VIEWPOINT: Notes for political calculation in Sokoto State

It is said that there is no morality in politics. The Machiavellian school of thought which subscribes to this view believes that the end justifies the means. For them, it does not matter how power is achieved, whether through moral or immoral means. What matters most is that the end has been attained. It is […]

It is said that there is no morality in politics. The Machiavellian school of thought which subscribes to this view believes that the end justifies the means. For them, it does not matter how power is achieved, whether through moral or immoral means. What matters most is that the end has been attained. It is against this background that political pacifists hold the view that there is no friend or enemy in politics but permanent interest.

The foregoing notwithstanding, there must be a guide to conducts and behavior in politics. In civilized democracies where people   go into politics to serve the public good, there are standard codes of behavior which political office holders must comply with. Whenever they run foul of such behaviors, they voluntarily step down from their positions.

But this is not so in our own clime where some politicians  go to the extent of training and arming thugs and hooligans to eliminate their political opponents.  But most worrisome of these negative attributes is the use of treachery, blackmail and back-biting as political tools to seek power.

Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the current Governor of Sokoto State, came into national political prominence in 2011 under the PDP to emerge as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. That position was zoned to the South West by the PDP on which platform he was elected from Kebbe/Tambuwal Constituency of Sokoto State to National Assembly.  With the help of lawmakers from the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Tambuwal became Speaker. As Speaker of the House, when he consolidated his position, things were however not very smooth with some of the people particularly from the ACN where many supporters complained of being left out during the distribution of the chairmanship of juicy committees in the House.

When the leadership of the 8th House of Representatives was being constituted in 2015, Asiwaju Tinubu and Gbajabiamila had relied on his support to make Gbajabiamila the Speaker of the House. As a sitting governor of Sokoto State on the platform of the APC, Tambuwal still had a good measure of influence over his former colleagues who were re-elected to the House of Representatives.

Given the support the ACN legislators from the South-west gave him during his time, in 2015, he supported Yakubu Dogara. It was expected that in view of the support and assistance Tinubu and Gbajabiamila  and indeed the entire Southwest had given to Tambuwal to make him Speaker, he would appreciate it. This could be an advantage for his current scheming for the presidential ticket of the PDP. This has manifested in the current drama playing out in Sokoto State where Governor Tambuwal has decamped from the APC to the PDP. Former governor and now Senator Aliyu Wammako who helped him after he decamped from PDP in 2014 could be a strong supporting factor for him.

But since he decamped in pursuit of a presidential ambition, things seem not to be very rosy with Wammako, who helped him in the past. When he organized a rally to formally decamp to the PDP, not all the key political actors in the state came on board with him, including Wammako and his supporters.

I observed that many members of the state House of Assembly refused to go with him to the PDP.  The mammoth crowd that received Wammako recently in the state clearly indicated grassroots support in the Sokoto Caliphate. It is therefore important to note that Tambuwal’s defection to the PDP is considered by many informed analysts as a miscalculation.

Ismail wrote from Sokoto