When cracks appear from within

It is no secret that the CPC can no longer preach internal democracy and justice to other parties mainly because of the way leaders of the party have misled General Buhari to endorse candidates of their choice, regardless of the whether they won the primaries or not. If the enemies of internal democracy had their […]

It is no secret that the CPC can no longer preach internal democracy and justice to other parties mainly because of the way leaders of the party have misled General Buhari to endorse candidates of their choice, regardless of the whether they won the primaries or not. If the enemies of internal democracy had their ready-made candidates, why did they allow Mohammed Abacha and other aspirants to go through the process of gubernatorial primaries? Why should the party leadership waste our time by asking voters to choose the party’s gubernatorial candidate when it knew it had no intention to respect their verdict?

Rather than honestly addressing these important questions, Buba Galadima has been busy threatening candidates that were legitimately elected. Why did Buba Galadima decline the offer to go and contest for Senatorial seat in his home state of Yobe? He developed cold feet at the suggestion because he knew he would have lost any free and fair contest in his community. If you didn’t touch the lives of the people in your community, how would you have the audacity to seek their mandate for any elective offices?

Without General Buhari, none of these enemies of internal democracy can survive politically in their own right. Could any of them have been in a position to mobilize the huge crowd that welcomed General Buhari to Kano during his Presidential campaign as Mohammed Abacha did? Political popularity is tested in the field and not in radio studios. It therefore, amounts to arrogant insensitivity to threaten legitimately elected candidates with expulsion. You cannot threaten candidates that have legitimately won the hearts of their people. If you repeat the election a hundred times in Kano State, Mohammed Abacha will win again.

General Buhari should realize that those candidates being fought are the main assets to the CPC. When a politician has no electoral value to the party, he is nothing but a liability. How can any fair-minded leader deny candidates from seeking justice when there is clear evidence that they have been cheated by their own party? The CPC is popular but that should not be taken for granted. As the sayings goes, united we stand, divided we fall.

Nobody can hold back the destiny of any man. Out of many aspirants, Mohammed Abacha appears to be the man destined to win the primaries with a wide margin of votes. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies that monitored the election have all confirmed that the contest was free and fair. The biggest threat to peace and unity is to refuse to recognize legitimate defeat because of desperation for power.

Already, Colonel Lawal Ja’afaru Isa is losing sympathy for showing desperation for power. He knows he lost the primaries fair and square, but he is desperately seeking to get power through the back door. The court has ruled that this manipulation cannot be superior to the constitutionally protected rights of candidates to seek justice. If the courts are irrelevant, why did General Buhari go to court in 2003 and 2007? If it wasn’t bad for General Buhari to go to court to seek justice, why is it bad for Mohammed Abacha to seek redress at the court when his legitimate mandate was illegally taken away and given to the man he defeated at the gubernatorial primaries?

One is, however, impressed with the attitude of Engineer Magaji Abdullahi who contested against Mohammed Abacha at the primaries and lost, and said as a true believer in God, it is pointless fighting the will of the people. Desperation is not a virtue.

Rimi wrote in from No. 61, Isa Kaita Road, Kaduna ([email protected])