Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has affirmed former Secretary to Bauchi State Government (SSG), Barr Kashim Ibrahim Mohammed as the 2027 gubernatorial candidate in Bauchi State.
He was elected through voice votes and affirmation during a special delegates congress and primary election of the party held in Bauchi on Friday, May 29th, 2026, under the supervision of a committee from the National Secretariat led by Paul Daniel, Chairman of the Electoral Committee for Bauchi State Governorship primary election.
The National officer, called for a motion to be moved which was ably seconded and voice voice and affirmation was called with the entire delegates responding in the affirmative.
After the affirmation, the Chairman of the Committee therefore declared Ibrahim Kashim as the only aspirant, winner of the primary and candidate of the NDC for 2027.
Speaking earlier, State Chairman of the NDC, Ibrahim Maigari, commended the members of the party for their resilience and determination to make the party an acceptable and popular party in Bauchi State.
He described the emergence of the candidate as the best for the party considering his political acumen and dexterity having served well in the State Government.
The Chairman expressed confidence that the NDC will win the elective offices it will contest in the 2027 general election both in the State and at the National level.
In his acceptance speech, Ibrahim Mohammed Kashim, commended the NDC for providing the platform for him to aspire to contest the number one political office in the State.
He also thanked the delegates for him confidence in his ability to fly the party’s flag for the 2027 general election expressing optimism that the NDC will spring surprises in the 2027 general elections.
On his blueprint for governance, he said that, “We all know that over the years, Bauchi has grown from 6 point something million on population to seven million to now almost about 11 million people. We also know that successive governments, including this one that is about to leave, had worked reasonably well to establish infrastructure in the state..”
He added that,”The crowning efforts, of course, is the government of His Excellency, we must admit, but we noticed that in the areas of development itself, infrastructure is key, but infrastructure does not give a good economy on its own, especially where it is done in such a way that the money that is spent for the development of infrastructure is taken out of the system. By that I mean where the constructors, the machines, and everything, except for the petty laborers, come from outside the state.”
“So, it is good to have infrastructure, but it has not helped much in the economic development of the state. Like we said, looking at the number of people in the state, we also acknowledge the fact that Bauchi is probably one of the poorest states in Nigeria. Unfortunately so, with all its potentials. Of course, we all know the North-East subregion is the poorest in the country. Not because we are poor, but because we have been made to remain poor. Bauchi is the fifth or sixth largest State in terms of land area in Nigeria. We have three basic climatic zones in the state, which will allow us to plant anything that is planted in Nigeria. Anything,” he added. .
He added, “Unfortunately, we have not utilized that our opportunity, our relative advantage, fully. Bauchi is also endowed with lots and lots of natural resources. Alkaleri local government and a lot of parts of Darazo are still on kaoline. Kaoline is what we use to make pop, medical kaoline, and a lot of other things. So it’s like a gold mine. To just have a local government are still on lots and lots of solid minerals that have been bonded all over the world and making a lot of money for those that developed them. So these were the gaps that we observed.”
According to him, “And truly, we observed that because of the opportunity God had given us with His Excellency to come and work in this state. At the highest level of governance, one example I keep giving is that 50 years after the declaration of Bauchi State, a lot of parts of the state still do not have pipe-borne water. 50 years after the creation of the state.”
He added that, “And it’s not because we don’t have the potential or the ability. Even in desert countries, Israel, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and all these places that are basically desert mountainous and rocky, have been able to supply water to their people. Supplies of water are there. We have a lot of rivers, streams, and so many things. I said it yesterday in my speech. States like Gombe have three dams. Bauchi has none, apart from the one that is used for water for domestic use. So these are the gaps that we observed.”
He added that,”We also noticed that in the state, being a basically civil service state, everybody in the state waits for civil servants to be paid their salaries. If you stay beyond the 30th without paying, you notice that everything stops. But unfortunately, the same civil servants have been pauperized. Out of every N100 civil servant earns, N23 is taken as tax. You can go and make your research, but let me say what it is. Pension deduction, union deduction, payee deduction, National Housing Fund deduction, which didn’t give anybody a house. Nobody has ever benefited from a house from the National Housing Fund. But every month, they take the money from the salaries of civil servants.”
According to him,”There is also BASOVCA, obviously, the deduction, union dues, all these things come to about 23%. 23% of what civil servants in Bauchi state earn. And how much do they earn? N70,000 per annum. Go and get the pay slip of a level 13 officer who earns N107,000 with all these allowances. Without the allowances, it’s N70,000. By the time the deduction is done, he enters with about N70,000 per month. Probably less even, say, a man with a wife and just even one child. He has to cater for his rent. He has to cater for his upkeep and that of his family. If his wife is sick, he has to go to the hospital. If his child, if because of all the wahala that he’s facing, he now has high blood pressure, he also has to go to the hospital and pay from that money in a month.”
“So, these were the things that we listened and observed, and we said, we have to do things in a different way. And the only way you can do it is to try and holistically try and improve the economic status of the state, not just by doing one thing, not just by infrastructure, but we also have to go into farming, large-scale farming, where the state will own, I told it to you earlier, the state will own farms in every local government. And then every local government will also own farms,” he added.
The gubernatorial candidate added that,”And then every Emirate Council, every institution of the state, like for example, the university, the colleges of education, the agriculture, this and the teaching hospitals, the specialist hospitals, everybody will have to go into farming.”
He further said that,”When we are young, Even in Bauchi, we used to have farms funded by even the native authority. It used to be called Gonan Sarki. These were publicly funded projects that were meant to provide food for the people. So if at the start, you ensure that everybody got into agriculture, two, three things happen. First and foremost, our youths, of which Bauchi state has about 70% of its population under 30, will be gainfully employed, at least those that want to work on the farms. Secondly, there will be food. Bauchi will definitely, if you do that, become the food basket of not just the nation, but you can even export it.”
He added,”Imagine a situation where the state has 20 farms in 20 local governments that are well-mechanized and well-monitored and well-provided for, and the local governments have 20 farms, then we will have a lot of job opportunities for the entire people.”
Barr Ibrahim Kashim
