CPC and the risk of complacency

However, there are growing concerns that General Buhari is not paying critical attention to the crisis of confidence affecting the leadership of the CPC. Many newspaper articles have been published drawing attention to the relationship between the future of the CPC and its leadership. General Buhari’s entire reputation now depends on how far he can […]

However, there are growing concerns that General Buhari is not paying critical attention to the crisis of confidence affecting the leadership of the CPC. Many newspaper articles have been published drawing attention to the relationship between the future of the CPC and its leadership. General Buhari’s entire reputation now depends on how far he can make the new party the commanding moral force in our national politics. If your reputation is involved in the success or failure of a movement, then you cannot afford to be detached from the way such movement is run.

The biggest challenge facing the CPC today is the fact that, apart from General Buhari, those running its affairs don’t command enough credibility to lead the party to victory in 2011. Lack of internal democracy, which is usually one of the reasons the ruling PDP is criticized by the opposition, has now infected the CPC. Can General Buhari pretend that all is well within the CPC? Docs the CPC leadership under Senator Sani Hanga have any basis to accuse the PDP of lacking internal democracy when he himself is manipulating the process in order to make himself the sole gubernatorial candidate for the party in 2011 in Kano State?

He is doing everything to frustrate other aspirants from having access to membership cards or nomination forms. Many former PDP members and supporters have deserted the party to join the CPC because of the conviction that General Bohari’s party is synonymous with transparency. Unfortunately, Senator Hanga’s leadership style has created alienation and disillusionment among party supporters. His leadership has dashed the hopes of thousands who perceived CPC as a more credible platform for decent politics.

Senator Hanga doesn’t inherently believe in due process and the right of the people to choose their leaders freely. This tendency caused him so many enemies in his two former parties- ANPP and PDP. His autocratic style and inordinate greed for power had caused him so much ill will that his attempt to go for second term at the  Senate in 2007 was stoutly resisted by the people. Realizing that he had run out of good will in his former parties, he finally sought refuge in the CPC where he emerged the National Chairman of the party.

It is obvious that General Buhari has become hostage to Alhaji Sule Hamma and other leaders of the Buhari organization, who individually don’t command the political clout to garner votes for the CPC. The leaders of the Buhari organization appoint leaders for the party regardless of their popularity and ram their choices down the throat of General Buhari. Senate Hanga cringes before Alhaji Hamma to get the party leadership because he knew that in a free and fair vote involving the people, he wouldn’t have become the national chairman of the party.

Despite the fact that the weekly Trust did a cover story at one point, explaining how leaders of the Buhari Organization were contributing to General Buhari’s political problems, the report did little to open his eyes. Sadly, General Buhari is repeating the same mistake today by allowing opportunists who want to use his name for their own political advantages to take over the leadership of the party. The characters calling themselves CPC leaders are men General should keep at arm’s length.

One is disturbed why General Buhari should leave his political reputation in the hands of men who perceive power as a platform to advance themselves rather than  the welfare of the people. As the national chairman of CPC, Senator Hanga should work closely with the people to identify an aspirant who enjoys the widest popular support and nominate him as the party’s gubernatorial candidate for the 2011 elections in Kano. Instead, he is working to frustrate all other aspirants with a view to making himself as the sole candidate. His game plan is the same with former Governor Kwankwaso: to confront the party with a fait accompli.

Although many others have written before to draw Buhari’s attention to the dangers of leaving the party in the hands of self-seeking leaders, it is important to remind him once again that his apathy to the internal problems of the party can be ultimately costly. He should not allow opportunists to ride his back and impose themselves on the people. The media platform is the only place where a leader can be told the truth, which those around him are concealing from him. General Buhari appears to be too trusting of the CPC leader around him and that tendency can insidiously harm his own political interest. The unpleasant truth is that General Buhari is surrounded by political paper tigers who exaggerate their political clout in order to impress him. And sadly, he seems to have fallen for their fraudulent political bait.

Bichi wrote in from No. 96, General Jerry Usein Road, Nyanya, Abuja.