Mr Tuggar dismissed the Bauchi governor’s criticisms of President Bola Tinubu as “cheap shots.”
Foreign affairs minister Yusuf Tuggar has accused Governor Bala Mohammed of large-scale land grabbing and plunging Bauchi residents into poverty despite multibillion-naira received in federal allocation each month.
Mr Tuggar, in an interview with Liberty TV aired on Tuesday, dismissed Mr Mohammed’s criticisms of President Bola Tinubu as “cheap shots.”
Asked what he has to say to Mr Mohammed’s criticism of Mr Tinubu’s administration, Mr Tuggar said, “I’m really quite surprised that Governor Bala Mohammed is making such remarks, asking aspersions at the president with what is going on in Bauchi state.
“First of all, when it comes to money, he should not put his mouth because the earnings of Bauchi state have doubled. Yet we haven’t seen any improvement. We have not seen any improvement, no change in what he is doing. In October, he received N8.8 billion. But he has not shown us what he did with it. In November, he collected N9 billion.”
Accusing Mr Mohammed of land grabbing and plunging Bauchi into poverty, Mr Tuggar alleged the governor diverted public funds instead of using them for development and social infrastructure.
“Instead of using the money for social services and infrastructure, such as education, health, and addressing out-of-school children, he is busy using such funds to buy properties and land from the poor citizens of Bauchi. This affects both the rich and the poor,” Mr Tuggar said.
The minister added, “In the case of the poor, he is excising huge tracks of land with certain partners alleged to be going into commercial farming. But in effect, what they are doing is increasing the incidence of poverty.
“There is a direct link between expropriation of land from subsistence farmers and the incidence of poverty. Tracks of forest land that he is just taking, including in my local government. So I know directly the effect on people.”
Mr Tuggar stressed that given the Bauchi governor’s “antecedents as minister of FCT, all he does now is buy houses in the GRA, evicting people’” on the pretext of state projects.
“But it is just a way of siphoning funds from State coffers. It is deplorable what is going in Bauchi. He shouldn’t be the one questioning what Mr President is doing,” stated Mr Tuggar.
Mr Tuggar’s criticisms followed Mr Mohammed’s opposition to the tax reform bill of Mr Tinubu’s administration.
In December 2023, Mr Mohammed described the president’s insistence on the controversial tax reform bills as a clear invitation to anarchy.
“To the tax reforms- it is not a good policy for northern Nigeria because we are not going to get money to pay you salaries,” said the governor. “They must listen; otherwise, they are calling for anarchy, and that is not good. We voted for the president in the state and other states.”
