Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, the governor of Bauchi State, won his reelection bid in the March 18th governorship election after he had jostled for a presidential ticket with the likes of Atiku Abubakar and other bigwigs in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Before that, he had entrusted his governorship ambition to Ibrahim Kashim, the then Secretary to the State Government (SSG), hoping to reclaim it if things did not go well at the presidential primary election. Things indeed went south as Mohammed walked home with 20 votes. Also, the SSG did not disappoint him.
Kashim won the primary with 656 votes as a proxy for Governor Mohammed who would emerge victorious after polling 525,280 votes against his closest rival Abubakar Sadique of All Progressives Congress (APC) who garnered 432,272 votes at the gubernatorial election.
MOHAMMED’S JOURNEY AT A GLANCE
On May 29, 2019, Mohammed took the oath of office for his first tenure as the governor of Bauchi State after ousting the incumbent governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar.
515,313 to 500,625 votes. The victory was later upheld by the Supreme Court on 20 January 2020.
Bala began his educational journey in 1965 at Duguri Primary School, Bauchi State. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (degree) from the University of Maiduguri.
Prior to becoming governor, he was Senator for Bauchi South from 2007 to 2010 and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 2010 to 2015.
He began his career as a journalist and rose to the position of News Editor of the Mirage Newspaper, Jos, between 1982 and 1983. He also had a stint as a News Reporter with the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN). From there he moved over to the Democrat Newspaper where he worked as the newspaper’s State Editor in charge of Benue from 1983 to 1984.
His civil service experience began when he was appointed an administrative officer at the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs where he served until 1994 when he moved over to the Presidency [Cabinet Secretariat] as the Principal Administration Officer.
