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Tag: Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow

  • It’s no fun governing Adamawa, says Bindow

    Amidst intra-party opposition mounted mostly by fellow All Progressives Congress (APC) party men who aspired against him for the party’s governorship  ticket in last October’s primary election,  the state governor, Senator Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow, said Thursday that governing the state is a difficult  task.

    Only on Wednesday, Bindow’s closest challenger to the governorship ticket of the party in that primary, Ahmed Mahmood (Modi) and his frontline supporter, Babachir Lawal, had addressed the media, asserting that Bindow is not qualified for the APC’s ticket in view of a certificate forgery allegation against him, and that the party would lose the state if Bindow remained the flag bearer. Similarly, Bindow’s other challenger in the party’s governorship primary election held in October 2018, Nuhu Ribadu, who had always questioned the primary election that produced Bindow as the standard bearer for the March 2019 governorship election, had indicated his unwillingness to support Bindow when he handed his re-branded campaign offices and cars to President Muhammadu Buhari for his presidential re-election campaign.

    Making an indirect reference to the criticism against his government and candidacy of the APC  at a function Thursday in Yola, Bindow said governing the state  is no tea party and that he is too preoccupied with the difficult issues of governance to bandy words with opposition.

    Speaking at the inauguration of Next Level, a campaign programme initiated for him and President Muhammadu Buhari by a support group, Home Front, Bindow said, “I am focused at leaving a legacy behind. I have seen that some people must find things to say against me. I won’t join issues with them. I just want to face what I am here for. There are things I am doing that were not seen before. It is daunting governing Adamawa. When people talk as if it is easy, I laugh; but God brought me in and has been finding ways for me.”

    Read Also: Bindow presents N230bn for 2019 fiscal year

    Reporters sought his attention after the Home Front event at the City Green Hotel in Jimeta, Yola, on the claim by Modi that he (Modi) could still beat him to the APC ticket, and the assertion by Babachir that APC would lose Adamawa if it fields him (Bindow) as the governorship candidate because of issues surrounding his secondary school certidicate, Bindow abstained from a direct comment, saying the case is in court; but a former National Vice Chairman of the APC (Northeast), Dr Umaru Duhu, had addressed the media earlier in the day, accusing Babachir of anti-party activity and seeking his expulsion from the party.

    Duhu said during the briefing at the Correspondents’ Chapel in Yola Thursday morning, “Primaries of the party were conducted at all levels. A loyal party man, whether he benfitted or not, should wish his party to win general elections at all levels by embracing the candidates that were elected. It beats my imagination that somebody in the caliber of BD (Babachir David) Lawal who was the second national vice chairman of this party after me will come out to say that APC will lose Adamawa if Bindow is fielded as the candidate. It’s sad and I feel I owe it as a duty to reply Mr BD Lawal and to say it is tantamount to anti-party activity punishable under the laws of the APC.”

    Duhu said however that he is satisfied that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which has the power to disqualify candidates, had certified Bindow fit for the APC governorship candidacy, and appealed to Adamawa people to vote for him come March for a second term as governor.

  • Bindow presents N230bn for 2019 fiscal year

    Governor Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow of Adamawa State has presented a  budget proposal of N230.9 billion for the 2019 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly.
    Fifty-five percent of the proposal is for capital projects while the balance of 45 percent is for recurrent expenditure.
    Presenting the budget on Tuesday, Bindow specified that of the total N230, 989,412,375,  the sum of N127,494,176,800 would be spent on development projects while N103,495,235,575 would take care of recurrent expenditures.
     
    Bindow said the fiscal proposal, christained Budget of Next Level, would be applied to consolidate on the ‘massive’ development projects that his administration has executed since he became governor three and a half years ago.
     
    Bindow who is particularly credited with good road networks in the state capital, Yola, and other major towns across the state, assured the House of Assembly that the proposed budget would be used to execute yet more development projects.

    Read Also: I became governor by destiny – Bindow

     
    “I thank you for the good partnership  we’ve always had. We will continue to justify the confidence that you have reposed in us,” Bindow told the members of the House of Assembly. 
     
    Responding, the House Speaker, Kabiru Mijinyawa, said the House would give the fiscal proposal accelerated deliberations.
     
    And as if to prove his commitment to that promise, he promptly presided over a second reading of the proposal before the governor was ushered out of the Assembly.
     
    The speaker who addressed pressmen immediately after the sitting, said the proposal would pass to appropriate  committees within the week and that the House intended to conclude legislative proceedings on the proposal before this month runs out.