How PDP crisis brightens Al-Makura’s chances. Category: Published on Wednesday, 18 December 2013 05:01 Written by Hir Joseph, Lafia . The clock ticks on towards 2015 governorship election; and Nasarawa State is back again, on the same path that led to the election of Umaru Tanko Al-Makura as governor of the state on 25 April 2011. An elder of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and one of the founding fathers of the party in the state, Ambassador Suleiman Azores, did not look back to his party’s interest to recapture governorship power in 2015; he stood openly, and with the aid of loud speakers, declared support for Al-Makura to run for re-election. Azores, who is the former Nigerian envoy to Thailand, last week honoured a political rally by youths in Lafia, where he openly threw his weight behind the clamour for Al-Makura to contest for second term in 2015. He said that, regardless of his political affiliation, he was convinced that Al-Makura of the APC deserved a second term to consolidate on the foundation of development for the state. It was a rally organized by Nasarawa State Youth Progressive Agenda (NASYPA), which has been pushing for pressures to be put on the governor to seek re-election. The same scenario happened between 2010 and 2011 in the build up to the general election for Government House, Lafia. The bid by Aliyu Akwe Doma, who sought a second term on the platform of the PDP, suffered setback because some party leaders, including those in his cabinet worked – although some did it clandestinely – for Al-Makura, who contested on the platform of the then newly registered CPC, which later joined the merger to transform into APC. Alhaji Abdullahi Igbo was one of such PDP elders who never defected, but remained in the party to swell opposition against Doma, in favour of Al-Makura’s bid to take Government House. Igbo granted several interviews, and also spoke in public places, as his Lafia residence became the majalisa (Hausa for town hall) where some plots against his party, the PDP, thickened. When the PDP went for the 2011 election, the unfolding scenario then brought the party facing an ever swelling opposition within its underbelly, than from the opposition candidates and their supporters. Cries of alleged injustice perpetrated by the leadership of the party against its members, including the stakeholders, was widespread at the countdown to the election. The exercises that produced the party’s candidates for that election were allegedly marred by steady crises of disagreement and free for all, while officials of the PDP and INEC as well as armed security operatives folded their arms, watching helplessly. One particular incident was the stripping naked of a Lafia-based party elder by angry youths who assaulted him on suspicion that he was part of the manipulations of the ward congresses that were widely reported not to have held in any parts of the state. That same day, hundreds of party supporters stormed out, and laid siege on the party’s state secretariat along Jos Road, shutting officials in. They tore electoral materials, including delegates’ registers, in the presence of armed security operatives. At the end, the PDP announced the results, sparking off an exodus of its bigwigs who refused to participate in the primaries. The primaries, especially for the state assembly, were equally reported not to have held, with two party officials, namely, the Public Relations Officer, Abubakar Hassan II, and the Organizing Secretary, Iyal, Abubakar, issuing separate protest statements, alleging that “the primaries never held.” The two officials were seeking nominations in their respective constituencies as state lawmakers. But the party chairman in the state, Yunana Iliya, said that everything went on as dictated by the Electoral Law, denying that there were manipulations. On that same day, Information Minister Labaran Maku was reportedly stopped from entering Nasarawa-Eggon Local Government Guest House, venue of the primaries in his area. PDP supporters, who raised chants, accusing him of participating in the manipulations of the ward congress in the area, barricaded his convoy, throwing stones and sand on the vehicles. They denied him access into the venue of the exercise. Truckloads of armed security men including policemen were there, but they became mere watchers of events as they unfolded. The PDP is back on this same old path, about three years after. Ambassador Azores’s call was heard loudly, with the tendency to ignite similar actions from other party leaders, especially with the type of crisis the party is facing at the national level. Ambassador Azors, who is also one of the pillars of the agitation that saw the creation of Nasarawa from the old Plateau State in 1996, told the youth rally that “if governance is about service to the people, then Al-Makura has achieved that, and needs to return in 2015 to complete this.” The youth group organized the rally for Al-Makura – who they say has performed even with the challenges of a huge debt inherited in 2011 as well as paucity of funds because of the implementation of the federal government approved minimum wage – to contest for a second term. The youths said serious achievement has been recorded: an urban renewal programmme which has constructed new roads in Lafia and parts of Akwanga; a land reform programme which seeks to end the state’s reliance on federally generated revenue through Nasarawa Geographic Information Services (NAGIS); a health system improvement programmme; workers’ wage increment; and so on. The former Nigerian envoy, who chaired the rally, threw his weight behind the group as he called on the governor to contest in 2015, saying that “if the agitation of the founding fathers of this state was for development of our people, then the dream of the founding fathers is now being actualized. “We fought for the creation of this state so that our people can witness development. Sadly, our people never felt the impact of state creation until now. Governor Al-Makura has done it. I have risen to a stage where I do not speak for my own interest, by that of the people,” Ambassador Azors added. It is unclear whether the PDP would take action against the former ambassador for supporting the clamour for their opponent to seek a second term. But his open support for Al-Makura indicated that the PDP may face the same problem it faced in the 2011 governorship election. But then the road to 2015 governorship election is still and long one. And many things could change before then.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 11:39:22 +0000