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Chief David Sabo Kente
By Suleiman Abubakar
A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and 2023 Governorship aspirant in Taraba State, Chief David Sabo Kente was recently accused of embarking on anti party activities by some disgruntled elements who do not wish him and the Taraba people well.
Since the appearance of a copy of the petition in public glare, various commentators have taken to the media to express their views on the purported allegations. Kente was ndeed not alone but hundreds of APC suppoters in Taraba State described the copy as cheap propaganda aimed at tarnishing the reputation and good standing of the the frontline APC stalwart in the eyes of the public.
The alleged officials had in a letter addressed to the Zonal Chairman, (South), Taraba State of the party claimed that Chief Kente was involved in activities contrary to some provisions of the constitution of the party.
The letter is titled “Notification of serial anti-party activities by Chief David Sabo Kente: A demand for his immediate expulsion from the All Progressives Congress” and copied to the National Chairman of the party among others.
Reacting on the issue, Chief Kente described the letter which the writers criminally ascribed to themselves as “petition” as baseless and a figment of imagination of the writers.
According to him, the writers are not only fake but are not the authentic officials of Kente Ward as produced by the July 31st Ward Congress, noting that they are those who lost out in that Congress and are accusing Chief Kente of being responsible for their defeat.
Kente pointed out that the petitioners, after losing woefully at the Ward Congress unfortunately turned themselves into an opposition group desperately working against the interest of not only Chief. David Kente but the entire APC in the state.
Investigation reveals that the writers were recruited by a desperate governorship aspirant of the party from the southern zone to tarnish the image of Chief Kente who has been regarded as stumbling block to the aspirations of the desperados.
Accordingly, it would sound not only funny but a wishful thinking for anybody to accuse Chief Kente of either romancing or working for Governor Darius Ishaku of PDP. In fact, the duo are like cat and dog and have never at any time sat at a round table for anything whatever, talkless of discussing politics.
On the writers’ claim of financial inducement, Chief Kente described it as laughable saying he has been a successful businessman with his investments scattered across Nigeria and West Africa.
For the benefit of the doubt, Taraba State has not enjoyed the most desired social amenities and infrastructure from the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) where Chief Kente served on the board as commissioner representing the state because Governor Darius viewed Kente as a threat to his administration and has vehemently refused to cooperate and create the enabling environment for such development projects and programs to be carried out in Taraba.
The one of the very few times Governor Darius and Chief Kente have met had to do with official issues as they relate to donations of agricultural implements to the state government by the North East Development Commission in 2021.
During the event, Chief Kente had publicly accused Governor Darius of frustrating smooth operations of the Commission in Taraba State.
Another meeting between Chief Kente and Governor Darius was during a courtesy visit by management of the Commission early last year to the government of Taraba State.
At that visit, Governor Darius publicly gave two cartons of Highland Tea as souvenir to Chief Kente. It is probably these two cartons of tea that these sponsored mischief makers misconstrued to be money.
As misfits, how on earth can anybody in his wildest imagination accuse Chief Kente of romancing with Governor Darius just for the former to receive inducement from the later for whatever reason.
In fact, it is on record that Chief Kente has been funding APC in his home local government of Wukari and at the state level for the past six years and had purchased several vehicles for the operations of the party across the state.
It should be noted that Chief Kente has remained consistent in APC since 2016 and has spent hundreds of millions in pursuing his aspirations to give the good people of Taraba state the good governance that has continue to elude them since the resumption of office of Governor Darius Ishaku in 2015.
We are also aware that the sponsor of the petition is principally an APC senatorial aspirant from the southern zone and funded by the desperate governorship aspirant that also hails from the same geopolitical zone.
Accordingly, this senatorial aspirant who serves as errand boy for the governorship aspirant came to Wukari last week, held a meeting with these fake Kente Ward APC officials and gave them N1million to write the trash they called a petition.
It is indeed ridiculous for such personality like Chief Kente to be accused of anti-party activities because he cannot stand up to destroy the house that he so much contributed in building over many years.
A cursory look at the signatories on the purported petition has exposed the so called petitioners as fake as the handwriting is very indicative that the copy was signed by a single individual.
On the whole, the purported petition is nothing but one of the handiworks and antics of the desperate governorship candidate who wants to clinch the APC ticket through the window at all costs.
The aspirant always sees Chief Kente as the major stumbling block to his aspirations and must adopt all strategies, blackmail and character assassination to dent the good image of the hard-earned reputation of Kente.
On the writers’ request to expel Chief Kente from the party, it should be the other way round as they are the ones trying to cause damage by indulging in anti-party activity to the advantage of the PDP.
The National Secretariat of the APC should urgently investigate these saboteurs and their governorship aspirant sponsor among others in order to show them the exit door before it is too late.
We wish to warn that the dimension these desperate politicians are taking would not augure well for the APC in Taraba State because they are trying to give a dog the bad name in order to hang it. They feel it’s best approach to achieving their criminal desire to emerge as candidates of the party for the 2023 general election.
Kente is a harmless person and had continue to be a loyal and transparent APC critical stakeholder. The desperate new comers were chased out from their former party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) because of similar desperation.
Kente is a believer in one God who holds that power comes from the almighty and would continue to hold to that creed.
The fact still remains that APC did not hold primary elections in Taraba State and Kente and other aspirants in the party believe that things should be done the right way. Therefore if we may ask, since when did standing by the truth become and offence?
We wish to advise the critical stakeholders of APC at all levels to to return to the truth and follow the rules because there is no amount of cutting corners that would take these desperados to the promise land.
Kente and his fellow aspirants are operating on the same page, insisting that the right thing should be done and due process should be followed in order to get at our collective interest and ultimate desire of taking over the Taraba Government House come 2023.
Abubakar is a Jalingo based political analyst
