Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi has warned that the country could slide into a serious political crisis if the All Progressives Congress-led government of President Bola Tinubu continues to engage in alleged selective persecution of opposition figures.

Mr Mohammed, who spoke while receiving an award in Bauchi, accused the Tinubu-led government of using state institutions to harass and intimidate the members of opposition parties, particularly those who refuse to defect to the ruling APC.

The governor noted that he had stayed too silent in the interest of peace and security despite several persecutions and harassments towards him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) backed by the APC-led government.

He added that he would no longer remain quiet if the federal government did not stop its actions.

“The APC-led federal government thinks they can use the courts and institutions of government, like the EFCC, to persecute and prosecute Nigerians who are not within their own party.

“If they don’t stop, we are going to declare war. I assure you, we are 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,” the governor said.

Mr Mohammed alleged that Mr Tinubu’s government is using EFCC to “persecute” him and members of his cabinet over their refusal to join the ruling APC.

The Bauchi governor specifically noted that, despite his “constitutional immunity, he is being named in the EFCC motion, targeting members of his cabinet.

He lamented that his commissioner has been kept in the custody of the anti-grant agency, stressing that even when he had immunity as a governor, his name was being mentioned in a motion in court. 

“As a governor, someone who is the head of the opposition, my commissioner has been kept and will not be released by the EFCC.

“Even when I had immunity as a governor, my name was stupendously mentioned in a motion in a court of law in Nigeria: me, Bala Mohammed.

“I woke up to a notification where I was told I am being accused of terrorism. I don’t have to say anything. I don’t even have to go to the public court. But certainly, politics has become something in Nigeria,” he added.

Recall that the EFCC had arraigned Bauchi Commissioner for Finance, Yakubu Adamu, over alleged N5.79 billion money laundering.