Although the last APC primary held in Katsina state has been won by those officially recognised by the party, HAMIDU SABO in this report writes that all is still not well.
There is no doubt politics is essentially about political mandate, just as election is the process where politicians preoccupy themselves with the issue of political authority, either to possess it, sustain or use it for the fulfilment of a given political objective.
Many people were of the opinion that there are different categories of political mandates and the type of mandate that people have largely determines the quality of service that they render to the people and society at large.
For instance in Nigeria today, delegates were the ones given the opportunity to choose a political candidate for any political party. To a greater extent too, they ensure that aspirants of political leadership at any level can be denied of any mandate.
Unfortunately, delegates nowadays make their choice without considering the grave consequences of any wrong choice they make with regard to the type of mandate they give to political aspirants. This to a greater extent results in more corruption, violence and ultimately entrenched poverty and under-development.
For followers of the political trend in Katsina state, most especially the recently- concluded primary elections, one must accept the fact that a political mandate is now becoming a social contract in the state, particularly with the recent development of open buying and selling of delegates and the alleged supply of fake names of delegates in some places across the state.
Complains
Interestingly, in Daura town, the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari, precisely in his ward, there was a serious allegation of fake delegates hours before the start of the election of an aspirants into the House of Representatives as raised by the Buhari nephew and member representing Daura/Maiadua and Sandamu constituency.
Hon Fatuhu Mohammed at a press conference in Daura, accused the national legal adviser of All Progressive Congress, Barrister Ahmed El-Marzuk, for taking and changing the original names of delegates that participated in the primary election in Daura, Fatuhu at the same time rejected and protested against the results. He equally wrote a petition and submitted it to the APC electoral committee.
In the Batsari/Safana/Danmusa constituency, for example, the situation is almost the same going by the rejection of the primary election result by the Batsari member of the state House of Assembly, Hon Jabiru Yusuf Yauyau, who contested for the House of Reps ticket.
At a press conference also, the Batsari member equally expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the primary election, saying, 160 delegates were accredited to vote during the exercise and that seven of them did not vote and yet their votes were counted. He stated that the seven people were not even present at the venue of the primary election.
The lawmaker therefore called on the APC leadership and elections committee to, as a matter of urgency, revise the results sheet to make the necessary amendments. Hon Yauyau insisted that the result should be cancelled and a fresh one conducted to enable all accredited delegates participate in the interest of the party and stakeholders as well.
Both Fatahu and Yauyau threatened to go to court if the issues raised are not properly addressed.
Similarly, in Malumfashi/Kurfi federal constituency, in what was described as APC injustice, forced the member representing the area in the National Assembly, Hon Babangida Ibrahim to tendered his resignation from being an APC member.
Protest
In a letter dated 1st June, 2022, addressed to his ward chairman Ward ‘A’ Malumfashi, Babangida stated that, “I hereby write to notify you of my resignation from All progressive Congress (APC) effective from today 1st June, 2022. In Dutsinma/Kurfi, APC also suffered another setback as the House of Reps member in the area settled with NNPP as a result of poor treatment and injustice from the primary election result conducted in the area.
Moreso, even during the governorship primaries in Katsina, only the delegates smiled due to the fact that some local government chairmen and their councilors were allegedly negotiating with their delegates up to the highest bidder until the attention of the electoral committee was drawn where the situation forced them to made a public announcement of their arrest.
Again, in a dramatic way, the former secretary to the government of Katsina state, Mustapha Inuwa, who was also a governorship contestant, forced the election to stop for over 15 minutes after foreseeing a defeat because the primary election was supposed to be conducted as a secret ballot but for justification of money collection, the delegates conducted the election in a more open ballot as they allowed the agents of their choices to tick the ballot openly for their respective buyers to see. The desperate Inuwa lost the election woefully for not being able to buy the 55 delegates from Zango local government area who determined the success of Dr Dikko Umar Radda.
It’s a well-known fact that Zango delegates settled for Dr Radda, who, according to his agent, Alhaji Samir said, “we paid them well for Radda.”
Alhaji Samir, in a joyful mode, told some journalists that, “We pay one million to each delegate from Zango to vote for Radda in our efforts to rescue the state.”
In another outing some days after the primary election Mustapha Inuwa, in one of his gatherings at Katsina Motel, expressed vividly his anger over his failure at the primary and equally blamed both President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Aminu Bello Masari for not supporting him to win the primaries.
Observations
Much interestingly, in his observations, the head, Department of Political Science at Umaru Musa Yaradua University, Dr Kabir Musa Yandaki, predicted how the All-Progressive Congress (APC) in Katsina may lose next year’s governorship election. Judging from the party’s myriad of crises rocking the APC in the wake of the gubernatorial and legislative primaries, Yandaki observed that a party hardly wins an election with such sharp divisions within its camp.
Additionally, the university don cited the utterances of a party chieftain and former secretary to the state government, Mustapha Inuwa, who had vowed to support some of the candidates of other parties to defeat those of his own party, the APC, in the next elections.
Evidently, in his own part, the winner of the gubernatorial primaries, Dr Dikko Radda, equally issued a threat to the 34 local government council chairman and their 360 councilors of losing their seats if he lose in the general election. “I am calling on you to support me fully to win the general election or lose your seat.”
Moreso, both the poor utterances of Mustapha and the open threat from Radda are now serving as a ladder for some party members as already the state deputy chairman APC, Alhaji Bala Abu Musawa issued a stronger threat saying that henceforth whoever attends a gathering where President Buhari and Governor Masari were abused would be expelled from the party.
According to Prof Yusufu Ameh Obaye, a political analyst, “There should be punishment for misuse of political authority and reward for its faithful application.” It’s true for humans in particular, we cannot run away from the incontrovertible truth of our inevitable dependence on God, the required accountability and the consequences of our behaviour.
