Power, they say, corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, is wielding the powers entrusted to him by his office in a wrong way in manipulating and emasculating the All Progressives Congress, APC.
This is creating an impending crisis that may not only consume what remains of Nigeria’s ruling party but the already over heated polity.
Malami has succeeded in pocketing the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led APC caretaker committee which has over stayed its mandate for a very long time. It is no longer news to say APC is divided at both the national and state levels, what is important for now is how political observers are keenly watching to see how the party will address and resolve the impending larger crisis that may lead to its collapse.
Recently, a political commentator on AIT said that four people are destroying the APC and if they are not checkmated, they will put the final nail on its coffin.
He specifically mentioned Malami as the arrowhead who is tele-guiding the Buni committee to frustrate his perceived political opponents in the party at the national and state levels, respectively.
The nation’s chief law officer has tasted power in the last seven years and wants to continue in power beyond 2023. First, he is using the Buni caretaker committee to prepare grounds for himself in his quest to become the next vice president. That is why he is leading the anti-Bola Tinubu campaign because Tinubu as a muslim will not pick another muslim as his running mate and Malami wants to be a running mate come what may. That is Malami’s plan A.
Plan B is his quest to become the next governor of Kebbi state that is why he is aligning himself with the governor to help him perfect his second option if the anti Tinubu campaign fails. To succeed in his plans, all percieved pro Tinubu members in the party are seen as big threats to his selfish ambition and must therefore do whatever he can to frustrate them. This is why he has picked issues with the APC in Sokoto state and some other states that he suspects have soft spot for Tinubu.
Recently, the attorney general was in Sokoto as a guest of a federal lawmaker, Hon. Abdullahi Salame, who distributed “political materials” to some selected members of the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, loyal to his rebellion.
Salame, who is seen as a PDP mole in the APC and some power mongers last year formed a rebellious group they called Sokoto Vision 2023 with a view to advancing their political interests.
Salame and Senator Abubakar Gada who knew they cannnot win election anytime anywhere decided to be rebels in order to seek relevance and perhaps enable Salame retain his seat, while Gada who lost his senatorial seat during the 2011 primaries and has since lost political relevance thinks rebellion can make him re-bounce.
He therefore found Salame who has also not been making impact at the House of Representatives and is afraid to lose in 2023 a partner in destruction.
They teamed up to destroy the APC in Sokoto state since they fear losing the next elections.Malami therefore found the two as tools to advance his cause in Sokoto state where he suspects the state executive has sympathy for the APC National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Both Salame and Gada are working for Malami to destroy the APC in Sokoto state and the entire North-west which is the strongest APC domain.
If the Buni committee continues to dance to Malami’s selfish power-seeking ambition, the success of the party in the entire North-west is in grave danger.
Malami is on a very dangerous mission to destroy many state chapters of the APC that are not loyal to his selfish cause.
Already, with the exception of Kaduna and Jigawa states, the remaining states have internal crisis ravaging the party. Therefore, unless a drastic action is taken to stop Malami, who is desperate to remain in power, the PDP, and, alternatively, the emerging Third Political Force will reap from where they did not sow.
The visit to Sokoto some days ago by Malami was purely a Vengeance Mission. He went to Sokoto to further divide the APC having already planted moles in Salame and Gada who are using one political nonentity called Mainasa Sani who cannot even win a single vote in his village.
Soon after the APC state congresses nation wide, the authentic chairman the national headquarters of the party recognised was Hon. Isa Sadiq Achida but Malami was not happy.
So, before one could say Jack Robinson, Malami had empowered Salame and Gada to run to an Abuja high court, which lacks juridiction to entertain such an election matter, to stop APC national headquarters from parading Achida as Sokoto state APC chairman.
Since then the matter has been in court but surprisingly, Malami came to Sokoto and declared a political green horn as APC chairman in Sokoto without regard to the judicial implications that would follow. What then happens to the rule that says talking on any matter in court is prejudicial?
Was Malami carried away by vengeance that he forgot that as chief law officer of the land taking side in a matter that is already before a court of law is an aberration and prejudicial?
Now that the nation’s chief law officer has “sinned against the law” can the ordinary APC supporter counter Malami by saying Isa Sadiq Achida is the duly elected chairman of the APC because the congress that elected him was held at the Sokoto state APC secretariat and officially supervised by INEC officials and security agents unlike the kangaroo meeting in a hotel room in Abuja where the said Mainasara that Malami addressed as chairman was selected as a mere tool to advance Malami’s selfish and baseless cause?
Malami is becoming a virus in the APC and Mr President who gave him excessive powers should call him to order before a tsunami hits the party beyond repair.Malami has created blocks in the APC which have now been divided into many camps, those canvassing for vice president Yemi Osinbajo to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari, those advocating Tinubu to contest and the governors who want one of them to take over from Buhari.
Malami belongs to the pro-Osinbajo group where he is scheming to be Osinbajo’s running mate. That is why you either have to be for Osinbajo or you’re Malami’s perceived political enemy.
Back to the Sokoto APC political crisis, Malami has since 2019 been at the center of the “342” controversy. There were different dimensions to his role in the judicial process that led to the “342 victory”.
Some APC members and supporters accused him of influencing the outcome against his own party simply because his preferred candidate lost the APC primaries.
The outcome of the 2019 governorship election is still regarded by many as a collaboration between INEC and the judiciary and Malami has been fingered for playing a key role by aiding and abetting the opposition PDP to retain power.
Malami’s hidden agenda against the Sokoto APC could therefore be traced back to the 2019 APC primaries which his preferred candidate lost. His presence in Sokoto on February 27, 2022, where he sided with “an imaginary APC faction” was an extension of his 2019 grouse.
However, in Sokoto whether Malami likes it or not Aliyu Wamakko is not only a political figure in the APC but his political philosophy has put him as the Numero Uno of Sokoto politics.
Any attempt by Malami or any other person to play with the emotions of APC members and the entire electorate would have a devastating effect.
At the end of any contest, the winner is declared by the highest votes acquired. Wamakko has the numerical strength in the entire state to shift the equation and balance of power not only in Sokoto but even Malami’s home state of Kebbi where he greatly contributed in making Bagudu the governor in 2015.
Malami is like a child playing with fire as he only knows its effect after he gets burnt.
Kebbi APC is also a house divided and Malami should think of how to put his state chapter in order before meddling in other people’s business.
A word to the wise is enough.You go to equity with clean hands and not with dirty dozen.
Mohammed writes from Sokoto.
