The Interview Editors
There have been all kinds of explanations for why Bauchi State governor Mohammed Abubakar, lost to the famously incompetent former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed.
While some are saying it’s a reflection of the governor’s poor human relations, others are spreading the wicked and potentially false rumour that Abubakar, whose father was a policeman, lost because he is from Okene.
Meanwhile, Interview Confidential just picked up something no less interesting. We gathered that the governor’s travail may also not be unconnected with a feud he had with the state’s deputy governor Nuhu Gidado, who is the younger brother of the wife of the President’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari.
Insiders revealed that the governor’s removal of his deputy in May last year was the red line. One insider said, “If the governor loaded the gun by his poor human relations, especially with power brokers in Abuja, the removal of Abba Kyari’s wife’s younger brother as deputy governor pulled the trigger.
That error finished him.” Family feuds run deep.
Governor-Elect, Fintiri’s EFCC File
Although the Adamawa State governor-elect,Umaru Fintiri and his rival Jibrilla Bindow of the All Progressives Congress (APC), appear to have buried the hatchet in a handshake last week, there are indications that trouble may not be over yet for his excellency.
Sources told Interview Confidential that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), may not have closed Fintiri’s N2.9bn money-laundering case file.
It would be recalled that three years ago, the EFCC had charged Fintiri, a former speaker of the state House of Assembly and acting governor for a brief period, with a five-count charge of money laundering.
Fintiri later got a N500m bail. We gathered that the EFCC may revisit the case against Fintiri before his inauguration, because once the governor assumes office he would enjoy immunity for another four years.
On his own part, insiders said the governor is also mulling a switch to the APC, if that will purchase him temporary amnesty.
Okwesilieze Nwodo’s Immortal Question for IBB
In a rare excursion into the past, an insider revealed to the Interview Confidential an immortal question that the former governor of Enugu State, Okwesilieze Nwodo, asked former military President Ibrahim Babangida in 1992.
Nwodo, who was then governor on the platform of the NRC, had come for a meeting with IBB in Aso Rock. Babangida noticed that the governor was unusually fretful and called him aside to find out why.
“Your Excellency,” Nwodo mused, “I have the burden of governing only one state and the headache is seriously affecting the discharge of my conjugal duties.
I wonder how you cope, with 36 states and a country as large and complex as Nigeria!” Our source told us that IBB smiled and asked Nwodo to sit back and watch.
The Maradona kept weaving in and out, cracking jokes and even entertaining a few “specially packaged guests.” Nwodo watched with consummate attention from his observation post.
When the day was done, IBB called him and said, “If you have learnt anything today, you should know the secret of managing pressure is to look outside!” Buyer beware!
