Bauchi state politicians must have by now been shocked by the unpredictable politics their state promoted in the 2023 contest with fanfare. No, not in terms of the expensiveness of the past campaigns introduced by the desperate All Progressives Congress (APC), which became the leitmotif of their competition for offices, or the gargantuan remunerations proposed for their elected party members in Bauchi State, but in terms of their defiance of every, known orthodoxy that typified and ennobled global politics for decades.
Bauchi politicians of APC extraction had defied the odds, subverted rules, mocked conventions, and now, seem to sneer at even commonsense itself by refusing to accept the victory of others. The just concluded governorship election in the state is in class of its own- all but indicates that while democracy is to be preferred over every other system of government, Bauchi politicians on the opposing side have themselves been very reluctant to let that system grow and flourish for the benefit of all because, of parochial interests and imaginary differences that exist only in the imagination of the authors. Some of them in opposition have mustered the rigging mechanism and attempted to wobble their ways to victory but blocked by superior power to accessing victory without merit.
In the last gubernatorial election, there were several glaring cases of where votes didn’t count but were allocated to an opposition party that dangled the highest offer, and the ad-hoc staff of the electoral umpire, were ‘forced’ to count and declare those filthy votes as genuine, yet after humiliating defeat, same party rushed to the petition election tribunal expecting rescue and succor with crocodile tears rolling down their cheeks for pity.
The trauma of conducting true balloting knocked politicians in some of parties in that pearl of tourism and exposed the state to some sort of politically –induced autoimmune affliction. The gubernatorial election was expected to be a straight contest between the APC as the strongest opposition and the PDP as the ruling and most preferred party, with the ruling PDP piping the main opposition party candidate at the post.
Unfortunately, while the state governor and other party leaders were strategizing for victory, the imperious but evidently brittle and factionalized APC was unable to agree with the efforts of their party and some of its chieftains to navigate to safe coast as an honor at all levels. It was a clear case of lost of internal discipline, confidence, trust and glaring incapacitation that added value to the PDP enterprise that enjoys majority acceptability, credibility and ability. Most of the electorates despite party differences, commended the efforts put-in-place by some notables such as Senators Baba Tela and Abdul Ahmed Ningi, Hamza Koshe Akuyam, Hon. Farouk Mustapha, Ahmed Ibrahim Dandija, Abdu Sule Katagum, Aliyu Aminu Garu, Comrade Muktar Gidado, AbdulRazak Nuhu Zaki, Ahmed Aliyu Jalam and several others whose party affiliation I may not state but they did wonderful and commendable jobs to stabilize the polity, checkmated threats of violent reactions poised by sponsored miscreants, chased away merchants of votes buying and their collaborators at stationed at polling units within their reach, encouraged security and party agents to execute their official assignments smoothly without undue interference, rendered solicited support to INEC accredited Election Observer Groups as senior stakeholders in the Greater Bauchi Project and supported the candidature of Bala Muhammed to safe coast for a better Bauchi State piloted on the tenets of transparency, probity and the rule of law and resisted all threats dished out by agents of doom strategically positioned to scuttle all efforts for Bala’s re-election victory.
Definitely, the displayed courage and positive actions of those seasoned politicians for a stable election did not go down well with some spent horses within the polity carrying the cards of opposition. While they were busy combing every nook and corner of the state to deliver positively to Governor Bala Muhammed as a bond to the sustenance of the democracy and good governance, opposition APC was jittery of the expertise and general acceptability displayed which could not allow it net any positive result to surface and reach the ballot box. They murdered sleep and opted to Plan B of rolling out a vendetta strategy through a well hatched mischief to smear the reputation of those political giants to deny them any possible recognition by the electorates which was resisted, neutralized and thrown to the garbage where it rightly belonged.
There were sinister and reactionary moves from the living rooms of those who took offence on why those political gladiators were all out to redeliver Bauchi State to Governor Bala Muhammed and not to Air Marshal Sadeeq Baba Abubakar of the opposition APC as their chosen candidate who lacks political base and even imaginary scanty acceptability anywhere within the state?
The PDP was neither frightened nor deterred by the reactionary moves to cripple its determination which was holistic and sincere anchored on focus and total commitment. They moved ahead as Spartans and led the assembled team to deliver the results which were positive without casualties from the battle field.
The battle is yet to be over since then while destructive mills of the opponents are still booming and steaming out hatred and hate speeches against their targets to divert the attention of Governor Bala Muhammed from seeing reason on the inbuilt leadership capacity of those political giants that delivered positively to his victory. We are keenly watching how the game is on play at the Court of Appeal where the rejected and aggrieved APC rushed to with wishy-washy complain of rigging in anticipation of an unmerited victory crown which it failed to labor for. Bauchi electorates are monitoring and watching the drama on play to see who will laugh last in the drama.
As for Governor Bala Muhammed and the PDP, the case ferried from the Gubernatorial Election Petition Tribunal to the Court of Appeal by the humiliated APC and its candidate is nothing but a mere exercise of a constitutional right by the aggrieved and rejected. Bala Muhammed believes in the rule of law and has every constitutional right at his disposal to defend and protect the votes of the electorates who massively reelected him to govern the state as their choice and right.
APC is desperate to be crowned as the winner of the gubernatorial election forgetting the fact that it never won the election and cannot be crowned as the winner even by miracle and for whatever reason. After all, Governor Bala Muhammed was not elected through the court but through the ballot box by the majority. Why then should APC deem it necessary and a must to insult the exercised franchise of the electorates through the court that fielded no contestant, conducted no election and voted no one? Even through technicality, Governor Bala Muhammed won the election with a wide margin of over 93,000 votes as declared by INEC not by the PDP. Where was the APC when the PDP gladiators were over laboring themselves and burning the midnight oil combing every nook and cranny of Bauchi State seeking for votes to escape defeat?
APC went to bed earlier than expected while hoping against hope and swimming in foolery but beating the drums of violence as a campaign tool. Bauchi remains a proud and contended base of Governor Bala Muhammed and the PDP that cannot be doubted!
On a final note, if the APC was that serious, it could have delivered the required victory to its presidential candidate but it failed. There was no serious campaign anywhere within the state for the victory of the APC Presidential Candidate. It was an enterprise handled by jokers and rabble rousers and the end result was the defeat the party merited. APC national leadership should know of that.
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues
