Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has said he will not spare his predecessor, Alhaji Muhammed Abubakar, if he finds him guilty of misappropriation funds while in office.
He said this while answering questions from journalists at the Government House shortly after his return from Abuja following his affirmation as duly elected governor by the Supreme Court.
He said, “I have always drawn a line but in the course of governance, if I find that there is any where the government and people of Bauchi have been shortchanged, I won’t let it go because nobody spared me when I left FCT. I was the most investigated person in Nigeria and I dare anybody to tell me any account where I kept money which warranted that investigation.”
The former FCT minister described the court cases by the All Progressives Congress and its candidate challenging his victory as “great distractions.”
“The court processes were great distractions, to me, they were uncalled for. I wouldn’t have dislodged him if not for the will of God and the mandate given to me by the people. I didn’t have the wherewithal that was why I consider it very painful. But painful as it was, I am ready to forgive because that is the expression of democracy.”
He promised to conduct local government elections in the state within the next six months, after 13 years of not doing so.
The governor said, “We have already laid down our agenda for the state in terms of developmental plans and we have our executive council in place. Next week, we will have a retreat with all our political appointees and we want to enshrine democracy.
“In the next four to six months, we will hold local government election in the state so that the common man will be able to have a choice, and we will do that with minimal cost not, in the way it was done in the past. It was a process of defrauding the people of Bauchi State.
“We will do everything possible to make a difference; we will do everything possible to set a new epoch of doing things. We will be transparent and we want you to be telling us the truth, not to be praise singing because that has been the problem of leadership.”