Bauchi State

Buhari flags off first northern oil exploration in Bauchi and Gombe

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

President Muhammadu Buhari is all set to flag off the exploration of oil exploration in Gombe and Bauchi states. The historic event is the first of its kind in the northern part of the country.

Amidst very tight security, the president and his entourage arrived in Bauchi on Tuesday, 22nd November, 2022 for the ground- breaking ceremony and inauguration of the first oil drilling in Northern Nigeria.

The ceremony is set to take place at the OPLs 809 and 810 sites in Kolmani, a border community between Bauchi and Gombe State.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, had announced the discovery of oil in commercial volume in October 2019. Crude oil, gas were said to be discovered in the Kolmani River region at the community between Bauchi and Gombe State.

On the needless war of billboards in Bauchi

By Mukhtar Jarmajo

Indubitably, Bauchi State is one of the hottest political spots in Nigeria. With a very volatile electorate, the state has remained one to watch whenever Nigerians are to go to the polls. More so, especially in recent times, the opposition in Bauchi state is hardly passive. In most cases, the government in power is challenged by a strong opposition which, from recent experience, the latter defeats the former at the polls. 

For instance, in 2015, the then-opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated the ruling Peoples` Democratic Party (PDP), culminating in the emergence of M. A. Abubakar as the governor of Bauchi state. And in 2019, the now-ruling PDP succeeded in ousting the APC from power. Such is the case of Bauchi State, where the electorate is apparently democratically well exposed, so much so that the political landscape is as undulating as it is sophisticated.  

And as Nigerians walk to the polls next year, the political temperature in Bauchi state is already rising, with the two main governorship contenders working hard to outdo each other. However, instead of issues to characterize the electioneering campaigns where the government in power will try to convince the electorate that it has performed well, just as the opposition APC will try to show the electorate how the former has not done well, it beats even the wildest imaginations that politicians in the state have resorted to destroying the billboards of their opponents. There is obviously no need for that.

The PDP-led government in Bauchi state can present its performance sheet to the electorate with a view to convincing the people how it delivered all the promises it made ahead of the 2019 governorship election. It should tell the world how it impacted the lives of the people. On the basis of indices, let the world learn how governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed has not failed to transform education, agriculture, healthcare delivery, transportation, roads, security and the civil service in the almost past four years. 

And for the opposition APC, let it convincingly tell the good people of Bauchi state how the PDP-led administration has failed. Also, on the basis of indices, it should prove that it can do better by presenting reasons, amongst which should be the credentials of its standard bearer, Sadique Baba Abubakar. Let the world know how the erstwhile Chief of Air Staff met the Nigerian Air Force in almost the same situation Bauchi state is in today and turned around matters only to leave it a better place. 

In essence, rather than develop primitive tendencies, politicians in Bauchi state can focus on issues so that the electorate can know who is the best and can therefore make informed decisions on election day. After all, democracy is about the people in terms of their well-being and general development. 

Jarmajo wrote from Wuse, Abuja. 

Bauchi Governor directs LG Executives to step down

Muhammad Sabi’u

Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed has ordered the 20 local government council chairmen, as well as their assistants, councillors, and secretaries to resign.

This is contained in a statement signed by Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mukhtar Gidado, in Bauchi on Saturday.

The development is in accordance with the Local Government System Establishment and Administration of LG Councils Law of Bauchi State, 2013 as amended. 

He said that on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 the affected officials had been instructed to turn over control of their offices to the heads of administration of their various councils while new elections would be held or caretaker committees would be formed.

The Local Government System Establishment and Administration of Local Government Councils Law of Bauchi State 2013, as modified, was cited by the governor’s aide as the legal basis for the action.

“His Excellency, the governor thanked the outgoing chairmen, deputy chairmen, councilors, and secretaries for the services rendered to the state and wished them success in their future endeavors,” the statement said.

In remembrance of Alhaji Babayo Mustapha

By Mallam Musbahu Magayaki

On Thursday, 11 August 2022, my elder brother and I went to charitably donate a mini solar inverter under the auspices of Babayo Mustapha Charity Foundation, founded by Bello Mustapha (Kogunan Katagum), to a mosque behind “Gidan Babale”.

Patiently, we waited for a while before Mallam showed up in order to inform him of the donation we had brought about by this foundation aimed at helping the vulnerable, low-income, and most importantly, upgrading the true religion of Allah (Islam) by contributing to what is needed in rendering religious services based on the foundation’s economic status.

