PMB: Between popularity and political rigmarole in North West

With the approach of the 2019 elections, also comes the obvious reality that all may not be well with the manner in which President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election campaign is being handled. And given the enormity of the social and political problems confronting Nigeria in the last three years, Nigerians expect the 2019 elections to be […]

With the approach of the 2019 elections, also comes the obvious reality that all may not be well with the manner in which President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election campaign is being handled.

And given the enormity of the social and political problems confronting Nigeria in the last three years, Nigerians expect the 2019 elections to be on two indices of geo-politics and performance.

But the campaign process of the president is bereft of genuinely dependable and truly loyal lieutenants with commitment to his victory because most of these political appointees are too far from the common man who genuinely voted the president and hoped for a better life during his reign.

His trusted supporters who genuinely love him and remained with him throughout the turmoil of the ANPP to date have all being deliberately schemed out and sidelined by ill-intentioned lackeys.

In the North-West, the bedrock of the president loyal supporters, genuine believers in his vision and much more have been pushed far down the line in the new roll call.

The original Buhari dream had been so hijacked that even his wife, Aisha, could not control an outburst last year on how some new faces have taken over and were misdirecting her husband. Her interview with BBC Hausa Service on the 15th of October, 2016 opened a can of worms that exposed the dynamics of the inner circle of her husband’s administration.

“Some people are sitting down in their homes with their arms folded only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministry,” she said.

His wife’s decision to go public with her concerns shocked many people, but it shows the level of discontent with the president’s leadership style.

Incidentally too, those states that gave him the highest votes like Kano, Kaduna, and Katsina in 2015 happen to be the least beneficiaries of his presidency in terms of physical projects and appointments.

In Kano, people like Lawal Ja’afaru Isa, Najaatu Bala Mohammed and many more who toiled with him from 2003 to date were left in the cooler.

And the recent case of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s dollar scandal has further dented the anti-corruption stance of the president, who, from the inception anchored his administration’s cardinal objectives on fighting corruption, but surprisingly, the president looked the other way, and this stance would definitely put a huge question mark on his integrity and weaken his votes harvest in the 2019 general election.

In Kaduna State it’s surprising that PMB is still relying on the state governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufa’i, with a tactless handling of political and governmental affairs, to deliver in 2019. The governor’s recent dangerous political game of hoisting a Muslim-Muslim ticket would further alienate the voters and cause a serious setback for the President’s re-election, because, he (El-Rufa’i) inferred that he consulted President Buhari before venturing into this risky political move.

The governor’s litany of political gaffes are too numerous to mention, therefore, by every standard of assessment, the President stands the risk of losing the massive support of a huge chunk of Kaduna voters, hence the need to have a rethink and return to the drawing board and bring on board such political strongmen with grassroots political clout and statewide outreach.

People like Sani Mohammed Sha’aban, the Danburan Zazzau, Hajiya Hafsat Mohammed and many more who from 2003 to date have remained consistent in backing President Buhari’s ideals, who have never been in the Peoples Democratic Party, who also have excellent and robust relationships with both Muslims, Christians, Hausa and non-Hausa speaking people of Kaduna ought to be the likes spearheading the re-election bid of President Buhari in the state.

This is particularly important because it is widely believed that it’s by the machinations of el-Rufai that Shaaban was schemed out of the just concluded governorship primary in the state; and his supporters are justifiably angry and having a rethink about voting the president in 2019.

In Katsina, Governor Aminu Bello Masari is having a running battle in the Appeal Court with Abubakar Samaila Isa Funtua over the governorship ticket. Abubakar’s visible credential that is being touted is the fact that he is an in-law of the president. By virtue of this, his protagonists simply assume that he too ought to clinch the governorship ticket and edge out Masari who won the primary election.

In Jigawa State, APC stalwarts like Hon Farouk Adamu Aliyu, who have been diehards Buharists and have never cross-carpeted to any party since their entry into the rank of the progressives – from All Peoples Party through All Nigeria Peoples Party to Congress for Progressive Change and currently APC – have until recently not had a fair deal.

Even some prominent monarchs in the state, who are close to the President, have been complaining of his rigid approach to sensitive political matters. All these do not augur well for the marshalling of the kind of political clout needed to outflank his formidable political foes who are eyeing his home base hungrily.

Equally, in former Sokoto state comprising of current Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states, with the exception of Kebbi, the president has left the political pendulum to swing precariously between a cliff-hanger rift within the ruling party and the murderous marauding escapades of bandits, thus tearing into pieces his cult like political followership in the area.

Advisably therefore, it is such people with marginal popularity or none at all whose supporters cut across political, cultural and religious divides and have remained steadfast in their commitment to the progressives ideals that Buhari needs to draw closer if he means to remain relevant with voters in Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and other states that formed his main support base in 2015.

He must as a matter of urgency re-jig his team and inject people who genuinely love him and who would commit themselves to ensuring his reelection. Co-opting these genuine personnel who have track record of resilience and commitment to the noble ideals of President Buhari into the 2019 project will certainly change the game across the North West.

Umar wrote this piece from Kaduna.