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Tag: Bauchi

  • ‘Bauchi has brighter future’

    The Bauchi State governorship flag bearer of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr. Mahmud Abubakar, has said that the state has a brighter future under  a progressive administration.

    He promised to improve agriculture to boost the economy of the state.

    He said, if agriculture is fully developed, farmers will get more yields, adding that the state will benefit from it. He explained  that agricultural development will provide employment opportunities for the youths.

    The APC chieftain said Bauchi is endowed with enormous mineral resources, assuring that his administration will use them judiciously for the development of the state.

    He said the maximum use of the resources will reduce the over-dependence on the monthly federal allocation.

    Abubakar promised to execute other developmental projects in the areas of education, health and women empowerment.

    The flag bearer, who described Bauchi as an APC State, called on the electorate to vote for the party  during the elections.

    He said the party is not unaware of some elements, who go from house to house to collect voters’ cards from people, with the promise of giving them financial and material support.

    Abubakar,  therefore, urged the  people to be wary of such unscrupulous elements to safe guard their voting rights.

    He also urged them to conduct themselves peacefully to avoid the  imposition of curfew as it was done in 2011 elections.

  • Bauchi APC campaign office set on fire

    HOODLUMS early yesterday set fire to the campaign office of All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Bauchi State,Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar. The attack came less than 24 hours after thugs pelted the campaign train of President Goodluck Jonathan with sachet water and stones in the city. The PDP accused APC of instigating the attack on its campaign train. Alhaji Abubakar,the APC governorship candidate said yesterday that the PDP was behind the arson on his campaign office. The online outfit,Premium Times said the assailants struck at Abubakars’s office at about 2am yesterday in three Hilux pick up vans. He called the incident as “unfortunate, barbaric and undemocratic.” “We in APC are not violent people and we are guided by the simple principles of issuebased campaign and not violence. Our peaceful conduct is already giving us an edge over our opponents and we can never resort to violence at any point of our campaign,” he was quoted as saying. THE All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate , General Muhammadu Buhari has promised that Kebbi State will be given all the attention it deserves with a view to accelerating its development. Gen.Buhari who addressed thousands of supporters at Haliru Abdu Stadium in Birnin Kebbi,on Thursday night said that an APC federal government headed by him would address the socio-economic problems currently facing the state and the nation. Emphasis,according to him,will be laid on employment,agriculture ,security and the fight against corruption. “We will adequately improve the welfare of our security personnel and provide them with modern weapons to counter insurgency,” he told the crowd who had waited for him all day until his arrival at 10.09pm. With him were the APC national Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State, House of Reps Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and other top APC national and state officials including the Kebbi State APC governorship candidate Senator Atiku Bagudu . He commended the crowd for their patience waiting for him and said he would not disappoint or fail them. Buhari also promised to improve the welfare of the military and other security personnel in the country ” We will adequately improve the welfare of our security personnel and provide them with modern weapons to counter insurgency.” The national Chairman, Odigie Oyegun described Buhari as an apostle of change and urged the people of the state to vote for APC. Odigie-Oyegun later handed over the APC flag to Senator Bagudu,the governorship candidate . He formally received Senator Muhammadu Magoro,Senator Adamu Aliero,Gen. Tanko Ayuba, former Speaker of the State Assembly, Habib Jega and eight other state legislators who dumped the PDP to join the APC. PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan confirmed yesterday that his younger sister, Mrs. Nancy Jonathan- Olei died of heart-related ailment. Nancy was interned yesterday in her Otuoke, Bayelsa State hometown. The president, who was giving the vote of thanks at her funeral service at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Otuoke, recalled that since his tenure as deputy governor of Bayelsa, Nancy used to go to India for treatment. He said: “Nancy that died is my immediate younger sister, though we are not of the same mother. I was very sad when she died because I knew she had been passing through pains for a very long time. Sometimes I felt God has been really kind to her. “She started developing problems with her heart when I was deputy governor, then I started asking questions. I asked my personal physician where could we treat her; that she had problems with her iota valve. My doctor told me the nearest place to treat her was Ghana. “So, I said we have so many teaching hospitals in Nigeria and none can attempt to work on a human heart. I was worried. But today I am happy that the University of Ibadan is handling open heart surgery.” “We battled with her health and she was taken to India on, and on and for over three years she had been down. When her immediate younger brother died, she could not even attend the burial.” My sister died of heart related ailment, says Jonathan n Augustine EHIKIOYA, Yenegua n WITH the general elections barely three weeks away, a chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Kenneth Ubani, has maintained that the governorship candidate of the party, Dr. Alex Otti, would emerge as the new governor. Ubani, who is also a notable businessman in Aba, said the people of the state, both home and in the Diaspora, are supporting the candidature of Dr. Otti, former Managing Director of Diamond Bank. “Today in Aba metropolis, it is near impossible to connect the various business districts by road, because the roads are not motor-able anyway. “Therefore, we the residents of Aba are fed up with the situation; and that’s why we want a change. We the business men in Aba have resolved to vote Otti for that change, because we know that any vote for the PDP in the next election is a vote for the old order, which we are determined to do away with,” he said. APGA chieftain urges Abia to vote for Otti Boko Haram: US’s Kerry