As Mallam came out of his house to attend to us, we sat faithfully before him and exchanged pleasantries, after which we briefed him of what had brought us there. After giving him all the details, he agreed to receive the package but insisted that he wanted to know the actual donor, to which we reluctantly replied that it was Bello Mustapha (Kogunan Katagum), the son of the late Alh. Babayo Mustapha.

Upon hearing that famous name, Babayo Mustapha, he asked us to sit down properly. He wanted to share a good testimony of the late Alh Babayo Mustapha’s acts, which he didn’t want to reveal to anyone, including his family and friends during his life.

Mallam starts by saying that the deceased provided the plot of land where that mosque was built. And he was the first religiously concerned individual who began laying the mosque’s foundation up to its completion. He extensively went on to state that there were several mosques within and outside Katagum built by the late Alh. Babayo Mustapha. But he didn’t want the mosque preservers to tell the general public that he was the person who built them.

Sincerely, Mallams’ words keep ringing in my ears, demonstrating what the late Alh. Babayo Mustapha left behind are seemingly following in their father’s footsteps by taking over from where he ceased. In the sense that they are fully committed to rendering all sorts of religious contributions in the likeness of their late father.

In conclusion, I pray for the late Alhaji Babayo Mustapha to have the highest place in Jannah for promoting his religion. And I would like to equally encourage those he left behind to continue stepping up their efforts in doing similar religious services as their father.

Mallam Musbahu Magayaki writes from Sabon Fegi, Azare.

KDDI rallies youth to shun drug abuse

By Mallam Musbahu Magayaki

On Monday, August 1, 2022, a community organisation known as Katagum Division Development Initiative (KDDI) launched one of its planned programs titled “Awareness on Drug Abuse” at Jama’are Local Government Area of Bauchi State. Several inhabitants of Jama’are communities joined the KDDI youths during the campaign rally.

Jama’are NDLEA officers, local government representatives, Nigerian Red Cross representatives, and social welfare representatives participated in the event. The program was observed at Wabi Academy, major streets, market places, and the Emirs’ Palace.

The Emir, Alhaji Nuhu Ahmed Wabi Mni, was highly impressed with the organisation’s effort. He urged the people of the Katagum community to support the fight against drug abuse.

The organisation calls on the general public to join them in achieving their goals.

Bauchi plans security outfit to tackle insecurity

By Muhammad Aminu

Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, disclosed that the state had finished preparation that would enable it to establish state-owned security outfit to tackle banditry and other crimes.

Mohammed said this when he paid a condolence visit to the family of a 75-year-old Jauro Katu Mai Dakkuna who was killed by bandits while kidnapped in Shafa community of Alkaleri Local Government Area.

According to him, the State is making arrangement to recruit over 2000 youths that will man the security outfit across the 20 LGAs of the state to safeguard lives and properties.

The Governor alleged that the bandits that operated in the area have local collaborators.

“There was no how somebody from somewhere in Zamfara would visit that secluded place of Shafa hamlet to kill somebody unless he has an informer and collaborator. As the security agencies have always said, such thing could not happen without collaboration with some obnoxious elements within us.

“We have to fear God in all our dealings, we have already requested the two district heads to make sure they become circumspect, to look inward because we too were looking so that they can arrest all these issues of compromise, information being given to the bandits.

“Reports reaching me the day before was some locals were supplying foodstuff to the bandits in the forests, so we are aware of such retrogressive tendencies, there are some few dissident security operatives that are compromising with the bandits.

“So, we are requesting the commissioner of police and the brigade commandant to effect a change or redeployment of the guards here who have over stayed in their duty posts to have been conniving with the bandits,” he said.

He assured residents that a feedback mechanism will be put in place to improve the security situation.

“We are establishing a system of feedback, and I had some people within us are even feeding the bandits in their secluded places by giving them grains and flour to feed, that is the report I got, and we are going to take measures against such people wherever they are and no matter how close they are to us,” he stressed.

The Governor advised the people to give the government information through their local authorities such as the LG chairman, councilors, district, village and ward heads for prompt action to prevent any breakdown of law and order.

NNPP EXCO in Bauchi rejects suspension of state chairman

By Muhammad Sabiu

The North East Zonal Secretary of the New Nigeria People Party, Babayo Liman, attempted to suspend Alhaji Sani Shehu Sanin Mallam, the party’s state chairman, in Bauchi.

