The meeting that produced that decision to hand over choosing the governorship candidate to the governor is a sign that the power of APC is about to come to an end in Yobe State. The people of the State are tired of being fooled around, having their right to choose their leaders handed over to one or a few individuals.
On Thursday September 6, 2018 what appears to be a theatre performance took place in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State. At the instance of the State government, what was called a ‘stakeholders meeting’ of the All Progressives Congress (APC) took place. In attendance were politicians close to the government. To give the meeting even more dramatic touch, the governor was absent. This was staged to make the whole gathering appear normal and legitimate. And as expected, the meeting ended with scandalous resolutions that for a long time to come can stand as a good example of the manipulation of power, sycophancy and total disregard for the will of the people.
In the first place, it was a scam to call the gathering a stakeholders meeting. It was a truly big scam because of the fact that those who spoke there claimed to have made critical decisions for the people, but without the consent of or consultation with the people. A communique issued at the end of the meeting said that the stakeholders of APC in Yobe State have given Governor Ibrahim Geidam the sole power to nominate a gubernatorial candidate for the APC in the 2019 election. This can be described as handing over the voting power of over two million Yobe people to one single person. The reasons for this absurd decision is stunning, given that those who made the decision were elected by the people, but they choose to confer upon themselves the power that can only be gotten from the people themselves. It is very clear that there is no consideration of the mandate of the people to choose their leaders in the decision made by the so called stakeholders of the party.
Many people, not only in Yobe but also outside the State, were stunned that the decision to choose a governorship candidate was handed to a single person by a group of people who have never consulted the people they claimed to represent. So, on whose behalf did they decide to anoint the governor with the mandate to choose a candidate for the party in Yobe state? It is a fact that the majority of key figures at that meeting were those doing everything they could as sycophants to please the powers that be. Another category was those who knew that on their own they cannot win any election; they need the cover of state power to survive at the polls, therefore they turned up at the meeting and spoke for people to ensure their own political survival.
One may also ask: How can there be a stakeholders meeting of APC in Yobe State without Alhaji Bukar Abba Ibrahim – a two times governor and three times senator, who is considered the father of Yobe politics? How can there be any APC stakeholders meeting in Yobe State without Hon. Sidi Yakubu Karasuwa, who lead APC to victory in the 2007, 2011 and 2015 elections? How can there be a stakeholders meeting in Yobe APC without Alhaji Ibrahim Bomai, a leading aspirant who within months almost recovered the whole of Zone B from PDP? How can there be a stakeholders meeting without these top politicians who have huge followings spread across the three senatorial zones of the State?
A quick intervention of the national leadership of the party is needed to avert losing the Yobe State in 2019. People yearned for direct primary elections but they were denied. And from the look of things, even the indirect primary might not be as straightforward as it should be. People are expecting fair play and justice.
The meeting that produced that decision to hand over choosing the governorship candidate to the governor is a sign that the power of APC is about to come to an end in Yobe State. The people of the State are tired of being fooled around, having their right to choose their leaders handed over to one or a few individuals. APC might be on the brink of extinction in Yobe State because the plan to produce the next governor from Yobe Zone A, despite the fact that power has been in that zone for 20 years, shows that the party is not ready to be fair and just to the people. The plan to produce the next governor from Zone is even bizarre because it will come with the reality that it will be the same zone, the same tribe ruling the State over and again. Maybe they want power to stay in that zone and the same tribe till eternity!
Yobe is in desperate need of social and political justice. But the way things are going right now, on the political scene, 2019 may not be the dream election that can change and shift power in the State.
APC had made a lot of mistakes and handing over choosing governorship candidate to the governor might be one of the biggest mistakes the party will make so far. APC will be making a big mistake if the governorship candidacy is retained in Zone A and within the same tribe. This mistake will only show that APC is like any other party – oblivious to justice and fairness. A quick intervention of the national leadership of the party is needed to avert losing the Yobe State in 2019. People yearned for direct primary elections but they were denied. And from the look of things, even the indirect primary might not be as straightforward as it should be. People are expecting fair play and justice. A situation whereby the state apparatus will be used to favour a certain candidate will not augur well for the State and the party itself. President Muhammadu Buhari must intervene to avert subversion of people’s will in Yobe state.
Ahmed Bulama Gulani is lawyer and academic; Email: gulani_a@protonmail.com
