…Distributes
souvenir at workers’ rally

The 2015 governorship ambition of Mohammed, son of the former
military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, which was hitherto a
subject of hearsay was on Wednesday brought into the open with the distribution
of campaign bags to workers at the May Day rally in Minna, Niger State.

Workers fell over one another to collect the bags being
distributed by foot soldiers of the Mohammed Babangida 2015 campaign
organisation.

The bags with the inscription, “I have a plan. What of you?”
were enough to go round the crowd of over 2,000 people in attendance.

On the bag is the picture of
Mohammed, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) logo as well as the direction his
administration would take if voted into office. One of the foot soldiers
sharing the bags who simply identified himself as Muhammadu told Daily Sun in Minna that their presence at the
rally was to let the workers know that Mohammed’s administration would be
worker-friendly.

Before now, Mohammed’s governorship ambition had been shrouded
in secrecy with many members of the father’s political dynasty denying
knowledge of such ambition.

Recently, however, more and more private and commercial vehicles
in Minna and outside Minna had continued to decorate the back screens of their
vehicles with Mohammed’s campaign posters and photographs.

The immediate past governor of Niger State, Abdulkhadir
Abdullahi Kure, political godson of the former leader, was said to be leading
the park of Mohammed’s backers with the oiling of the old Kure political
machinery that would soon be put into use. No fewer than seven other aspirants
have indicated interest in succeeding incumbent Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu
on May 29, 2015.

They include Deputy Governor Ahmed Musa Ibeto, former head of
the civil service of the state, Alhaji Ibrahim Mateni and Commissioner for
Finance, Alhaji Muazu Bawa. Others are Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, aka Abulolo,
son of Colonel Sani Bello, former military governor of the old Kano State as
well as the incumbent Director-General of the National Export Promotion Council
(NEPC), Dr. Mustafa Bello.

Wushishi, the homestead of the Babangidas, is in Kontagora Local
Government Area in the Niger North Senatorial District, which is slated to
produce the next governor for Niger State in accordance with the existing
zoning arrangement in the state.

The zone consists of two
emirates namely Kontagora and Borgu. Daily
Sun reliably
gathered that elders of the party in the zone had concluded arrangements to
zone the position of senator for the area to the Borgu Emirate while Kontagora
would produce the governor.