However, State Working Committee of the party rejected the move. The suspension was announced yesterday and was alleged to result from the chairman’s efusal to accept the query issued to him.

Speaking at the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Secretariat in Bauchi on Wednesday, Barrister Mohammed Mohammed, the Party’s State Legal Adviser, said that the Zonal Secretary’s action was invalid and in violation of the party’s constitution.

He said “Liman and his cohorts didn’t follow due process”, and had no constitutional right to suspend any executive council member.

“If any member of the State Executive Committee of the party is accused of any wrongdoing, a disciplinary committee must be set up to investigate, give the accused [a] fair hearing by giving him the opportunity to defend himself and submit recommendations before taking any action and they didn’t do anything like that.

“Since nothing was done to authenticate their action, it is null and void we the executives are with our chairman and we will not allow unconstitutional action of any member to cause confusion in the party,” Mohammed said.

He reiterated that Sani Shehu Sanin Mallam remains the Chairman of NNPP in Bauchi State.

Tragedy as husband nearly loses wife, baby, in hands of quack doctor in Bauchi

By Muhammad Sabiu

A husband in Misau town of Misau Local Government Area in Bauchi State, Ismail Ahmad Misau, has recounted his worst ordeal involving an ill-qualified doctor at Misau General Hospital. The doctor performed an unsuccessful post-partum surgery on Mr Ahmad’s wife without the husband’s or her family’s consent.

The wife, Khadija Muhammad, was admitted to Misau Town Maternity, after which she was referred to Misau General Hospital on July 4.

Speaking to The Daily Reality, Mr Ahmad lamented that he had found himself in a state of misery since then, adding that things are only worsening as his wife has been in a coma for about one week.

“After she was taken to the ward room, I was instructed to get out. Also, the person taking care of her was asked to move to the laboratory. Khadija was left alone in the room. Afterwards, as we sat down, we heard a cleaner shouting, asking where her caregiver was. We entered and found that Khadija had fallen from the bed in a coma. She was then quickly given an eclampsia injection.

The unprofessional doctor injured my baby—husband

“At 10 am, I was called from the hospital. We were asked to get some drugs. We did as instructed. After one hour, drugs were again needed. I was still asked to get drugs for the third time. On my way, I got a call that she had delivered a baby, but not by herself.

A doctor checked her and found that her unborn baby had died, so she could not deliver it. So, the doctor used a metallic object to eject the baby forcefully. Unfortunately, in trying to remove it, the baby got injured in the face, hand and leg. However, it later mysteriously turned out that the baby did not pass on, contrary to the doctor’s claim.”

Khadija’s life is at risk

“Khadija had been bleeding since then. I was told that she needed a blood transfusion. She first consumed two bags, two bags again, and another one afterwards. Still, the bleeding did not stop. The doctor then administered Tranexamic Acid (1 ample). Unfortunately, it wasn’t available in the whole of Misau. Before I returned to the hospital, I was told that the doctor had taken her into the operation room because, according to him, her womb had developed some issues (either cut or damaged). Therefore, the womb had to be stitched or completely removed before the bleeding could stop. Otherwise, she could die at any moment, according to him.

“On arrival at the hospital, I stopped and asked him why he would perform the surgery without scanning. He still answered that further delay could lead to my wife’s death. I still asked what he had discovered after the surgery. He said the womb was fine and that he had sorted the problem he found. After she was relocated to another unit, it took him about 40 minutes to attend to her again despite her acute condition. She had to be put on an oxygen mask.

“Since then, she has not been urinating because, as claimed by the doctor, she has developed a kidney problem,” Mr Ahmad recounted.

A 7-man delegation arrived in Misau

After subsequent development, the victim’s husband told The Daily Reality that on Wednesday, a 7-man team of doctors from the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital visited the Misau hospital. Three of them checked Khadija and instructed that she be referred to the Federal Medical Center Azare.

“After taking her to Azare, she was taken to the Intensive Care Unit, after which we narrated all that transpired to the personnel in charge. And they documented it.

“They really showed their outrage due to what happened at the Misau hospital. They lamented that incompetence and recklessness had affected the treatment in Misau,” Mr Ahmad added.

This incident has caused a lot of tension in the Misau metropolis as some angry young men attempted to beat up the embattled, suspended doctor, who is also the Chief Medical Director of the hospital.

“People complain about his unprofessionalism”—insider

According to a worker at Misau General Hospital that spoke to the Daily Reality, the ill-qualified doctor was unprofessional and was not supposed to be at the hospital.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, told our reporter that this was not the first time the man’s unprofessionalism caused problems and difficulties for patients after surgery.