  • Two killed by gunmen at Bauchi checkpoint

    A soldier and a civilian were yesterday afternoon killed at Takanda-Giwa village on the Bauchi-Jos highway by some unknown gunmen who attacked a checkpoint manned by soldiers. Another civilian was injured.

    The attack, it was learnt, has caused panic on the highway as commuters from Bauchi and Jos were forced to abandon their vehicles and ran for their life’s while some turned back.

    But Unconfirmed report said about five soldiers were killed in the attack while the attackers made away with the soldiers’ operational Toyota Hilux van parked at the checkpoint.

    A Military source  in Bauchi,however, insisted that “a soldier, who was the driver of the van, was killed in the encounter.

    The civilian was caught in the cross fire between soldiers on duty at the checkpoint and the unknown attackers.

    The source observed that the ” the Sunday attack could be retaliatory as security personnel have being chasing the gunmen suspected to be a small cell of the insurgents that were driven away from Balmoral Forest in Darazo local government of Bauchi state last year”.

    He added: “even on Saturday, security operatives chased the gunmen from a certain spot within the area.

    He added that the Army and other security agencies were on top of the situation. More security personnel have been deployed, he added.

  • Bauchi meat factory cuts prices

    Determined to ensure its patrons have a happy new year, Bauchi Meat Products Company yesterday announced Christmas  cut on its products.

    General Manager of the company established in 1961, Dr. Alkasim Ibrahim  informed The Nation that “the company finds it necessary to reduce the price of its products so as  to enable our patrons  to afford the products especially at this period of new year celebration.”

    “In view of this, the management of the company has agreed  to slash twenty percent (20%) on the prices of all our  products with effect from the first day of January, 2015.”

    He congratulated  Nigerians, particularly Bauchi people for witnessing another promising year and appealed to Bauchi people to support the effort s of the present administration to provide more job opportunities to the teeming youths of the state.

     Assuring that the meat company is committed to contributing to  realizing the economic growth of the state, the general manager said the company was still producing below it’s installed capacity due to the economic crunch facing the nation and it’s immediate clients in the state.

    But hopes that 2015 will be much better as the Federal government is taking stern measures to stop the importation of most of the meat products that can be produced within the country.”

    According to Alkasim with the stoppage of these products, we shall have more business and increase our output, our revenue base shall move up, healthy meat shall be in circulation and increase or prolong quality lives of our people.”

  • ‘Power ‘ll shift in Bauchi’

    All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Bauchi State Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar spoke with AUSTINE TSENZUGHUL in Bauchi, the state capital, on his plans for the state and other partisan issues.

    What lessons did you learn from the primary election that produced you as a candidate?

     I thank God for giving me the victory at the primaries of my party. The election that took place was the freest and fairest I have ever witnessed anywhere in the world. The election was conducted on a lawn Tennis Court in Zaranda Hotel. That Tennis court has only one entrance which was manned and guarded by armed soldiers, police and other security operatives, therefore, anybody who alleged that, there was an attempt to snatch ballot boxes. There was nothing like that to mar that election. The voting was done in the presence of everybody and even when some agents of other aspirants raised the issue of excess votes, the Electoral Committee members, before announcing the result, they recounted the votes and discovered where they went wrong and effected the correction on the return sheets. But a three-man Appeal Committee was set up by the party [APC] to investigate and report the truth. The committee came to Bauchi and met with my party officials and the other aspirants while I was away in Lagos. But, when I came back I was shown some of the petitions and I answered them to the best of my knowledge sincerely. That Appeal Committee has written its report and as far as the report is concerned, the committee did not find anything wrong with the election.

