Victory song for Bala Mohammed

The judgement of the Supreme Court in favour of Bala Mohammed as the validly elected governor of the state have energized the governor to focus on governance


The battle for the seat of power for the Bauchi state government house was finally rested with Supreme Court affirmation of Senator Bala Mohammed, the incumbent governor as the valid winner of the March 2023 governorship contest in the state. A panel of the Supreme Court, led by Inyang Okoro, unanimously dismissed the appeal challenging Mohammed’s victory.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Governor Bala Mohammed of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the 18 March 2023 governorship election in Bauchi State, but his victory was challenged at the Bauchi State governorship election petition tribunal and later at the Court of Appeal by the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Sadique Abubakar. Abubakar lost in both courts. But displeased with the judgements of the two lower courts, he proceeded to the Supreme Court to further challenge Governor Mohammed’s election. Delivering the lead decision, a member of the Supreme Court panel, Ibrahim Saulawa, held that the APC candidate was unable to prove at the election petition tribunal his allegations of anomaly such as improper filing of election results during the election, and how the breaches substantially affected the outcome of the 18 March 2023 poll. The justice added that the appellant failed to discharge the burden of proof as required of him by the law.

He noted that the appellant’s witnesses were not polling unit agents, so they could not have given credible testimonies that met legal standards about what transpired at the polling units during the election. “On the basis of the findings, having effectively resolved all the issues against the appellant, the appeal is apparently devoid of merit. The judgement of the Court of Appeal is hereby affirmed. The appeal is dismissed,” Mr Saulawa ruled. The decision affirming Senator Mohammed as the elected governor of Bauchi State lays to rest the disputes over last year’s governorship election in the state, as the Supreme Court is the final court of adjudication on the case.

As a result of the outcome of the judgement, the Governor have been receiving goodwill messages and solidarity visits from across the country. A group of youths known as, The Kaura Ambassadors Network (KAN) after congratulating the Governor for his victory at the apex Court, urged him to invest more in youth employment and skill acquisition to curb the menace of criminality and other social vices disturbing the state.

According to the Director-General of the group, Muslim Maigari, the governor should partner with private sector stakeholders to improve his government’s economic plans for the state. Maigari said that there is an urgent need to review the economic space to create more jobs and to support the rapid growth of industries. According to him, the state is blessed with abundant human capital who are desperately seeking an opportunity to contribute to the state’s development.

He further stated that the Network is satisfied with the paradigm shift in the state development stride led by Governor Bala Mohammed, and the way to sustain this legacy is for the governor to appoint more youth into key positions of government. That way the culture, patriotism and positive leadership will be embedded in the system. “There is no price for youth development, women empowerment, security and peaceful co-existence of all ethnic groups in the state,” he said.

The Director General however, urged the citizens irrespective of political party and ethnic difference to support the government of Bala Mohammed and his deputy, Auwal Jatau to succeed. Not resting on his oars and to reengineer governance in the state, the governor has sworn in twelve newly appointed Permanent Secretaries for the effective running of the state. He charged them, as accounting officers of the state to be diligent in the discharge of their duties. The governor stated that his administration remains committed in repositioning the Civil Service and urged the Civil Servants to continue to support the administration. He disclosed that since assumption of office in 2019 he has paid over Five Billion naira out of the backlog of gratuity, assuring that in no distance time the remaining amount would be addressed.