A Royal Radical: The Muhammad Dikko Yusuf Story (3)

History then repeated itself. PRP was formed, as a more or less reincarnation of NEPU. The latter party was formed in 1950 while M.D. Yusuf was still in high school in Kano. PRP was formed in 1978 while he was the IGP of the Nigerian Federation. Radicalism begets radicals, and it beckons. It was therefore […]

History then repeated itself. PRP was formed, as a more or less reincarnation of NEPU. The latter party was formed in 1950 while M.D. Yusuf was still in high school in Kano. PRP was formed in 1978 while he was the IGP of the Nigerian Federation. Radicalism begets radicals, and it beckons. It was therefore natural that M.D. Yusuf, free from the shackles of office, would seek to join the PRP which he did.
The PRP, alone among the legalized parties, argues a clear line of opposition to imperialism and neo-colonialism, and constantly criticizes the power of multinational companies in Nigeria. PRP was NEPU reincarnated, complete with a new leftist garb, with a tendency to tilt towards ‘African Marxism’-a concept not too entirely clear to the teeming masses in need for emancipation, but who perceive PRP as a torch that lit the long corridors of darkness of oppression.
It was thus the party which was most insistent in its call for the vigorous prosecution of the liberation struggles in southern Africa as well as the Middle East. The radical populism of the PRP becomes easily apparent when one listened to its dedicated militants its and articulated spokesmen such as M.D. Yusuf and the late Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman, working to mobilize the masses of the north. In 1979, the party presented Aminu Kano as its presidential candidate but he could not muster enough votes to win. Nevertheless, the party won two gubernatorial seats.
While M.D. Yusuf was part of the card-carrying machinery of PRP, he also used the opportunity to polish his political horns, particularly from leading intellectuals that populated the party such as late Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman and late Chinua Achebe. This learning process is to stand him in good stead when he decided to jumped into a political arena some ten years later.
The military continued stumbling in and out of Nigerian governance, such that the country entered into its ‘darkest’ days from 1993 to 1998 under the late General Sani Abacha. Responding to both national and international clamor for democracy, the military promised to hand over power in 1995, later shifted to 1998.
Consequently, M.D. Yusuf stunned the Nigerian nation in late 1997 when he joined the Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM), directly seeking its presidential ticket. This was courageously dangerous move; for the nation at the time was in the hands of Gen. Sani Abacha’s, the visibly invisible virtual candidate-who, while not openly declaring intentions to succeed himself as civilian president, had somehow whipped up large segments of the polity to ‘earnestly ask’ him to contest with their eyes widely shut.
However, a combination of instinct for survival, marshalling of the state dictatorship machinery fueled by mortal fear led to the presidential bid of M. D. Yusuf being halted in April 1998 Maiduguri Convention of the GDM where the sole virtual candidature of Gen. Sani Abacha for Nigerian president in an election slated for August 1998 was ratified. In June 1998 death intervened to take away Gen. Sani Abacha, leading to another cycle in Nigerian political development.
Nigeria entered into its Second Republic from October 1979 to December 1983, following almost 13 years of military rule. In September 1978 the military government lifted its proscription of political parties. In the following months, five newly formed parties began to emerge. These were National Party of Nigeria (NPN), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP), People’s Redemption Party (PRP), and the Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP).
History then repeated itself. PRP was formed, as a more or less reincarnation of NEPU. The latter party was formed in 1950 while M.D. Yusuf was still in high school in Kano. PRP was formed in 1978 while he was the IGP of the Nigerian Federation. Radicalism begets radicals, and it beckons. It was therefore natural that M.D. Yusuf, free from the shackles of office, would seek to join the PRP which he did.
The PRP, alone among the legalized parties, argues a clear line of opposition to imperialism and neo-colonialism, and constantly criticizes the power of multinational companies in Nigeria. PRP was NEPU reincarnated, complete with a new leftist garb, with a tendency to tilt towards ‘African Marxism’-a concept not too entirely clear to the teeming masses in need for emancipation, but who perceive PRP as a torch that lit the long corridors of darkness of oppression.
It was thus the party which was most insistent in its call for the vigorous prosecution of the liberation struggles in southern Africa as well as the Middle East. The radical populism of the PRP becomes easily apparent when one listened to its dedicated militants its and articulated spokesmen such as M.D. Yusuf and the late Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman, working to mobilize the masses of the north. In 1979, the party presented Aminu Kano as its presidential candidate but he could not muster enough votes to win. Nevertheless, the party won two gubernatorial seats.
While M.D. Yusuf was part of the card-carrying machinery of PRP, he also used the opportunity to polish his political horns, particularly from leading intellectuals that populated the party such as late Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman and late Chinua Achebe. This learning process is to stand him in good stead when he decided to jumped into a political arena some ten years later.
