From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The governor of Bauchi State and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, Bala Mohammed, has said that the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the amendment to the Electoral Act 2022 was in favour of aspirants like him.
According to him, the process of amending the electoral act did not start on time and signing now might go against National Electoral Commission (INEC) guidelines for elections.
Mohammed said this while fielding questions from State House Correspondents after leading a delegation on a thank you visit to the president for inaugurating a N23.5 billion World Bank Assisted Upgraded Bauchi Township Water Supply Scheme.
Some political parties had in recent times pressured President Buhari to assent to the amendment to current Section 84 (8) which provides that delegates to vote at the Indirect Primaries and National Convention of political parties to elect candidates for elections shall be those democratically elected for that purpose only.
The implication is that statutory delegates, such as elected political office holders, political appointees and executive officers of political parties are not eligible to vote at primaries to nominate candidates for the 2023 general election.
The new Section 84 has in effect drastically pruned the number of delegates for party indirect primaries and reduced the financial implications of delegate elections.
Asked how he felt that the President has not signed the Electoral Act, he said: “Well, I’m a realist. I believe that the Electoral Act is a product of the legislative process and that has been done and it was not done earlier and then we have a timeline and guideline of INEC, so we’ll have to manage it.
“I think the less, the merrier as somebody who is in the race. Well, I have less delegates to go and woo, it is better for me than all these 4,000, 5,000 delegates. Anyway, that is my take.”
Asked his chances are at the party’s convention this weekend, Mohammed said: “I wouldn’t want to be subjective and arbitrary in my answers on my chances, but you know my chances. I’m one of you, you are journalists, I was a reporter like you. You know my pedigree, you know my profile. I was like you from the level that you are to anywhere that I have become. And so I signify hope, I know the diversity of this country, I was a civil servant, from level eight to level 17. I was a legislator, and I was here with you, as a member of the Federal Executive Council.
“So, I have garnered the experience and I’m presenting myself with humility. And I believe I have received a lot of good responses from across the country because I have people all over and everywhere. And I understand how to manage and how to run government and governance. So my chances are very high, as well as the chances of others. I’m a Democrat, I don’t believe that I am the best I have always said it. Maybe you are the best you but you have not come on, but I am one of the best too. So the choice is for Nigerians to make. And I don’t want to be preemptive or presumptuous about it. But certainly, I have a very good chance. And if I get the chance, I believe you should see it as your own chance because I represent you in this journey and leadership.”
Asked if he will yield to his former boss and very close ally, President Goodluck Jonathan, should his rumoured plan to dump the opposition party for the ruling party becomes a reality and he runs for the presidency, the Bauchi governor said: “Secondly, on the other aspect of my boss, I have said this severally that my boss is my boss, I have that feeling of gratitude. Even there are people here that I have so much gratitude for, if they’re running for something I will not run. I believe in respect because mentorship is the main thing that we should respect.
“The system of apprenticeship that is being deepened by the Igbos is what we should learn. People should know that you have a boss who will set you free and give you the resources and the capacity. If he (Jonathan) had not fished me out from where I was, I wouldn’t have been in the national limelight. And that’s why I said that if he was running I will not run, but certainly, that time is over because he’s not running.”