The elections are here.
And as usual, politics will manifest in their different shapes, sizes, and forms.
The Bauchi state All Progressives Congress (APC), like in other parts of the country, must brace up against those whose stock in trade is to sabotage the political capital of the party.
In Bauchi, the success of the forthcoming 2019 general elections will be determined by the success of the September 29 gubernatorial primary election.
In fact, the need for a proper understanding of the times is quite germane so as to adequately brace up for the inevitable challenge.
Failure to do this will critically undermine the fantastic job the governor, Barrister Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, has done in the last 3 years.
As an individual with particular interest in Bauchi state APC, I find it worrisome the extent to which some are willing to have President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Abubakar’s legacies scuttled in the state.
It’s therefore necessary that, the Bauchi state APC and the good people of the state must rise up to address the fact that some elements within its ranks may be accessory to the reckless politics being played by some aspirants.
Of course, it is within the rights of every eligible member of the party to contest for positions of their choice, what may not be the best is a desperate attempt to rewrite history in a way that does injury to those among us who have dedicated themselves to the service of the people and liberation of Bauchi state from the gory days misgovernance.
Those challenging the adoption of PMB and incumbent Governor MA Abubakar as sole candidates of the Bauchi APC in the party’s primaries should do so within what is true to equity, fairness and good conscience not with prejudice and egocentric massaging.
It gets really disturbing that those scheming against the second term bid of Governor Abubakar are political moles working for the opposition PDP to scuttle the chances of the APC in the 2019 general elections.
Speaker Yakubu Dogara recently decamped to PDP leaving his political odds and ends to remain in the APC and cause chaos and rat’s nest in acting their designed scripts.
The assumption that these people do not pose a problem to the chances of APC’s success in the final analysis is, to say the least, very simplistic.
Of course, a counter argument will be that the party is trying to uphold the principles of internal democracy.
This is, of course, great.
However, it must not be lost on us that the party needs to be on its guard as the popular opinions hold that many of these people are merely masquerading as true members of the APC but are working for the opposition PDP.
Bauchi APC has done well in endorsing President Buhari and Governor Abubakar as its sole candidates in the 2019 general elections but must not just end here…
Why the three other contenders, namely, Mohammed Ali Pate, Ibrahim Yakubu Lame, and Capt.
Bala Jibrin rtd, still prefer to stick to their guns in opposing the sole candidacy of Gov Abubakar’s re-election bid despite conclusive evidence is something that must be x-rayed by the party and good people of Bauchi state.
It is still in our memories that when Governor Abubakar assumed the mantle of leadership of Bauchi state, every single sector of the state’s economy was comatose begging for immediate rescue.
The added burden of huge debt was something observers believed would cripple development if not by the urgent intervention of the Abubakar government that had succeeded in reversing all the inherited misfortunes to advantage.
However, for the emergence of Governor Abubakar, everything is now effectively working.
It is a shame that corrupt elements who appear to be advancing the interest of known political profiteers and those who were denied access to empty our treasury as usual, are not shy of rubbishing the hard-earned reputation of Governor Abubakar and the efforts of Bauchi APC.
The fact must therefore come out in no equivocal way that syphoning our collective patrimony is not a culture that can be allowed to hold sway in the party simply because one has lent support to the party’s emergence in the 2015 election.
The idea of bringing this government wasn’t to further ruin the state in favour of individuals but bring the state out of the woods.
I believe the trio and their cohorts are happy with the way things are prudently going.
The Bauchi state APC as led by Uba Ahmed Nana’s decision to adopt indirect primaries is a welcome development.
The party is more on the right track by endorsing the candidacy of Governor Abubakar for governorship position in the 2019 general elections.
This is because allowing the agents of PDP to dictate our party’s direction could be detrimental to our success in the forthcoming elections.
It’s clear that whether the detractors find this development palatable or not, the overriding consideration is the fact that this is a popular decision and is hinged on the need to sustain good governance and consolidation of the remarkable feats of the Abubakar administration in Bauchi state.
Usmanu writes from Bauchi
