Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed who is seeking the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential ticket has also quietly gotten the nomination form and has been cleared to run in his state’s governorship primary, Premium Times reported.
In 2023, Mr Mohammed will complete his first term as governor of the state. He is up for re-election.
After declaring his desire to compete for Nigeria’s presidency in 2023, there has been conjecture about who will be his successor in 2023.
One such rumor indicated that the state’s Secretary to the Government, Ibrahim Kashim, had entered into an agreement to serve as a stand-in for the governor.
According to the claim, Mr Kashim surreptitiously resigned and received the party’s governorship candidacy form, intending to contest in the primary.
Those peddling the idea claimed that if he wins and Mr Mohammed is unsuccessful in his effort to be the party’s presidential candidate, he will stand down and be replaced by Mr Mohammed.
However, party insiders with knowledge of what is going on in the state’s PDP secretariat have dismissed this rumor as false.
They told this publication that Mr Mohammed had not only covertly acquired the form for the state’s governor primary, but that he had also been screened and cleared to run in the primary.
This revelation lends credence to the claim made by another candidate for the party’s presidential ticket, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, that some of his rivals in the race are not as committed as he is because they have secretly obtained nomination forms for other positions on which they hope to fall back.
Mr Mohammed and a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, were controversially chosen as the party’s consensus candidates for the northern area during the party’s primaries last month. Other regional contestants objected to that choice.
Mukhtar Gidado, the governor’s spokeswoman, did not respond to calls and messages left at his known mobile phone number requesting comment for this article.
When contacted for comment, Mr Mohammed’s presidential campaign spokesperson, Udenta Udenta, dismissed Mr Mohammed’s clearance to compete in the Bauchi PDP gubernatorial primary as a rumour and declined to respond.
“I don’t comment on rumors. All I know is that he was screened to run for president and has now joined a big list of other candidates,” he said.
However, according to sources, Mr Mohammed’s purchase of the governor form is beyond rumour and that he will most likely withdraw from the presidential contest soon.