     Therefore, I am the governorship candidate of APC in Bauchi State. There can’t be two candidates and I’m the only candidate of the party which the National Headquarters of the party has confirmed, and that is why I went out today. I have done this in order to prove to the world and any doubting Thomas that the people of Bauchi state are with me and APC has approved of my candidature. I’m sure you witnessed the fact that, that crowd today was unprecedented and I have been in this town for so many years and I have never seen such crowd. I was the head of Legal Drafting Committee of Bauchi State House of Assembly during the Second Republic, and during third Republic, I was the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the state during Dahiru Mohammed Deba of National Republican Convention, so I know the kind of politics that took place then. There was never a time when a candidate of any political came out and the entire Bauchi state capital came to a stand-still for good six hours. There was no movement because of the support of the people and I thank God for that. If anybody is looking for evidence that APC is on ground in Bauchi state, that was it and that means my candidature is widely accepted by the people of Bauchi state after the APC members have spoken at the primaries. Today, the entire people of Bauchi state came out en mass to welcome me after I came back. There is no better testimony better or more than the acceptance of my candidature.

    Are you not threatened by the PDP’s formidable structure?

     I doubt, if the PDP will ever pose any threat to me in Bauchi state. The PDP as you have seen today, as far as I’m concerned is nonexistent in the state. We have done it before in 2007, we defeated an incumbent governor when he contested for Bauchi South Senate seat, and defeated his candidate who contested for the state governorship, so we are going to repeat that feat. Now, more than the 2007, all the requirements for a clean sweep exist in Bauchi state for the APC and we are going to sweep PDP out of Bauchi state. You now have the evidence that Nigerians are yearning for a positive change.

     What is your reaction to the media report that you are being sponsored by  Governor Isa Yuguda?

    Of course, I have never heard any nonsensical lies more than that. I became the Bauchi state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in 1990 when Yuguda then was a lowly staff in the Federal Mortgage Bank. He was not the governor of Bauchi state then. There is no way I could have been his Attorney-General and he introducing me to politics as claimed by that reporter with the Leadership newspaper, there is no blatant lie more than that. I contested for the Bauchi South Senatorial seat and everybody thought he was supporting me when I joined, PDP but you remember what happened. If Yuguda was my friend and sponsor, he would have sponsored me to go to the Senate. He started with a trick when we were supposed to go for the contest to fill the vacant seat for Bauchi South after Senator Bala Mohammed was appointed FCT minister. There was no election, at the venue as the candidates merely gambled. But I don’t win at gambles. I don’t gamble, because I don’t win and that is my nature. During the proper primary election in 2011, Yuguda made it look as if he was supporting me but a day to the primaries he withdrew his support and everybody knew how much I spent and what I put in, if he is my friend he wouldn’t have abandoned me mid way.

     There is no iota of truth that Yuguda is sponsoring me. From the time I contested the primaries to date I have not had any relationship with PDP or Yuguda. However, as a Muslim any time I meet with him, I greet him. I met him at a Mosque when some books were being launched and I greeted him because he is the governor of Bauchi state my governor. Even if anybody does not like it, he is the governor of the state and we are respecting the office of the governor and not Yuguda. Recently, I met him at a Friday Mosque behind Government House, he walked to that place through the back door of the Government House for his Juma’at prayers. I drove from my House in company of my Campaign Organization, Deputy Director General, Alhaji Salisu Azare and after the prayers we greeted and left him, entered my car, but my detractors were busy telling the world that Yuguda went to my house and gave me a lift to the Mosque. There is no truth in that. We are Muslims and there is no way I will see him in the Mosque and refuse to pray or go back because Isa Yuguda is in the same Mosque.

     What is your relationship with Governor Yuguda?

