SO, WHEN WILL THIS APC IMPLODE? Every encounter I have had with - TopicsExpress

SO, WHEN WILL THIS APC IMPLODE? Every encounter I have had with any senior member of the PDP in the last six or so months has always ended on one ‘optimistic’ note; that the APC everyone is running to is gradually inheriting all the people and problems that had combined to make PDP unworkable. Expectedly, therefore, the APC is bound to implode sooner than later, as these strange bedfellows and inordinately ambitious elements begin to manifest themselves and jostle for power, position and control. More than 12 months down the line, we are still waiting for this mother of all implosions. It has refused to happen. Of course, we have seen a few broken heads in Ogun, a breakaway in Ekiti, rumblings in Adamawa, a few u-turns in Imo, a belly-aching Belgore camp in Kwara and all that, but the big fight has simply refused to happen. However, we in the PDP are still hopeful, and waiting, even though it is turning out like the proverbial wait for Goddot. The PDP readily pointed to the situation in Sokoto, where they swore (and rightly so, too) that Attahiru Bafarawa could never work with Alu (Gov. Aliyu Wamakko). So, they have successfully lured Bafarawa out of the APC (the same APC that he helped to found). But they seem to forget that Bafarawa would be going to PDP to meet a certain Mukhtar Shagari, who has the unenviable record of the most near-misses in the race to govern Sokoto and who was beginning to think that the 2015 ticket in the state would be his for the asking. Whether Bafarawa does not have a better governorship candidate than Shagari is yet to be determined. So, what do we have in Sokoto? In a desperate bid to show that Sokoto APC was not united, the PDP has unwittingly taken over Bafarawa and by implication, the much expected showdown in Sokoto APC has been transferred to PDP. Trouble inherited! Now, it is in the Sokoto PDP that we are now expecting a showdown. Now, consider that even PDP knew that it was only an Alu that could defeat a then rampaging Bafarawa camp seven years ago, is it not funny that the same PDP now wants Bafarawa to sack Alu, who has since consolidated further and is now like a whirlwind in Sokoto politics. The weeks ahead will surely be interesting. Rumour also has it that the expected showdown in Kano between Ibrahim Shekarau and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso may also be transferred to the PDP as well – where a certain Mohammed Abacha might just be waiting to see who would be man enough to want to deny him the guber ticket again this time around. So, who seems more likely to implode? PDP or APC? It is only in Adamawa that I foresee any form of friction – and that is only if, as rumour has it, Gov. Murtala Nyako insists on handing over to his son. But even at that, the Buba Marwas of this world are way too polished to go roll in the mud with anybody, let alone for political lucre. Atiku Abubakar, if he finally throws his weight in, is too politically sophisticated for the rofo-rofo. The former vice president chooses his fights. If you doubt me, ask Obasanjo. Of course, the question of crisis does not even arise in Rivers. Governor Amaechi still has the structure. And he crossed to APC with almost all of it. Don’t get deceived by whatever Joseph Mbu and all the Diaspora Rivers politicians in Abuja are telling Jonathan. The moment the president becomes man enough to remove the impunity of Federal Might, water will find its level in Rivers politics. Now, add all these to the fact that many of the nPDP people, who have remained in the PDP are doing so on the understanding that there would be transparent governorship primaries and presidential convention, and view it against the backdrop that this is not likely to happen (the presidential ticket having been effectively foreclosed) then you can begin to imagine where the next big fight would still be coming from. I guess I am beginning to sound like an APC hireling. Well, no apologies. Nearly everyone out there is praying and hoping that somebody would get up and give the PDP a bloody nose, for a change. That is why we are embracing APC – warts and all. And instead of the PDP to do something fast, it is relying on its own special anointing for self destruction and presume that just every political grouping that has its similar amalgam of strange bedfellows is bound to implode. It forgets that there is such a thing as managing people, accommodating dissenting views and carrying everyone along without necessarily bullying them or threatening them. In Tinubu, the APC already has the best politician in the country at the moment. Wooing Atiku is a huge coup, in Saraki they have a great strategist. The Segun Osobas, the Aregbesolas, the Fayemis and Oshiomholes are still there and that has not said anything about the phenomenal Buhari, the Magatakarda from Sokoto, Kwankwanso and still counting. Of course, we can talk about PDP’s Sule Lamido, Akpabio, Uduaghan, Imoke, Babangida Aliyu, David Mark, Aminu Tambuwal, etc. but the question is: How much of their thinking is allowed to come to bear? It is not that we do not know that things would get to a head at some point in APC but we are consoled by the fact that, at least, in APC, there are people who think. Many of the leaders