The Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has declared that he would not allow anyone to criminalise him because he refused to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mohammed, who is the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum, said that the APC-led Federal Government has been using the institutions of state and the courts to persecute and prosecute Nigerians because they are not in the APC.
The governor made this statement on Wednesday shortly after assenting to the 2026 budget at the Executive Council Chamber. He also received an award of excellence as a Safety Ambassador by the Safety Institute of Nigeria.
Responding to the award, Mohammed dedicated it to Bauchi State “because it is where we worked, and we collectively earned that recognition.”

Speaking further, he said, “I was just waking up to an occasion where I was told that I was being accused of terrorism as a governor. Someone who is the head of the opposition. My Commissioner (of Finance) has been kept and would not be released by the EFCC, even when I have immunity as a Governor; my name was stupendously mentioned in a motion in a court of law in Nigeria.
“Me, Bala Mohammed, who is being recognised without my inclination for this kind of recognition. God is wonderful. I don’t have to say anything; I don’t have to go to the public court.”
The governor said that politics has become something else in Nigeria, but with this kind of people around, like the award organisers, there is still hope in the country. “Whatever anybody does to prosecute you, somehow God will do something to absolve you of blame, of persecutions, because with the little resources we have to work with and do what we have done in Bauchi, somebody will accuse us of arbitrariness.”

Mohammed said that: “We have a country where 51 per cent of the resources of the country are taken by the Federal Government. In my state, they have not provided 1 kilometre of road, they have not provided water. Even the security agencies – I’m the one paying them to work for us, and they have the guts to talk.
“This is a country where, when you work, you become a villain. I have kept quiet for too long just for peace and security, because as politicians, we should not overheat the polity, but I am not a coward. I’m just keeping quiet because of the common people. We don’t have to denounce and denigrate people before we ascend to power.
“The Federal Government should look at this tax system. In spite of all the impurities, they are going ahead to impoverish the common man, to impoverish the sub-nationals; we are keeping quiet.”

He said that Bauchi State is the safest in the North, saying he achieved that together through community development. “I have PDP, APC and even the NNPP here (in the Assembly), and we’re living in peace because of democratic governance; we tolerate ourselves. But there is too much intolerance from the Federal Government.”
He slammed the APC-led Federal Government, saying that “they feel they can use the courts, the institutions of government, like the EFCC, to persecute and prosecute Nigerians that are not within their own party. If they don’t stop, we’re going to declare war. I assure you that we’re not going to keep quiet any longer. I won’t allow anybody to criminalise me because I’m not in their party, and I refuse to join their party, and I will not join their party.

“My family members, my officials are being taken like anything and are being locked up without any reason.
“This award inspired me to talk. I didn’t want to talk, but we still hope in the courts and in Nigerians. I thank the institute for this opportunity and I assure you, it is not going to make us arrogant; our humility and modesty will continue. We have little resources to do things and leave legacies and landmarks that will make Nigerians proud, and no Jupiter will stop us from doing this.”

The governor said that Nigerians should be bailed out of poverty and there should be a reduction of pain. “We are ready to support the Presidency and the Federal Government to work because we are federalists. We have enjoyed the support and patronage of the Federal Government, the international community and development partners because they believe in our template, in our good governance, and we are getting a lot of money from the international community and we are utilising it very well.

“We have built our health system, our primary education; we are reducing the prevalence of our schoolchildren. We have been given awards three times by the Federal Government for urban development, good governance, and then they are accusing us. What kind of paradox is this? What do they want us to do? What they want us to do is to join them; we will not join them. If they want war, I said, we will give them; if they want peace, we will give them peace.”