Word of advice for Taraba APC

Let me start with a confession. I’m not a politician. By that I mean that I have never enrolled as member of any political party in this country. I have also never run for any political office on the platform of any of the multitude of political parties vying for attention in the national political […]

Let me start with a confession. I’m not a politician. By that I mean that I have never enrolled as member of any political party in this country. I have also never run for any political office on the platform of any of the multitude of political parties vying for attention in the national political space.
The Nigerian situation is centuries away from that state of excellence both in principle and in practice. It operates rather as an attack dog in blindfold with a warped sense of perception and direction. That is the tragedy, our tragedy.
The latest and best example of this tragedy is in Taraba State where the All Progressives Congress’ political opposition vehicle with Alhaji Hassan Ardo in the driving seat has completely lost its break and sense of direction. Ardo’s recent outbursts against the government and person of Arc Darius Ishaku, governor of Taraba State is a testimony to the widely held belief that the APC in Jalingo is incapable of rising above the trauma of its defeat in the 2015 governorship election. It has remained in its state of perplexity since the end of the election and the long legal tussle which eventually ended in favour of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. In its state of confusion (or is it convulsion), it has always made the mistake of standing the truth on its head. This is unfortunate.
A few days ago, Ardo confirmed to the general public that he and the state APC were still in their state of confusion. During a news interview in Jalingo, he shocked all by asking Governor Ishaku to resign his position. Of course, the question most people, including this writer were prompted to ask was: for what reason? It was the most unexpected statement at the time it was made. It is no surprise therefore that many people promptly labelled it as an iniquitous act of political indiscretion and ignored it. It came at a time that the administration of Governor Ishaku was enjoying its most favourable public rating. It also came only a few weeks after teachers and local government workers were paid two months of their outstanding salary arrears. It came at a time government was being praised for cleaning the state’s payroll of ghost workers and saving the state of millions of Naira lost monthly to fraudsters.
Ardo also took umbrage at the decision of the Taraba State House of Assembly to reduce the tenure of local government councils in the state from three to two years. The main plank of his argument against that decision is that it will not solve any problem. I waited to hear from him what problems the three-year tenure solved while that policy was in place. He said nothing and I heard nothing. Ardo must take the flak for that omission.
From my vantage position of an outsider (I’m not a public servant) I can safely conclude that the Taraba State APC needs some tutoring on the important subject and place of political opposition in a democratic process. Nobody is suggesting that the APC or any political party for that matter cannot criticise the government and the Governor of Taraba State. Far from being the idea. But such remarks about government’s decisions and policies must truly reflect the truth.
Ezekiel Bawa, Jalingo, Taraba State.