North thought Buhari was Nigeria’s Mahatma Gandhi & Nelson Mandela rolled into one, we thought he would clean up Nigeria – Former Deputy Governor of Bauchi

Former Deputy Governor of Bauchi state, Sule Katagum has said before the 2015 presidential election, Northerners thought President Muhammadu Buhari was a replica of India’s Mahatma Gandhi and South Africa’s Nelson Mandela. 

Katagum who recently dumped the All Progressives Congress for Peoples Democratic Party, said they joined the ruling party in 2014 because the party’s principles entailed things like fairness, justice. 

He stated that over the years, the party’s principles became more or less like those of the normal Nigerian political party.

Katagum said; 

The reason that made us join the APC in 2014 were that the party’s principles entailed things like fairness, justice, and so on. If you look at the motto of the APC, we believed strongly in the APC.  In the north, there was no doubt, Buhari was like a messiah,  Buhari was compared to people like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. We thought this was a man who would clean Nigeria and make it what it was supposed to be.

Sadly, the principles, over the years, became more or less like those of the normal Nigerian political party. What we had expected, like I said earlier, after the failure of the Governor Abubakar’s administration in 2019, was a sort of reconciliation, a sort of reaching out in order to speak to ourselves and see how we could go about it.

In fact, to be honest with you, in 2019, I don’t think it was really the PDP as a party that defeated Abubakar; it was more or less an internal affair (that cost him his seat).

On if the APC has fulfilled its campaign promises, Katagum said; 

Well, let’s be very, very honest with ourselves. We’re all Nigerians. The promises were mainly on security, on the economy, and on corruption. But in all honesty, look at the security situation across the country.

Yes, we agree that maybe Boko Haram has been contained to a certain level. In those days, there were bombings, but now, nobody can travel from his state, for example, from Bauchi to Abuja, without feeling that something could happen to him on the road. Every day, we hear of people being apprehended, and kidnappings are common. In terms of security, I will honestly say, with all due respect to Mr President, that there has been no improvement.

Secondly, of course, there is corruption. Nobody has been vilified; nobody has been taken to prison.

Even the two former governors of Taraba and Plateau states who were sent to prison were pardoned…

You see, that is sending the wrong signal that you can steal, go and spend some time in prison, and come back and your money is still intact.

If the APC members campaign, what are they even going to tell Nigerians (during the campaign)? There’s nothing! Except if people just want to play the ostrich and put their heads underground.  Yesterday (Monday), someone was talking about the kind of development that happened in Lagos. You see, we are individualising this thing now. We’re not talking about an individual; we’re talking about a party structure. The candidate of the APC is part of the APC. He was the greatest contributor and progenitor of Buhari. If not for Bola Tinubu with his influence, I don’t think Buhari would have won the election, but he helped, so he’s part and parcel of the APC.

On Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu contesting for the 2023 presidential election after working to bring in President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, he said; 

In seven years plus, you (Tinubu) were part and parcel of the government and even a leader of the APC. You had direct access to the President, so what are you coming to tell Nigerians now? Or you didn’t know what was happening? We’re all Nigerians and we need to be very frank with ourselves and agree. But what we are saying is that Atiku (Abubakar), just like (Muhammadu) Buhari, has tried many times.  He doesn’t need to be the President of Nigeria, but there must be a reason because he’s comfortable, he has attained a certain age where he can go and relax and nothing happens.