Sowore And His Mischief Against Governor Bala And His Family

By Bala Saleh Chiroma

In recent days, my attention has been drawn to the series of malicious and slande⁠rous posts circulated onl‍ine‍ by Omoyele Sowore, a known taut and mischief maker in Nigeria.

This time, his mischiefs are t⁠arge‌ting the person of the governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed. He also included the immediate family of the governor such as his wife, Aisha Bala Mohamme‌d‍, the esteemed First Lady of B‍auchi St‌ate, and his son, Shamsudeen Bala Mohammed.

He launched his media attacks using his “Blackmail Factory” (Sahara Reporters). His actions are condemnable and detestable. We the citizens of Bauchi State unequivoc⁠a‌ll‌y condemn thi⁠s attempt to smear the image of our governor and leader. We also detest his unfair attack on his son and the first lady, our mother, a woman whose commit⁠ment to community development, women empowerment⁠, and agricultura⁠l growth⁠ through Zinaria F‌ar‌ms Ltd is well documented.

One of his allegations against this virtuous woman is of land grabbing and corruption, but to the lovers of truth and justice, it is a calculated attempt to distract her from the good activities and interventions she is bringing to the downtrodden women in the state. I have the feeling he is being instigated by the political foes of the governor who feel threatened by the governor’s unwavering acceptance, relevance, popularity and political dominance in the state.

If they cannot defeat him through the poll, they want to do that through blackmail and character assassination, using a notorious mischief maker, Mr Sowore. If Mr Sowore or the political enemies of the governor are genuine critics, they wouldn’t involve the governor’s family in their shenanigans. They would have engaged in constructive criticisms and opposition not hired a fake activist to defame Bala and his family by proxy. They are cowards. Genuine critics criticise policies not personalities.

Another thing that will show you that the guy has bad motive and ulterior agenda against Governor Bala is his use of abusive words in his posts against the governor including “thief”, “tyrant” etc. He also rains insults on the police and other security agents in his posts and write up which is another indication that he is a brat, naughty and irresponsible man disguising as activist or journalist. But it is not surprising for those who know his characters. This man has no respect for constituted authorities. He was once shown in video disrespecting and abusing EFCC officials without any provocation. He also insulted and disrespected police officers on duty in a federal high court and refused to obey them as they were conducting clearance for every visitor. He insulted and fought them with impunity and arrogance. So, if he could do that physically to the constituted authorities, what would stop him from casting aspersions on Governor Bala and his family on social media?

You will believe with me that a genuine critic or activist will not be using insults and provocative language in his pieces except he has ill-will against someone. Secondly, he mentions names of companies and says they belong to the governor, his son or wife without showing how owning companies became a crime. Moreso, he failed to tell you if the purported companies were established after Bala Mohammed became a governor or since before he became a governor. Is it offense for anybody to own a company and retain it even when he occupies position of power? Or is he saying that if I now establish a company I should close it down if I gets government position? This sounds foolish. The constitution of Nigeria does not prevent the family of Governor Bala Mohammed to own a company and maintain it when their father becomes a leader, that is if truly the so called companies he enumerated belong to them.

It is therefore safe to say that Omoyele Sowore is on a mission not only to dent the unblemished reputation of Governor Bala Mohammed, his wife and son but to indirectly use activism to intervene in Bauchi politics, working as proxy who is being controlled behind the scene.

For this purpose, Shamsuddeen has, all of a sudden, found himself cocooned in a shell of political offensive campaign, trying to stave off defamatory assaults from people who hide under the cloak of fighting against free speech only to stealthily advance a different political agenda.

For people who don’t know Engineer Shamsuddeen Bala Mohammad, the young politician is not new to campaign of calumny, innuendo and polemics. He defeated the EFCC in court, he survived various conspiracies against him and his family members, and he will definitely live to see off Sowore and his handlers who control him from behind the scene.

The people of Bauchi are not fools and cannot be fooled. They are too sophisticated to be taken for granted by the likes of Sowore. They know who Shamsuddeen Bala Mohammad is, and one thing I am sure about Shamsuddeen is, he does not give in to mischief. All the slandering garbages being thrown against him will ricochet as it would not have any significant impacts on his image and political standing in Bauchi because he is known widely for his humility and generosity.

Shamsuddeen Bala Mohammed as a bonafide member of the state, has every privilege to contribute to the growth and development of Bauchi State, has the right to be given the opportunity like every citizen to contribute his quota, and equally has the right to apply and be granted plots of land to run any type of business of his capacity.

After all, it was based on such privilege as a citizen that he was able to establish skills acquisition centre, and even sponsors less privileged youth to further their education in different higher institution of learning to promote literacy among youths and the women folks to fend for their livelihood and contribute to the economic development of the society on which they live as Nigerians.

It is therefore not out of sight for someone to challenge this unprofessional publisher, Sowore, to tell the world who among the Nigerian governors can be compared to the Bauchi governor in terms of developmental projects, strides achievements that cut almost all across fields of human endeavours spanning from youths and women skills acquisition and economic empowerment, education and agricultural growth, promotion and development, especially promoting girl-child education, as well as salvaging people from abject poverty, disease and ignorance, among others.

And it is the same privilege and citizen’s right applied to the state chief judge who was also accused of having a land granted to her by the same government she was serving. We don’t actually know what brought about this immature thinking by those or this disgruntled element (s) that want to smear the image or reputation of this highly versatile level luminary whose services have been receiving accolades not only from the legal profession, but also the governance in it’s entity.

This deliberate, but politically inclined image and reputation tarnishing is clandestinely and apparently loaded over the governor and his family is deliberately meant to smear and tarnish the reputation of Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed in the right thinking people of Nigeria. It was a political plan long orchestrated to tame the image of the governor ahead of the next polls.

I challe⁠ng‍e an⁠yone with evidence of‌ wrongdoing to approach the relevant agencies, rather th⁠an resorting to co⁠wardly online propaganda/blackmail.

To Sowore and his cohorts, the era of malicious blackmail is gone, people are too wise, civilised and sophisticated to give attention to such shenanigans.

Bala Saleh Chiroma is the Bauchi State Coordinator, Concern Movement For Democracy