The danger ahead in Yobe

In the last three general elections beginning from 1999, the PDP has watched in agony as the ANPP breasted the tape running home to victory. As the 2011 general elections inch closer, all eyes are on Yobe State to see if the avoidable mistakes of the past would be repeated or if lessons from the […]

In the last three general elections beginning from 1999, the PDP has watched in agony as the ANPP breasted the tape running home to victory. As the 2011 general elections inch closer, all eyes are on Yobe State to see if the avoidable mistakes of the past would be repeated or if lessons from the failure of the past have been learnt to do what is needed in order to strategise and position the party to take its proper place in the politics of Yobe where change is highly needed to lift the state out of the woods of inept leadership. It is a well know fact that Yobe State has had enough of the ANPP shenanigan and rudderless leadership which has impacted negatively in the way and manner the state had been misruled all these years.
In the last two elections when the party fielded current police affairs minister, Adamu Waziri, the ruling party had made a mince meat of him effortlessly using all manner of political subterfuge.
In the last twelve years of governance by the ANPP Yobe has missed very unpardonable opportunities to catapult itself to the zenith of development due mainly to the inability of those at the helm of affairs to take the necessary steps required to save the state from the pangs of illiteracy, disease, misery and squalor. Yobe has remained backward not because it lacked the men and women of substance, patriotism, competence, connection and pedigree but simply because the will to put a stake to leadership has all along been pathetically lame. The PDP which has painfully remained in the opposition when it should have been on the driver’s seat has been looked at as the saviour but it has woefully failed the people of the state on the altar of pursuit of personal and selfish interests of some habitual and chronic election losers.
The problem with the PDP in Yobe State is that while those that have held it hostage through the stranglehold on its soul will never allow anybody, no matter how credible and popular, to vie for political offices particularly the office of the governor, their refusal to understand the need to change tactics has remained an obstacle to the general yearnings by loyal party followers to achieve set objectives.
Now with another round of general elections around the corner and considering the hiccups of the past, it goes without saying that any attempt by the police affairs minister to ride roughshod on the party or to still aim at cornering the governorship ticket will only reenact the circumstances of the past and energise the ANPP to win easily, rendering the party comatose and incapable of meeting the aspirations of the people of Yobe State. Without political power at the state level, the PDP cannot implement its laudable programmes of taking Yobe to the next level of its development. The state has groaned under national opposition politics and as can be seen it can ill-afford being sidelined from mainstream politics and its attendant benefits. This reality therefore presupposes the inherent need to put the larger interest far above individual interest. In this light, the allegation that a certain powerful stalwart of the party from the state has entered into a pact with the ANPP government in the state to sabotage the PDP in the forthcoming gubernatorial election leaves a very sour taste in the mouth.
It is agreeable by all the people of Yobe that new PDP entrant Senator Usman Albishir has the structures on ground, is widely accepted and can easily win the governorship seat for the party, but it is strange that instead of working to give him the support, some elements in the party are working with the government in power in the state to sabotage this lifetime opportunity.
In any case, Albishir is on record to have won the ANPP gubernatorial ticket in 2007 only for a gang-up within the party national leadership to usurp it. That achievement is besides the senatorial seat which he earlier won between 1999 and 2003. Regardless of the sabotage, Albishir has shown his worth as a capable and competent politician who can be relied upon to deliver. If he is paired against the class of the habitual election losers, the difference would be as clear as day. The PDP in Yobe cannot afford to miss this golden opportunity.
Sadiq is of the Department of Political Science, University of Maiduguri