PDP: Bala Mohammed blasts Northern Elders Forum’s spokesman over consensus candidacy
Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, has responded to the spokesman of Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who said in a statement on Sunday that the NEF did not endorse any consensus candidate for the PDP in the north.
Mohammed said it smacks of insubordination for the NEF spokesman to issue a statement after their chairman, Prof Abdullahi, has taken a position on the matter.
He insisted that Abdullahi acted on behalf of the NEF, even though not all members of the organisation were invited to participate in the process of choosing the consensus candidates.
The governor noted that the committee was not a party affair but a community affair.
He said rather than being criticised, the Northern elders should be commended for their selfless effort in ensuring they choose a candidate for the North.
Lambasting the NEF spokesman for the statement, Mohammed stated that what Baba Ahmed said was his personal opinon, adding that “he cannot speak on the behalf of what his chairman has already said.”
The governor continued: “It is a sign of insubordination and I find it unbecoming because if the chairman comes up with a statement on behalf of the organization, it is really unbecoming for the secretary to come and issue a statement disowning it.
“Maybe there were some premonitions permutation or expectation that this consensus will work for others or someone other than myself”.
He further dismissed allegations by his Sokoto State counterpart, Aminu Tambuwal, that voting was done on the day they went to Minna for the outcome of the result.
He added that the committee had started voting since the two weeks period they met the former military president, Ibrahim Babangida.
He said as much as they gave Babangida the sole decision to choose among them who was best to be the consensus candidate, the former military president engaged the NEF because he wanted to expand the process.
He said Tambuwal backed out of the consensus deal because he probably had a premonition that it wouldn’t work in his favour.
“So maybe he had an expo and a free knowledge of premonition of what would happen and he decided to back out, but certainly, I respect his opinion and feelings,” Mohammed noted.
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