Our chairman is a sell out

Even though we sat down with him and planned our campaign tour, the man began to find one reason after another to dodge our rallies. The first day he went with us to Kwazazzabo Local Government but before the program even started he said he must dash back to the state capital Birnin Tafki because […]

Even though we sat down with him and planned our campaign tour, the man began to find one reason after another to dodge our rallies. The first day he went with us to Kwazazzabo Local Government but before the program even started he said he must dash back to the state capital Birnin Tafki because he received a call that his mother was sick. Maikahon Karo was very angry and he said to him, “Chairman, are you the only person in your house? You mean none of your three wives can attend to their mother-in-law unless you go back yourself?” But the man gave one lame excuse, that her drugs are locked up in his drawer so he must rush back.  
The following day when we did a rally at Mun Tsira Local Government we did not see him at all. He later sent a message saying we should excuse him because his father-in-law is the ESEP chairman in that local government and if he curses ESEP at the rally, the father-in-law will think he is referring to him. When we went to Tudu Local Government, he went with us to the rally but just before he was called to speak the man disappeared, saying he rushed to the toilet to ease himself. Our boys however said they saw him standing behind one big tree and making a phone call. He pretended he did not hear when his name was being called to come to the microphone and speak.
Meanwhile we heard that he was grumbling all around, telling people that I did not fulfil the promises that I made to him and to the original members of the party, that I just came in with strangers and took over the party as if it is my house. We sent for him and confronted him but he denied it, saying he never said that to anybody. Tsinin Kusa cut him short and said, “Look here Chairman, how can you deny it? It was your wife that told our Women’s Wing leader Dela Yar’guguwa that Alhaji promised to give you a Mercedes car but that he gave you only a Honda End of Discussion. You are an ingrate! Before Alhaji gave you this Honda was it not a panel van you were riding, an old one for that matter?”
The man kept denying, saying Yar’guguwa was lying, that he was sure that his wife did not tell her that. So we decided to give him another chance. The next day we had a town hall meeting with trade union leaders in Tafki State. The union leaders were very angry that workers in many ministries have not received their February salary. Workers in the Tafki State Ministry of Education have not even seen their January salary. The Accountant General claimed that it was caused by a computer failure with e-payment but everyone suspects that the Governor and his cohorts have emptied the treasury to finance their campaign. I joined them in expressing anger at the non-payment of salary and I promised them that as soon as I take over, I will clear the arrears and will pay salaries as and when due.
To our great surprise our chairman took the microphone and started appealing to workers to exercise patience, saying that salaries are not being paid because of the fall in oil prices. Maikahon Karo stood up and snatched the microphone from his mouth saying, “Chairman, what is your own defending ESEP? Are you ESEP chairman or SIP chairman?” There was general laughter and the man was ridiculed. After the event he came to me and complained that Maikaho disgraced him, that if that is the case he will not come with me to any campaign event again.
I managed to pacify him and the following day he went with us for campaign events in Gangare Local Government. As we were approaching Gangare town we heard that ESEP youths had set tyres on fire to stop us from entering the town so our Youth Wing members jumped out of their buses, sharpened their swords on the coal tar and prepared to open the road. The party chairman however kept discouraging us, saying we should turn back and go away, that since we had signed a peace agreement in the Police Commissioner’s office we should not engage in any fighting.
The argument became so heated that Anbuga Anbarka jumped up and grabbed the party chairman by the collar saying, “Why are you saying we should not fight? Didn’t ESEP leaders sign the same peace agreement but their boys are now blocking the road? If we show fear now and go back, then we shall never do any rally again because they will block the road of every town that we are going to in Tafki State!” So our boys charged forward and we could hear screaming and shouts of anguish as they opened the road for us to pass. After we finished the rally the police DPO came and said we must come and make statements about the fighting that took place. When we went to the charge office, to our surprise our party chairman said it was my fault, that he advised me to turn back but I allowed our boys to go and fight.
When we were driving back to Birnin Tafki Maikahon Karo suddenly stopped our motorcade in the middle of the bush. He went straight for the Chairman’s car. That was when we realised that it was empty; only the driver was in it. The chairman had sneaked away. He was lucky because our Youth Wing leader Maitawaye had already told three strong boys to prepare cowhide whips and oil them with shea butter. Their plan was to strip the chairman down to his underwear and whip him seriously, there in the bush.
The next day we finally got proof of why our chairman was betraying us. Anbuga Anbarka was a close aide of Goshin Bauna before he recently defected to our party so he tapped his sources in ESEP. He was given a copy of a voucher where our chairman collected money from Goshin Bauna’s men. The voucher was titled “special campaign operations.” He was also promised a Mercedes car. Even though he is an illiterate, Goshin Bauna promised that he will appoint him a commissioner if he sabotages my campaign from within. In fact, we heard that Goshin Bauna’s people prepared a letter to INEC on a forged SIP letter-headed paper saying the party never adopted me as its gubernatorial candidate. They gave the letter to our chairman and being an illiterate, he thumb printed it.