He said, “sometimes people come with lots of complaints after surgery. His unprofessionalism is almost known to everyone.”

He added that the quack doctor had been transferred to another hospital long ago. But, to the dismay of anyone in the hospital, he refused to accept the transfer. You know politics has roamed this system too, and the guy was said to have a political godfather.

What he did was entirely unethical

Asked whether the unprofessional doctor was ethically right when he did surgery on Ahmad’s wife without his consent, the doctor said it was entirely unethical.

He said, “What he did was wrong. One should not perform any surgery without the consent of the patient’s relatives.

All attempts by our reporters to hear from the management proved abortive.

Sadiq Baba Abubakar: A victorious political warrior

By Mukhtar Jarmajo 

Mao Zedong, the founder of the Peoples Republic of China, once said, “Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.” By inference, thus, there is so much correlation between politics and war, the only difference being that the former isn’t bloody while the latter is. Therefore, the art of politics is the same as that of war, where two or more opposing parties contest for supremacy either in terms of votes for political power as with politics or territorial control as with war. Additionally, politics and war involve strategies to subdue the opponent through deceptive techniques. 

Perhaps this is why Sun Tzu, the great Chinese writer, philosopher and war strategist, noted that while differentiating victorious warriors from defeated ones, “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” Aside from that, Sun Tzu emphasised the importance of strategy in war. He also meant that only warriors who adopt strategies in defining the means to conquer the enemy are victorious. The third import of Tzu’s quote is that strategists conquer their opponents well before the offensive is launched. 

So just as wars can be won and lost before the first Salvo is released, elections too can be won and lost even before any vote is cast. Meanwhile, it bears no repeating that only strategic politicians achieve such excellence. They study the prevailing political circumstance, analyse it based on the ambitions of the time, and then meticulously plan the best strategy to be used in conquering the opponents. Politicians such as the Bauchi state APC governorship standard bearer, Sadiq Baba Abubakar, are victorious political warriors simply because they understand the art of political warfare. 

During the governorship primary election in Bauchi state, the erstwhile Air Chief turned political czar and let his fellow contenders believe they were more political than him. Therefore only they knew what the road to winning the party’s ticket looked like. After the contest, Sadiq Abubakar won the day, with the runner-up placed at a distant 92 votes away. While they were reluctant that he was not a factor to count, Sadiq Abubakar campaigned vigorously and reached out to stakeholders and delegates to convince them of the substance and import of his ambition. 

In the end, they were convinced that aside from experience he would bring to the table, the erstwhile diplomat is one politician capable of giving the ruling PDP in Bauchi state a run for its money. Thus, he won the primary election before the first ballot was cast. And by Sun Tzu’s standard, Sadiq Baba Abubakar is a victorious political warrior. It raises no eyebrows that as a graduate of political science who also holds a master’s in strategic studies, the Bauchi APC governorship standard bearer can do even more than this. 

Jarmajo can be reached via dattuwamanga@gmail.com.

Thugs attack lawmakers, injure six, smash cars in Bauchi 

By Muhammad Sabiu

A group of 50 thugs on Monday attacked Bauchi State House of Assembly members who gathered in a guest house on Sir Kashim Ibrahim Road, just a few meters from the Bauchi State Government House.

Six people were reportedly hurt, and the thugs caused pandemonium at the scene by smashing windows and cars at about 4:00 pm.

This occurred just after unidentified arsonists attempted to burn down the House of Assembly complex but were stopped by quick-acting security forces.

After the incident, a combined team of security agents from the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the DSS, and the Nigerian Army were immediately dispatched to the House and took control of the complex.

Following the incident, security was beefed up in the area by stationing a combined team of security agents comprising men of the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the DSS and the Nigerian Army.

Reports have indicated that a lawmaker, Ado Wakili, representing Burra Constituency in Ningi Local Government Area of the state who was one of those injured, alleged that the hoodlums were armed with guns and other dangerous weapons.

He was quoted as narrating, “We were inside having a meeting when we suddenly heard noises and banging at the gate, as we rushed out to see what was happening, the hoodlums rushed in holding guns, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons.

“All of us scampered for safety, and in the process, many of us, including me, got injured, as you can see on my face just below my eyes.

“They really turned everything upside down. By the time we came out, they had smashed all our cars and the windows of the house.”