracing up to give the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) a showdown in the 2015 election is the All Progressive Congress (APC), which has been working hard to wrest power from the PDP since it came on board.

Tuggar, Gov. Yuguda

APC guber aspirants
As it stands, not less than 10 aspirants in the APC have indicated their interest to contest the governorship position. They include former governorship candidate under the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Mallam Yusuf Maitama Tuggar; Dr Ibrahim Lame, former Minister of Police Affairs; Engr Sadiq Mahmud; Engr. Nuhu Gidado; Senator Nazif Suleiman Gamawa; Barrister Ibrahim Zailani; Muhammad Garba Gadi; Sarki Abdullahi Adamu Dan China; Barrister Husseini Umar and Barrister Muhammad Abubakar.

Senatorial aspirants
Those, who have indicated interest for the senatorial position in Bauchi Central include Senator Mohammed Mohammed, Senator Isa Hamma, Alhaji Bappa Aliyu Misau and Ahmed Ilali.

In Bauchi North, the senatorial contenders are Captain Bala Jibrin, former APC interim National auditor and Alhaji Mustapha Katagum, a retired permanent secretary in the state.

For Bauchi South the contenders are Ali Wakili, a retired senior Customs officer and Lawal Hussein among others.
Most of the aspirants have accused the Yuguda’s administration of poor performance.

One of the strategies the APC has adopted to snatch power from the PDP is checking the alleged excesses of the state government by probing into its activities, particularly finance.

Recently, the state chapter of the party under the Freedom of Information Act 2011, dragged the state government to the State High Court, demanding an explanation on the outstanding government loan.

The suit filed by Musa Idris Hardawa on behalf of the party claimed that the state government is indebted to some financial institutions to the tune of N 8.8 billion and urged the court to compel the state government to explain the N25 billion it allegedly borrowed.

The complainant alleged that the government  took a N15 billion loan to build houses for the former governor, his deputy, the incumbent governor and his deputy, arguing that the defendant had no power to collect such loan and convert same to personal use.

He claimed that the defendant had no means of paying the loans because the state government owes salaries to workers and is unable to settle pensioners’ N10 billion gratuity.
Counsel to APC, Kassim Abdul Hamid said that the party was worried the current government was leaving a huge debt for the incoming government and if the issue was not addressed, it would create a big burden for the incoming government.

Hurdles before APC
In spite of APC’s efforts, a major hurdle before it is managing the uncertainties expected from its primaries. There are fears that differences in ideologies and beliefs among the parties that merged to form the mega opposition may play out.

An APC governorship aspirant, Barrister Muhammad Abubakar, while declaring his governorship intention recently berated the attitude of some APC aspirants belonging to a special group known as the progressive circle.

“Some members of APC known as Progressive Circle  are claiming to have an edge over other aspirants as regards who emerges as our candidate. As a governorship aspirant in the party, I want to refute this false claim by some of us because the party is providing a level playing ground for all aspirants to contest election,” he said.

How APC will contend with the growing number of governorship aspirants in Bauchi State is an issue that the party must resolve before the 2015 election.
A political analyst in the State PDP, Mustapha Garba Muhammed urged the party to handle the issue with care.

He said: “I can vividly recall during the 2011 general   election when the defunct CPC had this challenge. The problem was so serious that we had a situation where more than three governorship aspirants were claiming that they were the flag bears of the party .They sued each other in court and at end of day there was no governorship flag bearer for CPC. In 2015, if APC is not careful, the same thing will repeat itself,” he warned.

However, the newly elected state Chairman, Uba Nana,   said that the party would definitely arrive at a consensus candidate and it was not an issue   for the party to worry about.
According to him, “APC is all about democracy, and this party has its own constitution. The party constitution is there and whatever we are going to do will be guided by the constitution. We will strictly follow the constitution inch-by-inch, step-by-step; we will never go or conduct any of our operations outside the confines of the constitution.

Another factor threatening the unity of APC in Bauchi is the delay in attending to petitions sent to the national secretariat over the unresolved crisis in the state chapter of the party.

A group known as the Grassroots Political Awareness Association (GPAA) in the state said the recently concluded ward, local government and state congresses were marred by irregularities as a result of which, many of the party’s supporters became aggrieved.

Coordinator of the group, Alhaji Tanimu Shehu, who spoke to newsmen   said his group received several complaints about the congresses from APC supporters, and a number of the petitions were sent to the party secretariat in Abuja with copies made available to party elders.

Defections
Another twist to the Bauchi 2015 election is that the quest for political relevance is pushing many not comfortable with the situation in the PDP to defect to the APC. Good as it is for the opposition party, it is only adding to the stress of the party as it contends with the aspirations of its new members.