The military continued stumbling in and out of Nigerian governance, such that the country entered into its ‘darkest’ days from 1993 to 1998 under the late General Sani Abacha. Responding to both national and international clamor for democracy, the military promised to hand over power in 1995, later shifted to 1998.
Consequently, M.D. Yusuf stunned the Nigerian nation in late 1997 when he joined the Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM), directly seeking its presidential ticket. This was courageously dangerous move; for the nation at the time was in the hands of Gen. Sani Abacha’s, the visibly invisible virtual candidate-who, while not openly declaring intentions to succeed himself as civilian president, had somehow whipped up large segments of the polity to ‘earnestly ask’ him to contest with their eyes widely shut.
However, a combination of instinct for survival, marshalling of the state dictatorship machinery fueled by mortal fear led to the presidential bid of M. D. Yusuf being halted in April 1998 Maiduguri Convention of the GDM where the sole virtual candidature of Gen. Sani Abacha for Nigerian president in an election slated for August 1998 was ratified. In June 1998 death intervened to take away Gen. Sani Abacha, leading to another cycle in Nigerian political development.
M. D. Yusuf, the Dauda (David) against the military Jalut (Goliath), challenged the military Jalut based on his faith in God and the total transparency of his intentions. If the contest had been allowed to continue, he certainly would have won – for unlike the rest of the Israelite forces who were afraid to challenge Jalut, M.D. Yusuf had always believed that God is in control. Thus like Dauda (David), M. D. Yusuf right there and then inscribed himself within the collective psyche of Nigerians as a hero.
In July 1998 Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar succeeded Gen. Sani Abacha. He dissolved the five parties and announced that democratic elections would be held during the first quarter of 1999. This opened doors for the emergence, yet again, of a slew of 26 political parties which all applied to be registered under a newly-formed Independent National Electoral Commission (INEe}. After the verification of claims, nine were granted provisional approval on 19 October 1998: the Alliance for Democracy (AD), the All People’s Party (APP); later the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), the Democratic Advance Movement (DAM), the Movement for Democracy and Justice (MDJ), the National Solidarity Movement (NSM), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), the United Democratic Party (UDP), and the United People’s Party (UPP).
Not giving up on his ambition to see to his vision of a better Nigeria for the mass of poor people and downtrodden, M.D. Yusuf pitched his tent with the Movement for Democracy and Justice (MDJ). The book, however, did not tell why M.D. Yusuf chose MDJ over his old party, PRP, especially as his fundamental ideological stand remains.
While the party politicking was going on, another important event in the life M.D. Yusuf was also taking place. The 1999 elections and their aftermath left a bitter violent after taste in the Nigerian polity, especially in northern Nigeria. Consequently, in 2000 the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, was created to provide a platform for the unity of northern Nigeria. The goal was to regain and maintain the oneness of the people of the northern states, irrespective of religion or ethnic differences.
On May 15 and 16 2001, the Board of Trustees and the Central Working Committee respectively held their inaugural meetings and appointed their leaders. Chief S. B Awoniyi became the Chairman of the Board of Trustees with Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako as his deputy. M.D Yusuf became the Chairman of the Central Working with Alhaji Hassan Mohammed Agwai, Ciroman Keffi as Deputy. M.D. Yusuf later in the year became the Chairman of ACF.
In February 2003, the MDJ, which contains within its fold, a coalition of intellectuals many of whom were in the old PRP, adopted M.D. Yusuf as its Presidential candidate= pltching him against retired Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, the incumbent. In his acceptance speech for the candidature, M. D. Yusuf said he agreed to contest for the presidency because the country was in danger of being wrecked in the forthcoming elections by cheap but incendiary politics of inciting hatred and generating fears between the various interest groups. Further, respected Nigerians who were expected to behave like statesmen were determined to cling to power or were determined to grab it by any means and were inciting these hatreds and generating these fears overtly and covertly. This set of politicians wants to be voted for, based on their ethno- religious and regional sentiments and not for what they can offer to improve the nation.
This acceptance further projects M.D. Yusuf as a fearless and detribalized Nigerian. This was more so as M.D. Yusuf was about to lock horns with former head of state, retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari who was also contesting for the presidency on the platform of APP/ANPP-both from the same Katsina State in the north of Nigeria, and from the same religious and ethnic configuration. His MDJ Presidential candidature means M.D. Yusuf had to {step aside’ as the Chairman of the ACF.
Being excerpts from a review by Prof. Adamu,  Professor of Media and Cultural Communications and  Professor of Science Education Bayero University, Kano, NIGERIA  December 2013 18, Kaduna.