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Senator Almakura is contesting for APC National chairmanship
By Mohammed Inuwa
Within the last few weeks, the planned national convention of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has thrown up a lot of confusion in Nigeria’s political space as stakeholders struggled to out-do one another over contending interests.
In the ongoing power play, some stakeholders resorted to unwholesome strategies including planting rumours in the media to grab attention. One of such is the recent unsubstantiated media report purporting that President Muhammadu Buhari has endorsed former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu for the position of the national chairman of our dear party. The report which appeared in a seemingly reputable national newspaper, unfortunately derived its information from anonymous sources.
In anchoring the report, the reporters and their editors did not deem it pertinent to reach out to the President’s media handlers to verify whether the information they claimed emanated from “anonymous sources ” were true or not before rushing to press. Since the story hit the newsstand different media outfits have desperately lashed at the information and also went public with the same singsong.
However, what has understandably irked the country’s reading public and political observers is that neither the president nor his media aides have come to confirm the purported endorsement of the Senator representing Nasarawa West. The fact that the president and his media handlers didn’t see the information as worthy of their response, confirmed its apparent lack of authenticity.
The question that has been on many lips across party divides since the news broke, is whether Buhari whose every decision and action are taken within the prisms of transparency and accountability, could have succumbed to such darkroom antics? As analysts who have watched the president’s political journey closely have variously argued in their comments over the development, such antic is not Buhari’s style, and in coming days, the culprits would be put to same.
It is unfortunate that in their blind ambition to protect their interests “at all cost”, those pushing for the emergence of Senator Adamu ignored the fact that APC over the years, abided by certain tradition in the emergence of its national chairman. The position is supposed to be rotated among the legacy parties which come together to put in place a formidable platform to end the misrule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Each of the political parties involved in the merger that birthed APC had had their turn except the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). A peep through the party’s historical journey showed that Chief Bisi Akande, who was the protem chairman of the party, came from the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and was succeeded by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). The immediate past chairman of the party and former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, was also of the ACN, leaving CPC as the only legacy party yet to hold APC national chairmanship position. That is why key power brokers in APC felt that it is only fair to give CPC the opportunity to produce the national chairman of the party this time around.
This position was re-echoed by the CPC Stakeholders’ Forum recently, when it insisted that one of its own must emerge as the national chairman. “We categorically demand that a member of one of the legacy parties that came together to form the APC, be the next national chairman of APC,” the forum noted. It then went ahead to throw its weight behind the aspiration of Senator Tanko Al-Makura, one of the frontline contenders for the seat and the only defunct CPC leader in the race.
The choice of the Senator representing Nasarawa South by the group to lead the party at its most troubled time, did not come as a surprise to observers of the country’s political development especially over the last decade. Al-Makura, unarguably, represents the only visible face of CPC at a time the PDP reigned as the country’s overlord. He shocked bookmakers and analysts when he defeated a sitting PDP governor, bringing CPC into limelight in Nigeria’s political space in 2011. Since then Al-Makura has been synonymous with the CPC, becoming the party’s major sustainer and its insignia. He became Buhari’s key ally and political son.
That Al-Makura was able to survive the onslaught of a majority PDP member State House Assembly and went ahead to win a second term, has been subject of debate till today, with development making him a case study in the country’s political firmament. The 20 out of 24-member assembly were pawns in the hand of the then PDP-led presidency, which was desperate to decimate the opposition parties and turn the country into a one party state.
After the presidency under the then Goodluck Jonathan’s administration sacked former Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako from office, it turned its attention to Al-Makura. The duo of Nyako Al-Makura were the two opposition governors in the legacy parties giving the PDP-led government sleepless nights. Plans were hatched to use the same pent-up charges of misconduct which was used to impeach Nyako against Al-Makura. It was a move that shook the country’s political foundation. PDP lawmakers and their leaders were camped in the Aso Villa for days and unleashed against the governor and Nasarawa people. But the people rose against the marauders and stood by their leader and Al-Makura survived what analysts tagged as “day light coup”.
And why won’t the people stand by him. They trusted him with their lives, when all hopes seemed lost by massively voting for him in 2011. It was a fresh start in the life of a state, which since its creation had been held hostage to the folly and excesses of a powerful cabal. So Al-Makura was some sort of a revolutionary who challenged the cabal that had hitherto held the state by the jugular and foisted a new political order anchored on service to the people. And as expected, he did not disappoint them; in the eight years he held sway as the chief executive, the state witnessed unprecedented development as it never contemplated before. Across the state’s landscape, his imprint with the CPC colours dotted everywhere.
As the party fused with others in a merger move, Al-Makura was at forefront of the negotiation as one of the founding fathers of the APC. At the formation of the party, one of the conditions for any party’s participation in the merger was that the party must have an incumbent governor at least. He is one of the custodians of the APC brainbox and has the DNA of the party running in him. He clearly understands the vision and mission of the party and that is why he is more suited to lead it at this point.
In an interview with newsmen recently, he spoke on what the party meant to him and why he wants to lead it thus: “My ambition is about sustaining the gains as one that was opportune by providence to be part of those that participated in the merger exercise. It will be a total disservice to the party, if I sit back at this very critical period, not to partake in ensuring legacy sustenance and value addition to the party. That is my objective. That is my reason for wanting to contest for the office of chairman.
“I think there couldn’t be a better way to get this party properly positioned than someone that has been with the party right from the beginning and has gone across the board to know what needs to be done.
“By the special grace of God, if I become the National Chairman, I will ensure justice, I will ensure fairness and I will ensure a level playing field for everybody and also internal party democracy and a reward system”.
Obono-Obla agreed that Al-Makura is the type of leader APC needs at this point in time and that the CPC should be allowed to take its turn in the power equation.
CPC Stakeholders’ Forum noted that its support for Al-Makura was not out of emotion, sentiments, or primordial grounds, but believed that he is the most qualified of all those who have shown interest to lead the party because of who he is.
The forum noted that Buhari wouldn’t have gone over Al-Makura to pick a former foundation member of the main opposition PDP to head the party at this crucial moment when it is approaching a general election.
As a key stakeholder, I wish to identify with the forum’s stand and urged all well-meaning party stakeholders and loyalists to do the same in the spirit of equity and fair play which form the fulcrum of the principle that birthed our dear party.
Inuwa, an APC stalwart, wrote from Lugbe, Abuja.