     I do not have any relationship with Gov. Isa Yuguda except the relationship that my religion enjoined me to have whenever I meet with him. Before 2011 he was my friend. We were in the University together. I was in the university with Dr. Ibrahim Lame, though he was my senior and he has been a friend. Almost all the APC aspirants were at one time or the other friends with Isa Yuguda. Engineer Mohammed Umar Gambo was my classmate in the School of Basic Studies, Barrister Ibrahim Zailani is also a friend to Yuguda and many others. To others it is not an issue but when I, Mohammed Abubakar is involve that it becomes an issue, but you know why. What these people fail to understand is that God Almighty does not make mistakes, my victory was not a mistake, and it will never be a mistake because it is from Almighty Allah. If anybody is challenging my victory, he is not challenging me, but he is challenging Almighty Allah.

     Do you have plans to reconcile with aggrieved aspirants?

     Yes I have. Three of them came and congratulated me and pledged their support. The other three are Engineer Nuhu Gadido, Engineer Mohammed Gambo Umar, Comrade Abdullahi Ningi and Hon. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar. The others who feel more aggrieved I have not rejected them. I’m making efforts to get them on board because I know I have huge task ahead of me and will require everybody, especially the aspirants’ support to achieve our collective aim, which is to take the state out of its present doldrums. I intent to rally round all the aspirants, starting with state and national assembly’s aspirants to be able to move the state forward.

     What would be your priority as the governor, if elected?

    My first priority would be to bring back the economy of the state on stream. Bauchi is one of the most indebted states in Nigeria today, but our Internally Generated Revenue is nothing to write home about, so there is need to address the issue of state finance. But if I have reasons to probe Yuguda’s administration But Certainly I will not make an issue of it like it did with Ahmed Mu’azu only for the administration to sweep the recommendations under the carpet. I will do that quietly, so that I will get the diverted Bauchi state government resources back for the people.

  • Bauchi PDP gov. candidate donates N30m to Bauchi market bomb victims

    Bauchi PDP gov. candidate donates N30m to Bauchi market bomb victims

    Bauchi state Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate Hon. Auwal Mohammed Jatau yesterday donated thirty million Naira to victims of last Monday bomb blast in the Bauchi Central Market, in the state capital.

    He also assured them of a better life if elected in the February 2015 governorship election in the state.

    The governorship candidate made the donation and gave the assurance when he visited the traders’ leadership after inspecting the damage caused by the bomb explosion said to have been caused by a suicide bomber last Monday at 6 pm.

    Seventeen persons lost their lives in the incident while  50 others sustained different degrees of injuries with millions of Naira also lost to the fire that followed the blast.

    Jatau who was briefed on the bomb explosion by the Bauchi Cetral Market traders’ chairman Alh. Adamu Musa Noma, described the incident as “unfortunate, barbaric and inhuman.”

    He prayed for those who lost their lives in the bombing, condoled with the deceased families, but asked the injured and those who lost their wares to have faith in Almighty Allah, who gives and takes.

    he Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital,Bauchi.

    Meanwhile, Gov. Isa Yuguda has informed that, Bauchi state government will be responsible for the payment of hospital bills for those receiving treatment at ATBUTH.

  • 2015: Tension as police intercept 1500 ballot boxes in Bauchi

    2015: Tension as police intercept 1500 ballot boxes in Bauchi

    • INEC says there is no cause for alarm

    Tension swept through Bauchi State political space yesterday following the interception of a truck load of 1550 ballot boxes expected to be used in next year’s elections.

    The transparent white empty ballot boxes were yesterday intercepted on the Darazo -Dukku road, 110 kilometres from the state capital, by state security operatives.

    Described as non-sensitive INEC electoral materials, the boxes were found in a 24 feet container trailer with registration number plate, Abuja XE784 ABJ driven by one Mohammed Shaidu.

    The consignment, according to Shaidu, was destined for Gombe State.

    Rumour soon spread that the boxes were stuffed with thumb printed ballot cards.

    To douse the tension, the police opened the boxes in the presence of police, state security and INEC officials, reporters and representatives of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Police Area Command head office Bauchi.

    The state Police spokesman DSP Haruna Mohammed appealed to the public to always cross check their information to avoid being misinformed.

    Contacted last night, Mr. Kayode Idowu, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, said there was no cause for alarm.

    He confirmed that the boxes indeed belong to the commission and were being moved by the contractor to the states ahead of next year’s elections.

