2011: Borno and the Dibal challenge

This apathy and docility can be linked to the general apprehension that has dogged the party owing to the unequal play ground which Governor Ali Sheriff has engineered with speculations that his younger brother of same parents Mala Sheriff has been anointed to succeed him and that in an attempt to achieve this objective, all […]

This apathy and docility can be linked to the general apprehension that has dogged the party owing to the unequal play ground which Governor Ali Sheriff has engineered with speculations that his younger brother of same parents Mala Sheriff has been anointed to succeed him and that in an attempt to achieve this objective, all other interested aspirants for the office of the governor have been stigmatised and lampooned in a way no one could summon the audacity to raise a finger.

The only person who has defied the unwritten code not to contest is Alhaji Shettima Yuguda Dibal who incidentally is the current deputy governor of the state. He was thought to be a lone ranger who, without Ali Sheriff’s support is doomed to fail. Added to this belief is that when Yuguda Dibal attempted to procure the nomination form at the national secretariat in Abuja, information filtered into the state that Ali Sheriff has left orders at the national headquarters that no one from Borno should be allowed to collect any nomination form. The rumour around the state is that Dibal had indeed been refused the form and that until the governor approves of it, he will not collect the forms.

But on Sunday, 26th of December, 2010, all the insinuations about an Ali Sheriff blockade evaporated when Dibal made what can easily pass for a gallant entry into the state with his form in hand. The mammoth crowd of excited party supporters in their thousands who got wind of the new development thronged the Maiduguri International Airport to receive the deputy governor, expressed their happiness and pledged their total unflinching support to the candidature. The motorcade too, which snaked through the streets on the trail of the deputy governor was in itself a statement that the era of impunity and dictation has been brought to an end in the politics of the state. The tendency by political warlords to hold an entire state to ransom on the basis of a self centred wish to force candidates and expect the people to acquiesce has, by the emerging recalcitrant trend, been dealt a deadly blow.  While some political observers see this development as a signal of declining popularity for Ali Sheriff who has deliberately narrowed the political space for obvious reasons, I will rather see it as a warning signal for the governor to retrace his self serving steps, dissuade his younger brother from this clearly self destruct mission, embrace the man of the moment, extend his support and negotiate a safe landing.

This route appears to be the only alternative for the governor otherwise the simmering imbroglio and the attendant palpable dissent that is brewing against the ANPP leadership in the state would eventually endanger the chances of the party in the forthcoming general elections. Already, signs of polarisation have set in with the carpet crossing of Ali Ndume and thousands of his supporters into the PDP. The loss of Ndume is a very big minus for the party. He has a very large followership across the southern part of the state and without him, the ANPP is in a quagmire already on how to go about it this time around.  Any further attempt to narrow the space by any act of nepotism will spell doom for the party.

The electorate is now wiser and more sophisticated. The 2011 politician is different from the 1999 counterpart. Also, people have become more alive to their civic responsibilities as everyone is now aware that billions of naira has accrued to the state in the last eight years with virtually nothing on ground to justify it. Of course, some negligible efforts have been made to ensure growth through construction of houses, roads and substandard solar street lights. But the 21st century electorate knows that sustainable growth can only be achieved through the right application of resources to critical areas of development. Governance on impulse whereby a governor decides everything by not recognising the role of other tiers of government and not through a framework of legislation, feasibility studies, data collection and strategic planning is counterproductive to the long term objective.

Those who refused to understand and appreciate change when it starts knocking on their doors have always lived to regret it at a time they are not in a position to rectify it. For Ali Sheriff, now is the time to give his full backing to his dutiful, loyal and competent deputy even if it is in the spirit of fulfilling his pledge to support a southerner in 2011. All indications have proved that his younger brother is not acceptable to the people of the state and the closest person to him is his deputy whom he can trust not to rock the boat or to contemplate instituting any probe into the past. I do not see any other face saving option for him.

Yusuf wrote from the University of Maiduguri