From Paul Orude, Bauchi
Former Governor of Bauchi State Mallam Isa Yuguda has thanked the people of the state for massively voting for President-Elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election.
Tinubu, who ran on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), polled a total of 316,694 votes to trail behind People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, who scored 426, 607 votes to win the state.
Yuguda, who governed the state from 2007 to 2015, said Tinubu’s impressive performance was a demonstration of the love the people have for him.
He said he never knew that his administration still enjoy so much good until he travelled across the state to campaign for Tinubu for the 2023 general election.
“I had to thank God and appreciate the people of Bauchi for voting Asiwaju overwhelmingly as the only hope for Nigeria,” he stated.
Yuguda made the remarks in an interaction with journalists at his residence in Bauchi at the weekend.
“This is a country that was more or less drifting; Nigerians were becoming worried if we can ever live together,” he said.
“Today you can see we have a strong united country in our next President. So we have hope in surviving with Tinubu as our next president. I thank the Bauchi people after I have campaigned in every nook and cranny for Asiwaju they responded.
“They were telling me that they thank me for educating them on who Tinubu is and why they should vote for him.
“And they did as compensation for my good leadership, it is now that I know that the people of Bauchi love me and they are praying for me and because of that they voted for Asiwaju, In fact, we are better than many APC states in terms of delivering Asiwaju”
The former governor called on the people of the state to vote for the APC candidate, Air Marshal Abubakar Saddique, as governor in the March 11 Governorship and State Assembly election.
The former Minister of Aviation and Transport criticised the incumbent Governor Bala Mohammed and his predecessor Abubakar Mohammed for shortchanging the citizens of the state through the deliberate destruction of his legacies.
Yuguda stressed that Abubakar is the best man to restore the lost glory of the state, describing the femur Chief of air staff as educated, with a good upbringing, good morals, and a leader who is in control of his emotions.
He said Abubakar would be fair, transparent and incorruptible and lead Bauchi out of the woods.
“That is why I said to myself that If I did not come out and tell Bauchi people that you have somebody that is qualified to lead your state and correct all the mistakes that we are seeing by done by the past administrations then I would not have been fair to myself and Bauchi people,” he said.
“You can appreciate that this is somebody that has reached the apex of his career as a fighter pilot.
“He has been in the air force for 42 years and all his life has been a life of discipline…”