Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has accused the Federal Government of using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to harass him and officials of his administration because of his refusal to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The governor made the allegation on Wednesday at the Bauchi Government House after being honored with an ambassadorial award for safety by the Institute of Safety Professionals in Nigeria. He lamented that one of his commissioners is currently being detained by the EFCC.
“As a governor, someone who is the head of the opposition, my commissioner has been kept and will not be released by the EFCC. Even when I have immunity as a governor, my name was stupendously mentioned in a motion in a court of law in Nigeria. Me, Bala Mohammed,” he said.
“I don’t have to say anything. I don’t even have to go to the public court. But certainly, politics has become something in Nigeria.
“The APC-led federal government thinks they can use the courts and institutions of government, like the EFCC, to persecute and prosecute Nigerians who are not within their own party.”
Governor Mohammed, who is the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum, insisted that no amount of harassment would force him to join the APC.
He said he had remained silent in the interest of peace and security but warned that he would no longer do so if the Federal Government failed to halt its actions.
“If they don’t stop, we are going to declare war. I assure you we are not going to keep quiet any longer. I won’t allow anybody to criminalize me because I’m not in their party, and I refuse to join their party, and I will not join their party,” he said.
The Bauchi governor further alleged that although the Federal Government controls 51 per cent of the country’s resources, it has done nothing tangible for the state.
“In my state, they have not provided one kilometre of road. You have not provided water. Even the security agencies—I’m the one paying them to work for us—and they have the guts to talk,” he said.
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He also criticised the Federal Government’s tax system, warning that it would impoverish Nigerians if not reviewed.
The EFCC had recently filed a fresh criminal charge against Yakubu Adamu, the Bauchi State Commissioner for Finance, and other defendants over alleged terrorism financing involving a total of 9.7 million US dollars.