As the countdown to April poll approaches, Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State yesterday warned President Goodluck Jonathan that some Abuja-based stalwarts of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are plotting protest votes in the state.
He accused the PDP leaders of romancing the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
He, however, said that despite internal opposition within the PDP in the state, he will still win.
Yuguda, who also gave insight into the zoning politics in the PDP in an interview with select newsmen in Abuja , also assured that the North might produce the president in 2015.
He alleged that ex-Governor Ahmed Muazu and the Minister of FCT, Bala Mohammed were the arrow-heads of the planned protest votes against PDP in Bauchi State .
He said: "Now, these Abuja-based politicians are fighting me. They are in PDP in Abuja but members of the Action Congress in Bauchi State . They said they can vote for anybody in Bauchi but as for me power belongs to God.
"During the presidential primary election of the PDP, they induced some members of the state House of Assembly and other party members to vote against President Goodluck Jonathan so that I can be disgraced. As God would have it, I still delivered.
"These people in Abuja put roadblocks on my way; they did not want me to come back to the party. At a point, they demanded 70 per cent seats in government. I have no reason to fight PDP because I was a two-term minister of the PDP; I have lived in peace with the PDP."
In his reaction last night, the Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, said Yuguda has a problem. The minister, who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Nosike Ogbuenyi, said he does not engage in anti-party activities.
He said: "Those claims by Yuguda, if you appraise them one by one, you will definitely come to the conclusion that the man has a problem because nobody occupying such an exalted office can nor
mally resort to such gutter language.
"Yuguda's claim in that respect is totally false because if not for those persons mentioned, PDP would have long died in Bauchi State as a result of Yuguda's politics of exclusion, vindictiveness and pettiness."
On zoning policy, Yuguda said going from internal understanding within the PDP, the North may produce the nation’s president in 2015.
He added: "And in 2015, the power is coming back to the North, that is by PDP arrangement.
"Mr. President has said it in Abuja and he has clarified that he will spend only a term in office. So, zoning is a reality and that is why there is Federal Character Principle in the constitution."
On why northern governors are backing Jonathan, Yuguda said it is in the interest of keeping the country united.
He said: "We want the stability of our country and that is why we are insisting on President Jonathan. The President is from the South-South. As for we northerners, our politics has been the same with the South-South.
‘If we have played politics together for 50 years, why should we bend the alliance this time? It is pay-back time for the northerners and when the time comes for you to return the trust, you should return the trust.
"If our parents have been allies of the South-South, why should we break the alliance? I am not sentimental but I feel that I am duty bound to reciprocate the gestures of the South-South.
"If ex-President Shehu Shagari and the late President Umaru Yar’Adua from the North used the South-South votes to win the presidential election in 1999 and 2007, why should we deny their son a four-year term?
"One, power belongs to God and God has so destined that our late father, ex-President Umaru Yar’Adua , would die in office and that President Goodluck Jonathan would inherit the mandate for one year, one month before the elections. Given that situation and the fact that he is a Nigerian, the constitution permits the President to vie for the office. And if the constitution permits him, every other thing becomes irrelevant. So, constitutionally, he has the right.
"Secondly, it is not easy for any President to complete his programmes in one term. The Yar’Adua-Jonathan administration has started programmes, like the Almajiri programme. Mr. President is already implementing it and he needs another term to complete some of these programmes.
"Thirdly, that man(Jonathan) has the capacity to lead the nation. He is a PhD holder, well-schooled and he was loyal to his boss. What is important is what a President will deliver to Nigerians rather than sentiments.
"God says we should choose leaders that are just and equitable, not somebody who is a terror and unjust as a Muslim.
"Even though I don’t know President Jonathan, I have not come close to him but the only thing is that I have assessed him as a leader who can move this nation forward."
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