Shamsudeen Bala Mohammed, the eldest son of Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, has sparked fresh controversy within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accusing former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of undermining his father’s re-election bid in 2023 and declaring that the time has come to “settle scores.”
In a series of posts on social media on Saturday, Shamsudeen alleged that Atiku not only failed to support Governor Mohammed during the last election but also actively backed his rival, Abubakar Sadiq, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate. He claimed the former vice president mobilised political elites in Bauchi State against his father.
“He (Atiku) didn’t work for us in the 2023 election; he worked for Air Marshal,” Shamsudeen tweeted in Hausa. “He deployed elites in Bauchi to fight us and we narrowly escaped defeat. Now, he takes us for granted and acts like we’re too small to be considered for reconciliation.”
Although he did not name specific individuals, political observers believe the reference to “elites” may include elder statesman Bello Kirfi, a close ally of Atiku. In January 2023, Governor Mohammed ordered the Bauchi Emirate Council to strip Kirfi of his traditional title—Wazirin Bauchi—citing disloyalty and disrespect.
Kirfi, who previously served as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs under President Shehu Shagari and later as Minister of Special Duties during Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, has long been a political heavyweight in Bauchi and a staunch supporter of Atiku.
Another figure believed to have played a role is former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara. While Dogara supported Atiku in the 2023 presidential election, he reportedly withheld support from Governor Mohammed during the state governorship contest.
Despite the internal tensions, Atiku secured a resounding victory in Bauchi during the presidential election, defeating his closest rival, Bola Tinubu of the APC, by a margin of 109,913 votes. Atiku polled 426,607 votes, while Tinubu garnered 316,694.
Shamsudeen’s remarks came in the wake of Atiku’s recent visit to former President Muhammadu Buhari in Kaduna, a move widely interpreted as part of efforts to galvanize opposition support ahead of the 2027 general election.
Reacting to the controversy, a PDP social media influencer, Abdulaziz Na’ibi-Abubakar, urged both camps to resolve their differences. “We hope that Atiku and Governor Bala Mohammed reconcile to keep the PDP on track,” he wrote in a reply to Shamsudeen’s post.
Governor Mohammed, who contested the PDP presidential primary in 2022, later returned to secure the party’s gubernatorial ticket for a second term. As chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, he remains one of the most influential figures within the party and is believed to still harbor presidential ambitions.
With both men positioning themselves for the 2027 race, insiders say the rift could deepen further if reconciliation efforts fail—posing a significant challenge for PDP’s cohesion ahead of the next electoral cycle.
