President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are allegedly attempting to intimidate opposition figures, according to Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed.
At a press conference, Governor Mohammed asserted that the federal administration was trying to use state institutions, including as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the courts, to persecute Nigerians who do not support their party.
He threatened to declare war if the administration did not stop its acts.
“The APC-led federal government believes they can use the court and the EFCC to prosecute Nigerians who do not belong to their party,” he stated.
“We are ready to declare war if they continue. I promise that we will no longer remain silent. I refuse to be criminalized for refusing to join their party.
He reaffirmed his resolve to speak out against any alleged misuse of power and underlined his unwillingness to join the APC.
On Friday, Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), disclosed that Mohammed visited his home to implore him to postpone the recent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Convention.
Wike claimed that Bala begged him to postpone the convention while the party’s reconciliation efforts proceeded, but he turned down the request.
The revelation was reportedly made by the Minister in Abuja at his monthly media talk.
But he added that the PDP can still have an effect in the 2027 elections and that his faction’s doors are still open to anybody who wish to rejoin.
“It’s not hard to reconcile,” Wike remarked, comparing politics to football. We’ve had disagreements, and this is where you erred, so we’re acting accordingly. Let’s be honest now that we’ve reached this point: there is still time. The PDP is still working to make a difference after the crises.
“We made every effort to help them understand why we need to unite and why we are where we are. Bala Mohammed called my ADC on Tuesday of last week to say he wanted to talk to me and to see me because he had just arrived from Lagos. He stated he would be waiting when I told him I wasn’t in town but would call you when I was.
Naturally, I kept my word and called the next day to let them know that I would not be able to make it since I had to fly to the airport to meet Mr. President. He came to my house at around 11 p.m., and as we were talking, he said, “Look, can we postpone the convention so that we can sit down and discuss?”
“I said, ‘No, that would be wrong because you can’t shoot yourself and expect me to shoot myself too. The court said, ‘Don’t hold this convention. You set up a committee made up of prominent Nigerians and they came up with a resolution to you so that now that the incumbent NWC’s term is almost up, it will help us so that nobody will go in a divided form. You refused that advice and accused the committee you set up of being compromised.
“We did not have a convention; you had one and went back to the Federal High Court in Ibadan to validate it.”
