Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has exposed the pivotal role played by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, in the emergence of Bala Mohammed as Bauchi State governor in 2023.
He spoke, yesterday, against the backdrop of public spat between Wike and Mohammed over the crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Dogara, in an open letter, titled, “Gov. Bala vs Wike: Let the truth be told,” also exposed how Wike bent over backwards to ensure Mohammed got the PDP ticket as well as campaign funds to contest.
The former speaker explained that he was not surprised at Governor Mohammed’s recent outbursts against Wike because of his reputation for ingratitude and treachery.
He said: “As I witness this gross injustice, the questions I ask myself are, is my comfort more important than saying the truth? And is my fear of conflict worth allowing harm to go unchallenged?
“I have learned enough over the years to know beyond reasonable doubt that in the face of situations like this, if I choose to prioritise my comfort, I will fall the victim and fail myself. This is because injustice itself is a festering wound, it only grow its worse when brushed aside.
“As someone who knows so much, because I was the provocateur of the events between the two that I will speak to, I consider my silence not just cowardice but also complicity.
“Therefore, I am not afraid to stand alone or risk conflict. I should not be misunderstood to be defending Wike but simply stating the raw truth that I know and I really don’t give a damn if the truth makes Wike look good.
“I have learnt to say the truth as I enjoy my freedom from being a slave to human opinion. For starters, need I remind Governor Bala Mohammed that in 2018 PDP gubernatorial primaries, when we were not too sure he will win because, his then major opponent, Senator Abdul Ningi, was the one who constituted the state party structure and had a bosom friend as party chairman, it was Wike we turned to for help.
“I had called Wike to plead with him to help us in Bauchi without necessarily disclosing to him that it was Bala Mohammed we wanted delivered.
His response to me was: are you sure you are in control of the process 100 per cent? I said I wasn’t too sure and he said to me, leave it to me, I will help you sort it out.
To do it, Wike first made his bosom friend and close ally, Chief Dan Osi Orbih, the chairman of the panel for the primaries and said I should discuss whatever I wanted with Chief Dan. We got talking and on the eve of the primaries, Chief Orbih was in Benin City and we needed to get him to Bauchi for the assignment.
“It was to Wike that I turned to again and his response to me was, ‘my brother, I have told you not to bother about this. Tell Chief Dan to come to meet me in Port Harcourt.’ I did just that and amazingly, Wike provided the private jet that flew Chief Dan to Bauchi and out of Bauchi for the assignment. I can say without fear of any contradiction that Wike bore all expenses for the exercise.
“It’s, therefore, shocking that this so-called ‘transactional character’ called Wike did not place any condition whatsoever for his support.
“That is just the beginning of the story I hate to tell but I must. After the emergence of Bala Mohammed as the party flag bearer and having promised to sponsor all the party candidates if he gets the ticket, we were rudely awaken to the reality that Bala Mohammed had no money for his own campaigns, let alone other candidates of the party.
Initially I thought it was some kind of a funny joke but as time went, I realised to my utter bewilderment that it was true.
“We had the fundraiser and to cut the long story short, all we raised from the fundraiser was a paltry N48 million and if you deduct the N20 million invested in organising it, that leaves you with a net of N28 million. I have the records and our stakeholders are there to bear witness to this.
Wike rescued Mohammed’s campaign
“I told our then two serving senators who are alive and can testify that the only option we had was to go to a friend and brother, then Governor Wike for assistance. We got tickets and flew to Port Harcourt with Bala Mohammed without informing Wike that we were coming with him.
“On arrival, we were ushered into Government House and asked to take our seats and wait for the governor who was still upstairs to join us shortly.
“As soon as Wike walked down the stairs to join us and saw Bala Mohammed, his visage changed and I noticed he was cold to me for the very first time.
He asked us to join him at the dining room for breakfast but excused me, while those on my delegation waited. What happened next was nerve-racking and humbling, I must say.
“He was like, speaker why did you bring Bala to my house without even caring to find out what our mission was.
“I said to him, I thought he is your friend since both of you served in the same cabinet under President Jonathan. He said to me, ‘let me tell you what you don’t know. When we were ministers, Bala Mohammed allocated plots of land to all ministers except me.
“He also recalled how he humiliated him when he went to see him in his office as a colleague minister, just to get an approval to increase the number of floors on a building he had in Abuja, not to beg for plot which he refused to allocate to him.
‘’He said Bala Mohammed kept him in his waiting room for hours and later sneaked out of the office. That from that day, he made up his mind never to have anything to do with him again.
“He added, ‘I wish, you had told me it’s Bala you were rooting for but whatever you want I will assist you guys because I don’t say no to a brother but I assure you, you will regret your decision if Bala Mohammed becomes governor.’ The rest is history.
He said to me let’s join them at the dining so that I can confront him with these issues for you to know that I am not making things up. We joined them at the dinning and Wike confronted Bala with these issues in the open and in our very presence, Bala admitted and pleaded for forgiveness, assuring that he is now a changed man.
“The two senators with me that day can confirm this to anyone who wants to establish the veracity of these narratives.
“To cut the long story short, we passed the night at Government House and the next morning, Wike called and directed that his cash assistance be handed over to me to pass to Bala. I said, your Excellency, it’s better I call him, so he can collect the assistance himself, least he thinks you are still angry with him.
“I sent for Bala and when he came, Wike’s aide handed over the package to him and he collected it while almost kissing the ground. Wike, therefore, gave us the lifeline we needed to kick-start Bala’s campaigns. If Bala has forgotten how much we left with that day, I will remind him.
“Wike didn’t stop there, he gave us a private jet to ferry us back to Abuja. And I must add that was not the only time Wike helped Bala with resources and logistics. What is baffling is that the so called ‘transactional Wike’ did not demand for anything in return nor place any condition for all he did.”
