The choice before Yobe PDP

Now is the time to reverse this ironic trend because all the facts on the ground favour PDP, as its supporters by far outnumber those of any other party. Interestingly, there is empirical evidence that the chances of the PDP are getting even brighter by the day in the light of recent developments in the […]

Now is the time to reverse this ironic trend because all the facts on the ground favour PDP, as its supporters by far outnumber those of any other party. Interestingly, there is empirical evidence that the chances of the PDP are getting even brighter by the day in the light of recent developments in the state. For instance, Senator Usman Albishir has decamped to the PDP. Also some key cabinet members under late Governor Mamman Ali as well as two current members of the House of Representatives have equally joined the PDP. A former Speaker of the State House of Assembly has also joined the party just like some local government chairmen and many others. Even the figures of past elections show   the dwindling fortunes of the ANPP. In 1999 the difference between ANPP and PDP was 9,740; it was 172,000 in 2003 and 14,787 in 2007.
The PDP is a party with very strong roots, history and tradition in Yobe. Even more, there are founding members who have stuck with the party and have helped to grow it from strength to strength through those painful years. But experience, history and the growing strength of the party chieftains and the unprecedented mass support base are increasingly working to the advantage of the party this time around and it is this momentum that we must seize now to win the elections ahead. It is this promising prospect that the key contenders for the gubernatorial primaries are likely to inherit and build upon. It is important to state ab initio that I am a party man who will like to see the interest of the party superseding every other interest; and that as we play our politics in the coming weeks and months, everything should be done to keep the party as one big family in which losers and winners in any contest will come out to embrace themselves and unite to work for the greater success of the party in all circumstances.
If there is anyone who has always been around nurturing the party, fighting tooth and nail to ensure a better future in the state, it is Adamu Maina Waziri, the present Minister of police affairs. He has been with the party since 1999, he kept it  going and there is no way anyone can  discuss the survival of the party without adequate credit being given to  the indefatigable efforts of Waziri who has kept the house in order against all odds and despite all the onslaught from the All Nigerian Peoples Party. In plain terms, Waziri is a reliable war-horse whose qualities as a mobilizer make him primus inter pares. So far, he has acquired more than impressive track record to recommend him for the plum job at the state level.
Usman Albashir too, on the other hand, has some impressive   record to speak for him in terms of political mobilization in Yobe State. However, he had been hitherto largely involved as an All Nigerian Peoples Party chieftain before he recently decamped to the PDP in order to add strength and dynamism to the party. His record is equally prodigious. It is an open secret that as a founding member of the APP, now ANPP, he was known rightly or wrongly as the sole financier of the party who single-handedly made Bukar Abba Ibrahim as governor through Albishir’s connection with the then Military Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar. He eventually became a Senator in 1999. It was a period he had the chance to be governor but he chose to ‘install’ Bukar Abba. Quite remarkable!
However, the fact that he made Bukar Abba the governor gave him a golden opportunity to the extent that he became the godfather whose words were law during Bukar’s regime in Yobe State. Unfortunately, the eight years’of chummy and rewarding relationship with the governor did not translate into any positive development for the people especially in his own senatorial district.
That is why it is really very odd to observe the desperate efforts by some people to dissociate Albishir from Bukar. The fact is that, given their closeness and the level of influence Albishir wielded in those days, it would be difficult for any discerning Yobe citizen to dissociate Albishir from ex-governor Abba now.
The battle for the PDP ticket has gotten to a worrying level especially because of the   moves of Albashir so much so  that the rumour mill is swirling with fears  now that if Albishir does not get the PDP ticket , he may decamp to General Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, an allegation Albishir’s supporters pleasantly say is bunkum.
In fact, discerning people like me believe that that such a move like decamping to another party yet again may not be in his best interest and it could spell doom for his political career. His best bet is to join hands with Waziri right from now and ensure a fair contest so that whoever wins, gets the support of the other in the battle for the governorship of the state.
That is why it is better to encourage everyone interested in the race to go for the party primaries and the party elders should intervene right from now to facilitate some common grounds among the aspirants so that the primaries does not tear the party apart as the flag bearers should endeavour to carry everyone along.
Mamu wrote in from Maiduguri Road, Potiskum, Yobe State