Get Guardian on GoogleA former Commissioner for Special Duties and Rural Development under the administration of Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, Hon. Farouk Mustapha has raised the alarm over alleged plans to eliminate him after his defection from the Allied People’s Movement (APM).
Farouk was nominated as the deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress to run with the former governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, who is seeking the top job in the state.
Farouk, a former ally of Governor Bala Mohammed, expressed his intention to succeed his Principal, Mohammed, but lost the party ticket to a former fellow commissioner of finance, Yakubu Adamu. Subsequently, he left the party to team up with MA Abubakar in APC.
While speaking over the weekend, Farouk made the allegation in Itas, Itas/Gadau Local Government Area, during an event organised welcoming the incumbent member representing Itas/Gadau Constituency in the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Hon. Yusuf Abdullahi Itas, who defected from the APM to the APC.
He claimed that a meeting was allegedly held about one or two months after he left the APM, where plans were made to eliminate him.
“About a month or two after I left the party, a meeting was held where plans were hatched to kill Farouk. Faruk’s life is in the hands of God,” he alleged.
He maintained that political power comes from God, who gives and takes it away at His own discretion, insisting that no amount of intimidation or alleged plots against his life could alter God’s will.
He described the alleged political attacks against him as signs of desperation ahead of the 2027 elections, adding that his political camp was focused on winning rather than engaging in unnecessary confrontations.
“All the frantic noise they are making now is merely a sign of their impending defeat. We are not concerned with them; they are not our focus,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Director-General of the APM Campaign Organisation in Bauchi State, Hon. Danlami Ahmad Kawule, dismissed the allegation, describing it as baseless and an attempt to attract public sympathy.
Kawule argued that there was no reason for anyone to target Mustapha, insisting that the allegation was fabricated.
“This is not the time for games, nor is it appropriate to level false accusations against others just to secure votes or incite resentment toward someone else. There is no justification for a politician to enter the political arena and make such wild, baseless claims simply to garner public sympathy,” he said.
He further described the allegation that Mustapha was being targeted for assassination as untrue, questioning the basis of the claim.
“We don’t even know what he’s talking about. It is nothing more than the desperate rhetoric of someone who realises he is headed for defeat,” Kawule added.
The controversy has also generated reactions on social media, particularly following comments by Shamsuddeen Bala Mohammed, the eldest son of the Bauchi State Governor, who reportedly described the allegation as fabricated and intended to mislead the public.
