Hassan Saminu Ladan
It is sickening how politicians resort to smear campaign to bring down their perceived opponents or those they perceive to be standing in their way. Politics is about issues; it is about offering better alternatives to existing situation; it is about proving that you are more experienced than others and that you have better ideas for change than your opponents. It is not about hiring mercenaries to cast aspersions on others. When you are qualified for public office, why should you be afraid to sell yourself on the basis of your ideas and experience? My experience is that most politicians who sponsor smear campaigns against others usually have nothing to offer. Why do you need to attack the character or integrity of any person because you feel intimated by the popularity of your political opponent?
Ambition is legitimate, provided it is pursued with decency or decorum. You have no right to sponsor attacks on the reputation of people merely because you feel their popularity stands in your way. I have recently noticed the renewed campaign of calumny being launched against Mohammed Abacha by his former CPC colleagues. And this is despite the fact that he is no longer in APC. Why should you continue to hate a man with unrelenting intensity, and not because he offended you personally? Does a politician who has something to offer need to abuse or attack the character of anybody? Should you hate a politician because he is formidably loved by the people? Is qualification for public office determined by the amount of vitriol you pour on your rival or by ideas and issues? Why should any society tolerate this kind of primitive politics? Do you impress voters by your capacity to damage others out of sheer desperation to get power?
Majority of our people are gullible and therefore, they get easily swayed by smear campaign or propaganda. No serious society should encourage this kind of politics. Real politics is about programmes and issues, and the ability of aspirants or candidates to persuade people to elect them based on those issues. If politicians can be challenged to defend their ambitions on the basis of ideas or issues rather than personal attacks on fellow aspirants, a lot of these character assassinators will find no space in politics to sell trash.
When he joined the former CPC, Mohammed Abacha became instantly popular with the ordinary people of Kano State and made a remarkable political impact within a short space of time. He identified with the ordinary people unlike other politicians who came to them only when they needed their votes. Mohammed Abacha has always maintained an open door policy to the ordinary people, regardless of their political affiliations.
By its nature, popularity attracts envy, and it is obvious Mohammed Abacha is a victim of his political popularity. It is natural for a politician to attract popularity once he identifies with the people and offers them succour in their hour of distress. In fact, even after the end of the 2011 general elections, Mohammed Abacha didn’t stop his philanthropic activities.
Despite the end of the political campaigns, he still remains formidably popular with the people of Kano state. He has repeatedly proved his popularity. In any free and fair primaries any day, in any election, Mohammed Abacha will win decisively because the people are solidly behind him. In the 2010 gubernatorial primaries, Mohammed Abacha resoundingly defeated the then CPC officially endorsed aspirant, Colonel Lawal Jakafar Isa. He won 144, 000 votes to trounce Isa who came second with 78, 000 votes. The party leaders were disconcerted by the popular rejection of their anointed candidate and they arbitrarily replaced Mohammed with Colonel Isa in total disregard for the will of the people.
That fatal miscalculation was the beginning of the internal crisis that cost the CPC the 2011 Governorship and House of Assembly elections. The party leaders paid dearly for taking the will of the people for granted. Since Mohammed Abacha is longer in APC, there is no need for the smear campaigns against him by his former CPC opponents. What his political enemies fail to realize is that the more they attack his reputation, the more sympathy he gets from the people and the more they like him as a result. Therefore, the current smear campaigns against him are a waste of time and counter-productive.
Ladan wrote from No. 160, Maiduguri Road, Kaduna.
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