By BASHIR ADEFAKA
“So much that successfully now, those politicians considered to be Buhari’s men have been completely screened out of relevance in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states (Amosun’s candidate upturned by NWC in Ogun, Shittu screened out in Oyo and Fashola, Muiz Banire, Opeifa, others now only relevant not in Lagos but Abuja) and we hear that we have an APC National Working Committee (NWC) which is in place to work for Buhari’s success! How true that can be?!”
Suddenly my countenance begins to change. The enthusiasm that gripped me down into the struggle to mind not the Federal Might of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan’s Federal Government is beginning to do a review, for the first time.
And this is caused not because I see that President Muhammadu Buhari, for whose sake I decided to take the suicidal at that period of late 2014 till date, has slacked. No. It is far from that. The President continues to impress and is satisfying my expectation. Those who call him Baba Go-Slow have failed to tell us where they that had gone fast had reached in nation building.
So my countenance is changing and the enthusiasm is getting weakened, not because of President Buhari but because of the sudden distrust that I begin to develop as a result of the attitude of the new leadership in the All Progressives Congress (APC) whereby everybody is just acting like “this is my time, all to my side”.
As a person, I am tagged rigid because it takes time for anybody to convince me to change from whatever I have chosen to believe and stand for. The progressives have been the political ideology of my father right from the Action Group (AG) through the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) via the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to the Alliance for Democracy (AD), the Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) until it got to this – All Progressives Congress (APC).
My personal conviction as a growing up child that the progressives are pro-people is the main secret of my rigidity standing for anything, course or person along that line till today. I have seen political party rule in this country which did not care about whether the humanity of the country has access to good road either at Federal, state or local government level. Politicians in that party only considered their own pocket and they did it with impunity without caring whether the common man smell good living system or not.
All they knew how to do was spend the first two years to deceive the masses by pretending that they were awarding road contracts. ASUU embarked on unending strikes so were doctors in hospitals without them show any care. Many school age that should come out of the educational struggle into the labour market at good early age of between 20 and 25 came graduated into the labour market at age 35 and the condition that “applicant must not be above age 25” slammed on him or her by the would-be employer completely rendered such graduate useless and unemployable. Those rulers of the days had no solution to that challenge.
They were busy corruptly looting the treasury and in doing so amassing wealth to build own schools, hospitals, even sometimes own tolled road systems and estates thereby killing the lower/middle classes and pushed the supposed Africa’s Giant of a country into serious case of “you are either poor and continue to get poorer or you are rich and continue to get richer”. These were happening then because the conservatives that held sway at the Federal level were not politicians with blood of pity for the poor. They were the greatest hypocrites as they deceived us with “please vote for us to take care of you” only for them to turn against us after they had got what they wanted from us and they spend the first two years pretend as if they were fulfilling those promises by awarding contracts, only roads, the third year, their contractors began to slow down and the fourth year they entered election period and so abandoned projects began to mount.
It was only at the regional level (what I knew well was Western Nigerian states of Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Lagos and Bendel ruled by the progressives) that I felt the efforts of politicians who actually had concerns for the common people. We were not only given free education, our notebooks, biros and rulers stock was replenished at regular interval so also we had textbooks already read. All that our parents were required at that time was “show your tax clearance certificate” and that was all. By progressives we had development and our knowledge capacity was greatly built.
That, I saw, was about to come by President Muhammad Buhari because of his feeling for the good of humanity and I, that was never into serious politics, began to play along. For the first time, the progressives won and began to control the Federal Might of the Republic. Hence my rigidity, refusing to look back #StandingWithBuhari who incidentally in selling candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
However, those conservatives who never had any iota of concern for us the common masses of the Nigerian people have worked hard to return. They have sponsored all manner of crisis, economic terrorism (Niger Delta Avengers), killings without pity (Boko Haram, so-called violent herdsmen, Benue/Taraba Governments sponsored militiamen, now clear Berom terrorism against non-indigenes and sometimes against Muslims of Plateau State, cultism activities in Rivers, Yoruba Land, IPOB in South East) all just to discredit the first-of-its kind progressives government in power so that the never-do-well-for-masses politicians can garner sympathy and then be voted back to power to restore corruption, impunity and bloody politicking in our public life.
It baffles me seriously that it is at this critical time that all the progressives need to jettison personal interests for collective good we now have crisis here and there among them. It is sad that All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, His Excellency Comrade Adams Oshiomhole would allow himself to be used to cause the pain that was inflicted on some members in Oyo State over untenable excuse of NYSC certificate against Minister of Communications, Dr. Abdulraheem Adebayo Shittu. How does Oshiomhole expect somebody whose NYSC matter had over 37 years ago been settled by court to now present certificate when he know that his own case, and which must be applauded as not common among Nigerians, is different? To the extent that the governor of the Oyo State that allegedly sponsored the joker against Shittu himself was said to have no such certificate but Oshiomhole-led NWC turned its face away from that, disqualified Shittu after he had been cleared to participate in governorship primaries but cleared the governor, Abiola Ajimobi who has now emerged senatorial candidate in the state.
Same issue among these progressives is happening in Imo, Kaduna, Zamfara, Lagos, Ogun states and so on and so forth.
The APC leadership should be careful and ensure that they do not go into the 2019 general elections with the way they are doing: too much of hanky-panky, man-know-man and “rub-my-back-I-rub-your-back” going on. So much that successfully now, those politicians considered to be Buhari’s men have been completely screened out of relevance in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states (Amosun’s candidate upturned by NWC in Ogun, Shittu screened out in Oyo and Fashola, Muiz Banire, Opeifa, others now only relevant not in Lagos but Abuja) and we hear that we have an APC National Working Committee (NWC) which is in place to work for Buhari’s success! How true that can be?! Why then was the fight against Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki!
APC! APC!! APC!!! You must put your house together and not enter the 2019 general elections this way you are doing if you want Buhari to succeed. Else, what you will see will not be any palatable.
A stitch in time, the adage says, saves nine!