whom we are touting today to jostle for the APC ticket ahead of 2015 have already come to agreement on one thing: That they have to kick out Jonathan come 2015. For them, no sacrifice is too big for that goal – including the ambitions and egos of all the present leaders put together. For them it is not about region or religion, it’s about competence. So, while PDP is busy talking zoning, north/south divide and Christian south and Muslim north – none of which has anything to do with the price of gari at the market, APC is constantly hitting at corruption and competence, which are at the root of 90 per cent of our troubles in Nigeria today. But the PDP won’t think and they won’t pay those who can, to think for them. Of course, I am not talking of the illiterates, who now crowd the social media space. I suspect the PDP went out of their way to recruit an army of them. It was obviously in response of the previous order, whereby it was only opposition bloggers and online publishers that were dictating the pace. Now, the PDP (and I dare say, the Presidency) has also taken to the social media platform and is matching the opposition dollar for dollar, naira for naira, mercenary for mercenary, hatchet writer for hatchet writer. It reminds me of those eternal thoughts of the late Malam Aminu Kano (God rest his sweet soul). He said the only reason every family keeps a mad man is to have somebody to unleash on your rival family whenever they set their own madman loose on your family. However, the issue at hand transcends the rubbish currently going on in the social media. We have to change the narrative. This impunity cannot carry us any further. And talking of impunity, I stumbled on an alternate CV of Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, on the Internet at the weekend and it immediately reminded me of my undergraduate days, when we dabbled into some sort of pseudo activism. It was those days when the military governments then were trying very hard to polish and repackage Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo (who had retired as head of state and was jocularly talking of using juju to fight apartheid South Africa) so that he could become salable to the international community for a UN job. Our government had actually sent out a very flattering resume of OBJ to the rest of the world. But, low and behold, some rights activists penetrated our campuses with what they called the ‘Alternate CV’. It contained just everything Obasanjo and the military sponsors would not want the rest of the world to know about – from corruption to human rights record. They were looking for a million signatures. We were all supposed to sign it and return to the human rights activists, who were then to also forward it to the UN headquarters, to be considered alongside the one sent by the Nigerian government. Needless to say, we all signed, though I don’t know if the final copy ever made it to Geneva.So, when penultimate week Mbu was on air, reeling out his achievements and how he was one of Nigeria’s best cops, somebody hit the Internet with a diary of what the CP has done in his short stay in Rivers. From April 15, 2013 all the way down to January 21, 2014, it was one diary of impunity after another. Since I am not a lawyer, I have yet to determine the legality, or illegality, of his actions. So, I will not produce them today. But there were entries, detailing how he protected some friendly demonstrators on one instance and visited hell on some others, who were not in support of Abuja. There were withdrawals of police escorts from state government officials, who are clearly exposed to threat to life (even as orderlies were then attached to non-government persons opposed to Amaechi), demanding to know every detail of movement and itinerary of the governor, assault on government house to break up a solidarity visit to Amaechi, disobedience of court order, sending an orderly to stop Gov. Amaechi from boarding a flight, disrupting APC meetings and rallies, dispersing school children, who lined the street to celebrate Port Harcourt centenary on a public holiday, on the ground that the gathering was political, since it was organised by the state government. Questionable romance with Ateke Tom and clearing protesters, who went to the ex-militant leader on a pro-Jonathan march and submitted a letter to Ateke for onward forwarding to President Jonathan. Firing teargas at over 10,000 teachers whom the police dubbed thugs hired to protest against President Jonathan, barricading government house to deny access to the members of the conference of speakers to Rivers Government House. The diary keeper even added that on May 4, 2013, Mbu, the Rivers state security chief in charge of the Army, Navy, Air force and even the state director of the SSS met with First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. The diarist also alluded to a situation whereby Bayelsa was now becoming like the US military base in Saudi Arabia from where airstrikes can be launched against Saddam Hussein in either Iraq or Kuwait. I no know book o! So, I don’t know what this one means – especially, as it is a security matter. Of course, all of these chronicles mean nothing. But I am expecting to read an alternate diary from the CP’s camp. I love this country, walahi!! Paffcomm paffcomm