Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, Monday night hinted that he might contest the 2023 presidency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The governor gave the hint at a special dinner organised in his honour by the Bauchi Christian community at the Banquet Hall of the Government House, Bauchi, to celebrate his 63rd birthday.
Mohammed informed a contact group to gauge the pause of members of his party on his presidential ambition had so far visited 14 states in the country.
According to him, the response from the states so far visited by the contact team was not only positive but also very encouraging and motivating.
“My contact group as to whether or not I will run for the apex slot to the states of the federation has already covered 14 states,” the governor informed.
He informed that he was surprised and dazed by the encomiums poured on him by a leader in one of the Southern states yet to be visited by his contact team who declared that he (Mohammed) had the ability to rule the country if Nigerians afforded him the opportunity.
While emphasising the need for peaceful coexistence between Muslim and Christian faithful in the state in particular and Nigeria in general, Governor Mohammed revealed that he came from a family with adherents of both faiths.
According to him, both religions had contributed immensely in one way or the other to his ascension as the governor of Bauchi State, submitting that both Muslims and Christians voted for him in the 2019 general elections.
Governor Mohammed, who described himself as a perfectionist, informed that two of his brothers, Reverend Father Dal and Bappah Mohammed, one late and the other now bedridden, played significant roles in ensuring he attained the position he now occupied in the society.
While assuring the brothers that he would not let them down, the governor called on the people of the state to remain as members of one family, irrespective of their religious affiliation.
In his words, “I want more, we hardly sleep because we want to work. But you have to give the allowance that we are all the same, so let us collapse into one family of humanity.
“Every Muslim knows that this world is for everybody, you are only different when you go to the hereafter, may be in the judgment day. But God has given us everything, He pledged to give this world to everyone, irrespective of faith. So, we should not be deceiving ourselves.”
Governor Mohammed assured that his administration is working hard to ensure that Bauchi State becomes prosperous even with the little resources at its disposal.
“We are putting Bauchi on the threshold of prosperity and we are doing it with the little resources we have, because it is not how much you have, but how well you use small resources to impact positively on the growth and development of your immediate community or state,” he said.
The governor expressed gratitude to the state’s Christian community for feting him, adding that he was also appreciative of the Muslim community and Ulamas who had earlier feted him.