Abdulkadir: The fall of a suspected mole   By Shayau Maigwandu

 
Finally, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has started to weed out suspected moles within the party. For the party’s supporters in Sokoto state, the sack of Barrister Inuwa Abdulkadir, erstwhile National Vice Chairman, Northwest zone, from the APC by the National Working Committee is a welcome development. This development has given the APC members in the state renewed confidence in the leader of the party both at the state and national levels.
 
For quite some time, the state chapter of the APC had raised concerns about the anti-party activities of some of its members who had been working secretly with the opposition to destroy the party in the state. The Sokoto state leadership headed by Senator Magatakarda Wamakko had expressed worries that some officials of the party had decided to team up with Governor Aminu Tambuwal who defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to destabilise the APC in the state. Among those that were fingered in this anti party acts were the former national vice chairman himself and Alhaji Umarun Kwabo. The state chapter had received reports against these officials who were at various times and places sighted with the governor campaigning against President Muhammadu Buhari and the party.
The news of Abdulkadir’s expulsion from the APC has therefore come at the right time as party members are already jubilating about it. Recent happenings in the state where the governor has began to clamp down on APC supporters for not defecting along with him should be seen as a sign of desperation to save his sinking political career. Those who are familiar with the activities of Umarun Kwabo and Inuwa Abdulkadir believe that Governor Tambuwal may soon regret associating with them as they are alleged to be fair weather politicians whose loyalty to any cause is dictated by pecuniary interests, and could easily betray the people.
 
Excited by the party’s expulsion of Barrister Inuwa, members of the APC in Sokoto eagerly look forward to the wielding of the big stick against other suspected moles like Alhaji Umarun Kwabo and others who are allegedly working with the governor to destabilise the party in the state. Inuwa Abdulkadir’s sack from the APC has been long overdue. He was supposed to be sacked three months ago when Gov. Tambuwal defected to the PDP in August this year. Both Inuwa and Tambuwal have been PDP members since 1999 before they crossed over to the ANPP.
They have been birds of a feather flocking together which made Inuwa’s stay in the APC a great danger. The duo have both served Bafarawa when he was a governor but later switched camp to wine and dine with Magatakarda who took over from Bafarawa as governor. We learnt that Inuwa was among members of Magatakarda’s inner caucus and was wielding power. As a justice commissioner then, he was very close to Magatakarda who trusted him but after Tambuwal succeeded Magatakarda in 2015, he again switched his loyalty to Tambuwal who has been his close friend of many years. It was also alleged that Inuwa was among the politicians in Sokoto state who engineered  the feud between the former governor and his successor in office. 
    Inuwa’s political adventure began when he ditched the PDP and joined the ANPP and got appointed in Bafarawa’s government. When Magatakarda came on board as governor, Inuwa left Bafarawa and followed Magatakarda and got a commissionership. He was in charge of justice and later became minister for sports under Jonathan. After he was sacked by Jonathan for alleged incompetence and disloyalty, Magatakarda took him to the head office of the APC and he was appointed North- west zonal coordinator of the party before he was elevated to the position of vice chairman in the same zone.
The exit of Tambuwal from APC therefore became obvious for Inuwa to leave but they allegedly conspired to make him stay and spy on the APC. As a PDP agent in the APC, he was alleged to have paid some officials in charge of party primaries to remove Abubakar Shehu Tambuwal’s senatorial form to deny him the contest but the plot was discovered and eventually, Abubakar Shehu Tambuwal won the ticket. According to sources, Gov. Tambuwal is afraid of Abubakar Shehu Tambuwal’s political popularity and grip of grassroots politics because it would be difficult for the PDP to make any impact with Shehu Tambuwal who has been Gov. Tambuwal’s political teacher to be in the opposition.
     With the sack of Governor Tambuwal’s suspected spy in the APC, the road to 2019 for the PDP is getting narrow and narrow and is another political blow on the PDP in Sokoto state.
   Inuwa Abdulkadir, whose desire to become the new Marafan Sokoto was dashed after a celebrated media war with the Maganin Gari has also lost an important political position. His next move is to formally announce his entrance into the PDP to see whether they can tame the APC. But how relevant is he politically in Sokoto state?
Maigwandu is a political analyst based in Kaduna