GOVERNOR Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State has dismissed an allegation by some people that northern governors were traitors for not voting for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primaries, saying that such an allegation was baseless and did not conform to the principles of democracy.

He stressed that the part played by every northern governor during the presidential primaries was for the best interest and progress of the nation and that any other interest than this can best be described as selfish.

Speaking on the issue, the governor’s Special Adviser on Politics, Abdulmumuni Kundak, said: “In the first instance, there was no alliance between Governor Isa Yuguda or northern governors and Atiku. The governor only pledged his alliance to President Goodluck Jonathan, being the campaign coordinator for the North-East zone. So I see no crime if he decides to be loyal to the person that appointed him.

“He is only doing what is expected of him. You cannot expect him to betray the confidence reposed in him. Again, there is nowhere it is stated in the constitution of the party that you are to give your alliance to a particular person.

Yuguda played the politics of non-betrayal and non-deception. What the northern governors did was for the best interests of this country. I don’t know why someone should describe northern governors as traitors, simply because Atiku lost out”.

Kundak maintained that to further portray that the elections were void of manipulations, the figures for Bauchi State read 44 for Atiku, while Jonathan had 46.This, according to him, was a fair representation of the delegates’ interest.

“You can now see that the delegates’ vote from Bauchi State, where Isa Yuguda is the North-East coordinator, is not too encouraging. But at least, it was fair enough and even though it is still one vote that Jonathan got ahead of Atiku, it is still important because one vote can declare a person a winner. So if Isa Yuguda is a traitor, where did the 44 votes for Atiku come from? We are in a political dispensation and everybody is at liberty to exercise his or her franchise for the candidate of his or her own choice. So why should somebody, because of dubious motives, say something that he knows is not tenable?”, Kundak added.  

Kundak, who congratulated President Jonathan over his victory, expressed optimism that he would definitely emerge winner at the April polls.

He advised politicians to always weigh their statements before making certain pronouncements, because, according to him, “any statement that does not unite the country should be avoided”.

-Guardian

Posted by admin on Jan 20 2011. Filed under Bauchi, Governors, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry