For All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bauchi State to regain its lost glory, only few of its members have the capacity to do so. The few members are not in the outer space but on the membership list of the party in Bauchi State.
Talk of Muhammed A. Abubakar SAN, Rt.Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Sen. Shehu Buba Umar, Hon. Muhammed Garba Gololo, Capt. Bala Jibrin, Dr Musa Babayo and possibly, Amb Maitama Tugga and master of the game who navigated the party to victory in 2015, Uba Ahmed Nana.
Any other person that nurses a different opinion or dreams of having the capacity to reactivate the party to attain any electoral victory in future other than those mentioned, particularly Sen. Shehu Buba, that claimant may be a daydreamer living in a world of illusion because of the life injury inflicted on the psyche of the party by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019 and repeated in 2023.
Those presently running helter-skelter from behind the scene claiming to save the soul of the party from interment are mere political jobbers lacking focus with mal-functional brains that deceive them to believing the unbelievable.
So far, the only credible politicians of substance still standing within the APC fractured family are M.A Abubakar who can boast of a reliable structure to rely upon when the need arises and if he still believes in anything APC in Bauchi State going by the hell of experience he went through as a governor from betrayals and series of blackmail by his own APC chieftains and their appendages, and Sen. Shehu Buba Umar who is injecting fresh oxygen into the party for revival against 2027.
No doubt, M.A Abubakar and Sen. Shehu Buba are the last men-politician of substance still standing with an APC membership card that can in unison with the likes of Capt. Bala Jibrin, Uba Ahmed Nana, Muhammed Garba Gololo, Yakubu Dogara , Dr Musa Babayo, Abdulmalik Mahmood and few others, may rescue the party from its terminal end.
The party was in the intensive care unit of an unknown medical facility waiting to breath until Shehu Buba arrived with medication, it was waiting to breath its last for un-ceremonial burial when Sen. Shehu came to the rescue with support jacket.
It was neither from the suspected political strategy of the ruling party (PDP) in Bauchi State nor from that of the other weaker parties existing in the state. It was from its own creation and plans that turned the erstwhile ruling party APC, in Bauchi State to a laughing stock on the verge of extinction from the political turf.
If the APC chooses to ignore doing the needful not minding contrary claims from those their armchair politicians masquerading as political titans and disappoint Sen. Shehu Buba Umar, it should prepare for the worst defeat ever in the political history of Nigeria. That’s my take!
Prior to the 2019 general elections, all was not well within the Bauchi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The party survived the odds from the imagination of its few operators in control of government then.
Since 2015, it has been a story of one brand of crisis after the other and it appears, there is no end to the division rocking the onetime ruling party in the state having lost power in 2019. All efforts to resolve the lingering crises overtime proved abortive as jobbers feast on the situation for selfish ends.
It has been a case of accusation and counter accusation among the major party stakeholders who nurtured the party to maturity and later members. The situation got worse from its creation, following its own self created defeat in the 2019 gubernatorial election. The outcome of the election released bottled-up anger nursed over the years.
Observers believe the party has a long way to go to bounce back and attempt to challenge the dominance of the PDP now the ruling party in the state. APC, as a byproduct of a mega merger that won the gubernatorial election from several factors, could not chart a workable formula to consolidate power and was not truly supportive to its government despite the efforts deployed towards good governance by the governor. It was a party in disarray right from the day it accessed power. It was confused and lacked direction. It was remotely controlled by certain forces considered in the state as fortune seekers which the governor fought with vigor, a situation the PDP studied and used as a winning tool in 2019 spiced with the credibility and general acceptance of its gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Bala Muhammed.
In the opinion of most APC members, if the silent quarrelsome situation continues despite being the party in control of the federal government, those still dreaming and believing in the survival of the party may certainly throw away the baby with the birth water for safety against 2027.
Presently, some chieftains have threatened to pull out, should the party fail to address the burning issues pulling it apart related to so many factors including the criminal imposition of erstwhile state chairman of the party, Babayo Aliyu Misau by some powerful charlatans then in power.
Observers say it is a shameful act and display of intolerance, inexperience and immaturity watching APC’s dirty linen washed in the public in spite of several claims of integrity, patriotism and nationalism. They said the more the aggrieved members display their anger, the slimmer the chances of reconciliation among the aggrieved.
The crux of the matter revolves around poor management of the party right from the time its first state chairman relinquished the position for senatorial contest which birthed anti-party activities, imposition and disrespect to party constitution and assemblage of leaders without internal discipline.
To make matters worse, the national body appeared to have turned deaf ears to the exact situation in Bauchi State. Instead, the national secretariat was divided along parochial sentiments laced with interest. The former Adams Oshiomhole style of party leadership was believed to be aloof towards the crises which clearly contributed to the defeat of the party specifically at the gubernatorial election because major stakeholders allegedly played anti-party activities openly.
Although the victory of PDP was clean and clear in 2019, yet, it was challenged up to the Supreme Court with major APC stakeholders not keen for the return of their own to power. In place, they preferred Sen. Bala Muhammed of the PDP whom they see as a bosom friend, blood and one of the most respected sons of the soil blessed with the capacity and inbuilt interest to develop the state evenly.
If that assumption is correct, then, Sen. Bala Muhammed had a general acceptability across party divide more than any other past elected governor to have occupied Bauchi State Government House since 1996 when Gombe State was curved out of the Bauchi State of 1976.
Critics may throw sentimental challenges with blind loyalty and greed to distort facts on the historical backgrounds of Ahmadu Mu’azu, Isa Yuguda and M.A Abubakar, but the truth of the matter remains as it is going by historical facts at the disposal of historians that cannot be twisted with fiction and parochial interests for the sake of confusion. They are bona fide indigenes of Bauchi State by any standard but from relatively non-political known families unlike Bala Muhammed who hails from the royal house of Duguri and heavily connected to Bauchi royal house.
As the APC crisis lingers silently and fanned by desperados, what ordinarily should be applied to salvage the situation is for APC card carrying members to press for a genuine gubernatorial primary election in 2027 at variance with previous ones or at best, a consensus candidate (Sen. Shehu Buba Umar) should be made to fly the flag of their party as the only solution to the possibility, of the party going into extinction that is glaring but not in the interest of the democracy or that of the PDP that rules with caution.
APC should borrow a leaf from PDP that lost power in 2015, passed through several leadership crises and eventually bounced back to prominence with enough strength and acceptability. It wasn’t through rocket science that feat was achieved but from a clear case of sincerity of purpose, patience, tolerance, determination, party discipline and concern to the survival of the democracy which are qualities the APC seems to lack for now in Bauchi State.
Prior to the gubernatorial election of 2019, APC boasted of self-appointed political giants and goal getters in Bauchi State that could deliver the state to the party with ease forgetting that they lacked clear political base but boasted of deliverance to deceive the then President Buhari and APC national leadership for possible patronage with federal appointments. It was a team up to defeat PDP but the electorates said No and it was the No that emerged victorious.
Former governor M.A Abubakar, to say the obvious, was a sincere and determined leader but a victim of political rascality, pretence, deceit, extortion and hatred from his very party members who de-marketed his candidature. He was deceived with bogus claims and parochial lies of service delivery by his trusted aides.
Few prominent party chieftains with the capacity to deliver stood by him. For instance, Dr Musa Babayo was a reliable and sincere pillar who donated a well furnished campaign office along bypass in Azare of Katagum local government to the gubernatorial campaign and delivered votes of his polling unit, ward and few local governments to APC candidates at the 2019 general elections.
Muhammed Garba Gololo was supportive and did the expected by delivering the entire votes of Gamawa local government to the APC. He remains a pillar to the APC in Gamawa local government till date he has no serious challenger worth the trouble. But, he is not a diehard politician that believes in unnecessary mudslinging or campaign of calumny against opposition.
Ironically, some of those characters who betrayed M.A Abubakar and never supported the aspiration of Bala Muhammed of the PDP are left now shuttling between the presidential Villa, APC national secretariat and living rooms of important personalities in the federal government cup-in-hand begging for engagement by the Tinubu led federal government or extension of any other support for survival.
Those who nursed the notion of playing pranks with Governor Bala Muhammed were disappointed with his style of governance which is anchored on the tenets of transparency and prudence. He disappointed them because he refused to bend the rules for insincerity to penetrate his administration. He appoints those that can add value to governance not town criers, blackmailers and every Tom, Jack and Harry for mere political patronage. He believes in prompt delivery of service as he sets the pace in modern governance. Governor Bala Muhammed has no room for excuses but believes in prompt delivery of service.
As the journey to 2027 is not far away, which is that party other than the PDP that can confront the coming tsunami to be ignited by Bala Muhammed in favor of his most preferred candidates for the elections if not Sen. Shehu Buba Umar of the APC? There may be some unfortunate political turncoats that may masquerade as candidates to risk their investments in a wild goose chase. But Bauchi State no doubt belongs to the PDP family unless the APC does a thorough homework, PDP is basing its campaign on the performance index of Bala Muhammed who has separated the grain from the chaff with dexterity and passion and we live to see!
Muhammad is a commentator on national affairs
