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I have read, with consternation, a publication on page 29 of Daily Trust of March 01, 2022 and in The Nation of March 03, 2022, signed by one Hon. Isa Sadiq Acida, in which, speaking on behalf of Sokoto State APC who is who, he spit fire over Senator Ibrahim Shekarau’s presence at an empowerment programme on February 27, 2022, in Sokoto.
For ease of understanding, I decide to take his accusations one after the other, and respond to them.
1. Incursion to Sokoto to destabilize the State APC: Wrong. Senator Ibrahim Shekarau’s presence in Sokoto was not an incursion, and it was not to destabilize anybody or any group. He was in Sokoto on a Godly mission. He made time out of his crowded schedules to accept an invitation from a fellow legislator, Hon. AbdulLahi Balarabe Salame, Member of House of Representatives, representing Gwadabawa/Illela federal constituency to chair his empowerment programme. Empowering people to fend for themselves is part of legislators’ duties, and such actions always draw the Senator’s attention from which ever quarters they come. He attends such occasions for being righteous exercises, and offers no apologies to anyone who may be slighted by that. Hon. Acida should have saved his malice until Senator Shekarau turns down an invitation to a similar programme by one of his people, as it is on record that the Senator has attended similar programmes organized by even members of parties other than his own. Indeed, even the Sokoto event was not a one-party affair. The PDP Governor of Sokoto State was represented at the occasion by a government functionary as high-ranking as Secretary to the State Government. Besides all these, Hon. Acida and his disgruntled lot may wish to know that Hon. Salame is not only a fellow legislator to Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, but also his longtime friend. Their relationship dates back to 15 years, when Senator Ibrahim Shekarau was governor of Kano State and Hon. Salame was the acting governor of Sokoto State.
2. In his vituperations generated by Senator Shekarau’s presence in Sokoto which did not go down well with him, Hon. Acida displayed his detachment to political happenings around him. His assertions in the ensuing paragraphs manifested that. For example, he referred to Ibrahim Shekarau’s faction of the APC in Kano as the Banza-Bakwai, and insinuated that they lost out in the struggle to control Kano State APC. One, to put it mildly, as Senator Shekarau ventured into Sokoto for an empowerment programme and ended up seeing things for himself, Hon. Acida is free to come to Kano to also determine for himself who the real Banza-Bakwai are! Two, Senator Shekarau is not struggling to control the APC in Kano; he and his group, the G7 are battling to restore sanity in the Party structure, to ensure victory in future elections. Three, the issue in Kano has been referred to Nigeria’s apex court, The Supreme Court of Nigeria. So, it is too early to call G7 losers.
3. Sokoto State APC is solely behind Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko. This statement by Hon. Acida in the press release is irrelevant, and totally unrelated to Senator Shekarau’s visit to Sokoto. One would say, this statement, and by extension, the whole publication, is intended to use Senator Shekarau and Minister Malamis’ visits as scapegoats to attract sympathy for a political group that is at war with another in the same locality. For the avoidance of doubt, let me state unequivocally that the fraternal politics played in the ANPP about 15 years ago brought Senator Shekarau very close to his main contacts and political associates in Sokoto State, and these are, former governor Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, Hon. AbdulLahi Balarabe Salame and Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. And despite the political wrangling of coming-in and going-out, the situation remains the same today.
4. This brings us to the issue of party-switching, which Hon. Acida has accused Senator Shekarau of. It is absolutely true that Senator Shekarau followed the sequence of ANPP-APC-PDP-APC in his political career. People change parties for reasons that they consider important, but which pundits may consider irrelevant. But regardless of the reasons, if party-switching is a crime, his good friends in Sokoto, former governor Attahiru Bafarawa, Senator Aliyu Wamakko and Governor Aminu Tambuwal are all guilty of the same offence.
5. Formation of APC: In his press release, Hon. Acida dismissed Senator Shekarau as a PDP man in the APC. This demonstrates his belligerent ignorance of Nigeria’s contemporary political history. The records have it that Senator Shekarau was a significant actor in the formation of the APC. The four legacy parties that came together to form the APC were ANPP, ACN, CPC and APGA. Each party was asked to bring a 21-member delegation to represent it in the merger process and eventual emergence of the APC. Senator Shekarau led the 21-member delegation from the ANPP. Chief Tom Ikimi led the ACN team, Late Garba Muhammad Gadi was head of the CPC team and Senator Annie Okonkwo led the team from APGA. This group of 84 people later admitted five more representatives from the DPP, which indicated interest in the merger. This rather large group headed by the four legacy party leaders, worked assiduously for seven months to give birth to APC which today the likes of Hon. Acida are struggling to own. They articulated the Party’s vision and mission statements even before it was registered. In fact, Senator Shekarau can hold his head high for participating in the first, and yet only successful merger of political parties in Nigeria to produce a party that took over government at the first attempt. The attached document lends credence to this fact. So, to consider Senator Shekarau a back bencher or an intruder in the APC is tantamount to re-writing Nigeria’s political history. Yes, he was in the PDP for some time, and he served in the Government of President Goodluck Jonathan, but that cannot change the role he played in the formation of the APC; that cannot reverse the course of history.
6. While he was in the PDP, Nigeria’s President was Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. And, as he was a member in his cabinet as Minister of Education, one cannot rule out the possibility of Senator Shekarau visiting the President at his home town, Otuoke. And for the records, I am sure Senator Shekarau himself will agree with me that his meeting President Goodluck Jonathan and working with him, was a very high point in his political career. So, contrary to what Hon. Acida insinuates, associating Senator Shekarau with President Jonathan is indeed a compliment to the Senator rather than an insult.
The long and short of this discourse is to point out that political parties are just necessary evils in Nigerian politics. Honest people that are ready to serve the masses diligently and with the fear of God, abound in all the parties. And since the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria allows for freedom of association, an astute politician strives to associate himself with the good and worthy people from across the parties. Hon. Isa Sadiq Acida may understand this only when he graduates from local politics to a wider national one.
Thank you.
Shu’ayb Mustapha Darki writes from Kano
