The opposition and politics of Niger

Over time, as a keen observer, I’ve watched and studied the comings and goings of certain dramatic figures who have emerged to challenge an incumbent government and have all either fizzled out on realising the impossibility of shaking the establishment or sold out, either by defecting and accepting to join forces with the incumbent or […]

Over time, as a keen observer, I’ve watched and studied the comings and goings of certain dramatic figures who have emerged to challenge an incumbent government and have all either fizzled out on realising the impossibility of shaking the establishment or sold out, either by defecting and accepting to join forces with the incumbent or serving in the system they could not fight long enough to oust.
The times of these men, and they have all been men, have been interesting. From the emergence of Isah Ladan, a big spender who initiated dazzling political fireworks before he fizzled out, with no words heard from him again, to Mustapha Bello, a beneficiary of Abuja’s covert intervention in our local politics, who emerged to frustrate the re-election bid of the then incumbent Governor Abdulkadir Kure, it has been the same story. The same Abuja interference that once backed Mustapha Bello was the same factor that produced the current Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu when the ambition of the Kure-backed candidate was defeated on charges of corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).  
In Niger State, everything revolves around the government. It’s not just about the credible lie that it’s a “civil service” state with moribund economic life, but the reality of its people’s disinterest in political resistance. This dilemma is a creation of a system that keeps them economically dependent on government, such that the only industry in existence in Niger State right now is sycophancy.
To make the people believe their lies, Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has been screaming himself hoarse, telling the world that the recurrent expenditures of the state are what eat up our budgets. But he has gone on and created needless agencies and ministries to engage the sycophants and cover up his declarations. This is unfair, to say the least.
One interesting story that captures the misery of opposing the establishment in Niger State is a certain encounter with a relative who used to be belligerently against under-performing governments. “Why have you been quiet over this mismanagement of the state by the governor and his cliques?” I asked. His response was a depressing narrative. He could not, and would not, oppose the system because the government is the biggest patron of his wife’s businesses, which include a chain of restaurants. Dissenting would mean severing his ties with government and consequently sabotaging his wife’s businesses because the patronage would stop. So many families and people are gagged by such beneficial dependence, stirring up a cultural sycophancy.
The coming of Mr David Umaru ended this tradition of short-lived popular opposition forces, especially emergency governorship contenders who come, vie and disappear or sell out. Appearing on the political landscape in the build-up to the 2007 governorship elections, first as a member of the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), before joining the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to embark on this journey against aberrations, he formed strong networks at the grassroots and unwavering urban campaigns that, for the first time since the return to democracy, signalled the possibility of ousting the ruling party in Niger State.
Like the others, he did not stop being a politician, a formidable opposition figure when the PDP was declared the winner of the 2007 polls. He contested the results, which were collations of witnessed irregularities, in the court, and remained undefeated even when the election was upheld. Meanwhile, he has remained a firebrand critic of the state government, exposing its mismanagement of public resources. He put up another fight in the 2011 governorship elections with a clearly unpopular Governor Aliyu whose last-minute appeal to the vulnerability of the people, embarking on distributing food items and money to the electorate, became the subject of many political comedies.  
Umaru has refused to give up on the struggle to redeem the state. He has remained the symbol of resistance, an assurance that the atmosphere of sycophancy is crushable.
It is, however, expected that his candidacy was deconstructed by agents of polarisation who sought to stoke ethnic and religious sentiments in order to try and disconnect this live-wire of the opposition from the people. That is the low to which politics in Niger State has descended. As a state in search of progressive elements, it is disquieting to see the alternatives being stopped on the bar of their religious, ethnic and even zonal affiliations.
I must make a case that, away from politics, religion is hardly an issue among minority groups of the so-called Middle Belt where siblings follow different faiths without love lost in the family. The Nupe, who are largely Muslims, elected their Christian brother, Professor Jerry Gana as legislator and the old Nigerlites elected a man who was not Nupe, Gbagyi or Hausa, Dr. Musa Inuwa, as governor, years before these agenda-driven religious fanatics, ethnic bigots and regional ambassadors repainted our fading disharmonies. The Gbagyi, of which Umaru is a member, are thankfully immune to polarisation along the line of religion. That is why his popularity couldn’t be diminished by propagandas of the powers that be.
Now, a new challenge has been set with the passing away of Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta: the seat of Niger East senatorial district. Who would fill the vacant position created by the late Senator Kuta? The electorate will decide. It is hoped that they would cast their votes wisely.   May God save us from sycophants!
Gimba Kakanda wrote from Minna, [email protected]