    Idowu said the contractors ought to have got security escorts for the consignment and has been directed to seek such escorts for the remaining consignment.

    The driver of the truck said “about 30 vehicles carrying the same materials and quantity have gone to other states in the Northeast.”

    He expressed shock for his ‘detention’ when all the security men should have done was to cross-check from INEC after “I presented my waybill.”

    Aliyu Sa’idu Abubakar, Bauchi State Organiser, Buhari Campaign Organization said: “we in APC have not accused anybody but we want to be sure that things are properly done; no more business as usual. Our people, progressive Nigerians, have to be vigilant.”

    Meanwhile, the truck has since been released.

  • Dream Team to play Wikki in friendly tie in Bauchi Dec 11

    Dream Team to play Wikki in friendly tie in Bauchi Dec 11

    Chief Coach of the Nation’s U-23 team, Samson Siasia has urged soccer loving Nigerians to assist him in moulding a team that would be able to qualify for all the tournaments they have entered to play.

    In a chat with SportingLife in Abuja shortly after paying a condolence visit to Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Abuja Chapter who lost a vibrant member Ramsey Ugele solicited for Nigerians support to lead the team to successes.

    “It is beg that I am begging every Nigerian especially, you the press guys. You must support us to succeed so that we avoid what happened with the Super Eagles that failed to qualify for next year’s Nations Cup.

    “We are not resting at all in searching for the right kind of players. We will not rest until we see the players we are looking for. And I can tell you that we have made serious progress and by the time the elimination begins we should have gotten the best players,” he said.

    The Dream Team V1 have been engaged in series of friendly matches with some Abuja based football clubs and have so far won all the matches. The team would be taking on newly promoted club to the Nigeria Premier League, Wikki Tourist of Bauchi in yet another friendly match in Bauchi in December 11, 2014.

    Samson Siasia will be hoping to repeat the feat he achieved when he led the then Nation’s U-23 team to winning silver at the football event of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Before then he led the Nation’s U-20 team to winning silver at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands.

    Dream Team have been undergoing screening of players in Abuja ahead of the 2015 All Africa Games and the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

  • Bomb blast in Bauchi, several dead

    A bomb blast has been reported in Azare, Bauchi state on Sunday evening.

    A female suicide bomber was said to have blown herself up at a mobile phone market killing several people, witnesses said.

    Commissioner of Police in the state, Lawal Shehu, who confirmed the blast said rescue operation was in progress.

  • Senator withdraws from Bauchi governorship race

    Senator withdraws from Bauchi governorship race

    Mixed reactions have trailed the withdrawal of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed from the governorship race in Bauchi State.

    For three and half years, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain has been holding consultations with stakeholders on the ambition.

    When ministers who have ambition resigned from the Federal Executive Council (FEC), Mohammed did not resign, fueling suspicion that he has stepped down from the race.

    There was enthusiasm among the people that a people-friendly politician would take over from Governor Isa Yuguda. They felt the minister would bring his wealth of experience to bear on governance in the state.

    For his kinsmen, who believe he would emerge as the flag bearer, the withdrawal is worrisome.

    A 70 year-old indigene,  Haruna Usman Duguri ,who lost two sons to snake bites on his farms in 2013, described the withdrawal as an ill-wind.

    He said: ’’My sons  Abba  26 and Abdullahi 20 years had gone to harvest sugarcane and pick beans, were bitten by snake and they died because of lack of medical attention.  But, we have all along been thinking that, when our son, the Kauran Bauchi, becomes the governor, he will build a hospital for us or find a way of killing the snakes so that we can return to our farms again.

    “But, we are disappointed now that he can’t be our governor, and we don’t think any of the aspirants will help us,if he wins the election, even if come out here in Duguri District to vote for him”.

    Another indigene, Alhassan Ibrahim, who is from Shafa village, said: “We are all devastated because, you only benefit from government project today, if you have a ‘’big man’’ in the government who belongs to the influential group and who attract  the benefits of democracy. I

    “ was particularly hoping that, if Kauran Bauchi wins the governorship, he will help us get compensation or some form of relief from Yankari Game Reserve management for the massive destruction done to our water mellon, sugarcane, corn and other farm products by elephants yearly, since he is from here.”