It was all targeted at the 2019 polls’ battle and phoney methods are being adopted to test the ground by desperate contenders, as BAYO MUHAMMAD ALABIRA observes in this report
In what appeared as a dramatic turn of event over the weekend, in Birnikudu town, the headquarters of Birninkudu local government area of Jigawa state, where All Progressives Congress (APC) dignitaries from all over the country, including Governor Mohammad Badaru Abubakar, were billed to receive about 4,000 decampees from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), turned out to be false, nobody single person came out in the guise of decampee.
The event in Bitnikudu was organised by Honourable Da’u Aliyu, a member representing Birninkudu/ Buji federal constituency, at the National Assembly, where he presented six cars to party members and N20 Million doled out to about 4,000 students within his constituency. The grand plan was to use the occasion to receive 4,000 decampees from the PDP into APC, so the venue was full of expectation.
4000 decampees
Before and during the occasion, it was announced in the local radio station that about 4,000 decampees from the PDP were ready to be received into the APC. But when the time came to receive them, their purported leader, Alhaji Danmalam Angwanya, was called several times to come to the podium and present his supporters before the state governor, but nobody came out. In a similar vein, the second and the third persons were called on but, nobody came out.
Abracadabra
This was embarrassing, because the representative of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Right honourable Yakubu Dogara, was there in the person of Honourable Ado Alhassan Doguwa, representing Doguw/Tudunwada of Kano state federal constituency.
Already Governor Abubakar and other dignitaries like the APC state chairman had mounted the podium waiting for the 4,000 PDP decampees, but they waited in vain. Watchers of event quickly concluded that it was a reflection of “the more you look the less you see”, a sort of Abracadabra.
Embarrassment
The embarrassment actually started when some thugs believed to be APC members disrupted Governor Badaru, when he stood up to deliver his speech at the occasion, shouting ‘bamayi’, which literally means “we are not with you”, the thugs continued until the governor stopped his speech and asked, “who were they talking to and what do they mean”.
However, Badaru was told that the thugs were trying to embarrass the Member representing Birninkudu constituency at the state house of assembly. From that point, then the governor continued with his speech even though it ended briefly, because the occasion was disrupted by political thugs bearing posters of different politicians.
The state party chairman, Ado Sani Kiri, who was also among the dignitaries that graced the occasion was almost dumbfounded when he stood up to speak, the thugs also disrupted the sequence of events and almost took over the occasion.
And in the confusion, the occasion turned rowdy with posters of various contenders within the same party running riot, indicating that the APC as a party is in disarray.
Judging from the look on the face of Honourable Da’u Aliyu, he was overwhelmed by the confusion to utter a word.
Speaking to Blueprint on the event, a member of APC who wants to remain anonymous said, “It was disturbing indeed, if an occasion where the state governor and other dignitaries from far and wide could be disrupted by thugs, then it says a lot about lack of internal organization and protocol within the APC”.
Also, the event has elicited various opinions by sympathisers of APC, with aggregate of the views saying the party has a long way to go in terms of organization and coordination.
It was in view of this that the governor called on party members to be faithful. He appealed to party supporters to be united under.
According to pundits, the governor should sit up, review his style of administration if he does not want to find it difficult to control his cabinet, the party officials, the elected representatives and party loyalists.
Ripples
As fallout of the embarrassment, the opposition in the state has castigated the ruling APC. Leading the opposition is PDP, which said all the lies being told by APC have been exposed with the purported decampees from PDP.
Honourable Garba Ibrahim, former cancellor and a leader of Jigawa PDP, as well as a strong supporter of former Governor Sule Lamido, said there was no PDP supporter ready to decamp to APC. He insists that the Badaru’s administration has failed the state in all ramifications.
He said it was an expression of vote of no confidence on the ruling party, adding that for its members and supporters express dissatisfaction with the state of affairs, in pubic shows how low the entire people of the state rate the administration.
“We are cock sure that we will come back to power come 2019, because all the lies the APC used in convincing Jigawa people have come to an end. Jigawa people are voting APC out of power and restore normal life in the state”, he said.
Also another PDP supporter, Aminu Casti Bamaina, expressed gratitude to APC thugs for disrupting the occasion, describing it as a show of shame for the governor of the state to be humiliated at the event. He said it was meant to be a rented crowd but that the governor and his advisers had no control of their game, noting that the “arrangee between the APC and some thugs failed because the thugs were not paid.
According to him “this is a shame, for the APC supporters and government as a ruling party they cannot organize any meaningful occasion. It is a serious indictment on the state governor.
“By failing to receive the 4,000 decampees, as publicised, testifies that the APC’s house is in shamble”.
