HAMIDU SABO x-rays the new dimension politicking is taking in Katsina state ahead of next year’s general elections and the sound-bites emanating from both the ruling and opposition parties in the state
Intrigues, scheming, bickering and mud-slinging are on the front-burner. In some cases the political actors were hurling abusive words on opponents as the nation withers the political storms in the march towards the 2015 general elections. There are aspirants who still see the whole game as a do-or-die affair. In this atmosphere of multiple political oddities, it seems the situation in many states, as far as the 2015 election is concerned, is fluid.
Such have been the happenings in the nation’s political scene. Last week’s fracas between the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the major opposition All Progressives Congress ( APC ) exemplified the moves to outwit one another at the National Assembly debacle that reportedly culminated into free-for-all fight, with security personnel allegedly acting as agents of government.
The political imbroglio at the National Assembly also exists in various dimensions in many states of the federation; some being ignited by mere political jingoism, communal disputes or misunderstandings and tribal or ethnic sentiments. Chiefly, the crises were ignited by political machinations, brigandage, all in the bid to achieve specific political targets.
For instance, about the same day or time the row at the National Assembly was unfolding, Katsina state too was boiling as the two major political parties, the ruling PDP and opposition APC tried to outwit one another ahead of the February 2015 general elections. Expectedly, the whistle blowing last week by INEC for political parties and aspirants to elective offices to embark on electioneering campaigns generated heat in the state.
The ugly trends are unprecedented in the political history of Katsina state. It was within the same week, the state governor, Barrister Ibrahim Shehu Shema allegedly made disparaging remarks when he said that cockroaches are bedfellows that need to be crushed for safety in apparent reference to the opposition members of the APC. Though he thereafter outrightly denied, adding that he did not mention names or referred to any group or organization, some of his political foes seized the opportunity to take him on.
As governor Ibrahim Shema vituperations rents the political atmosphere in the state and even beyond, the Governor shortly after a condolence visit at Karofi village in Dutsinma local government area – where the unfortunate death of one Saifullahi Karofi resulted following a political clash – called on the security to investigate the killing. He said that the suspect should be dealt with, simply because a team of an opposition APC gubernatorial aspirant – Aminu Bello Masari – was on electioneering campaign where supporters of the PDP and APC clashed, leading to the death of a 22 year-old boy.
Some people even considered the visit as a way of fanning the embers of political rivalry coming on the heels of the governor’s last week outbursts; where PDP members quickly and cleverly rushed to the deceased’s family house for condolence. Shortly afterwards, PDP chieftains fielded journalists’ questions; during which the state Chairman, Alhaji Gambo Bakori apportioned blames for the death of the 22 year-old boy on the opposition APC led by Aminu Bello Masari, surreptitiously saying that the murdered boy was a PDP member.
The bone of contention in the town is: what brought about the issue of the deceased’s political party membership being championed by PDP, when his family members are mourning his death? Why would same Bakori be arrogating to himself the power of the juror and the judge, passing verdict that the act was perpetrated by members of the opposition APC? That action is being perceived by many people in Katsina as subverting the course of justice.
However, as at the time of putting this piece together, there wasn’t any established fact – by any constituted authority – that the boy killed at Karofi village was a member of any of the registered political parties in the state. To the chagrin of the opposition, the PDP Chairman is even calling for the arrest of APC gubernatorial aspirant Aminu Bello Masari – whom he labeled as the culprit in the saga, arguably attributable to opposition.
Blueprint recalls that sometimes this year, some 105 persons were said to have been killed in Sabuwa and Faskari local government areas of Katsina state as a result of Fulani/cattle rustlers clash – when six villages were attacked, but to date both governor Shema and Chairman Bakori have yet to pay condolence visit to any of the deceased family houses. Apparently this has fuelled the suspicion that last week’s condolence visit to Karofi was politically-motivated. To many observers PDP’s political hullabaloo in Katsina state has not only been earning them enemies but also weakening its support base , while making its supporters no longer at ease.
The Katsina state APC gubernatorial aspirant, Aminu Bello Masari appeared to have been pushed to the wall, has called on security operatives to investigate the circumstances surrounding the killing of the 22 year-old boy, and whether or not the boy was a member of any registered political party in the state. Vox-populi on the political landscape of the state gives no room as to where and when Masari preached violence in his political activities or electioneering campaigns.
Supporters insisted that it is also on record that Masari has always been calling on fellow politicians, allies and opponents alike, as well as his supporters to always play politics with decorum, as he always told supporters never to indulge in the use of uncouth language capable of denigrating his opponents no matter the degree of provocation.
Politics, according to Masari during his campaigns, should be about “issues not personalities”, and during one of such fora he pondered over why the recent call on PDP members and supporters by governor Ibrahim Shema to “retaliate” against members of the opposition whom he described as “cockroaches”. Masari responded by saying with such utterances by the governor could ignite mayhem in the state.
Consequently, the opposition believes that the PDP administration in Katsina state has exceeded the boundaries of good taste as far as intimidation of political opponents is concerned, right from 2011 to date, within which period a number of politicians and even journalists – working in the state – got the rough deal of this leadership. Events reached a head, when the governor ordered his Aide-de Camp (ADC) to arrest Senator Yakubu Lado. It is not, however, just opposition members that bears the brunt of executive high-handedness, even members of the PDP in Katsina are not spared. For instance, PDP governorship aspirant, Abdullahi Umar Tsauri, alias Tata, is someone whose aspiration has repeatedly been threatened by the governor’s aides; unmindful of the fact that they belong to the same party. This was attested to by the recent alleged setting ablaze of his shed at Katsina Polo Ground, believed to have been on the orders of those at the corridors of power in the state.
Also recently, Abdullahi Tata’s wedding party at Katsina Motel was reportedly disbanded by a combined team of Shema’s aides with the celebrants and invitees and other well-wishers at the ceremony suffocated from tear-gas. Tata’s supporters have continued to question what brought about these dirty games, wondering if there is no deliberate ploy to see that Tata gets out of the gubernatorial race, to pave the way for Shema’s anointed aspirant, Engr. Musa Nashuni. It would be recalled that Nashuni was once described as a stranger in Katsina politics by the 6 other PDP aspirants – who protested against his candidature – and even stated in their petition that Shuni could hardly deliver his ward in elections.
It was perhaps based on seemingly negative and dictatorial tendencies of PDP administration in Katsina, as well as the alleged anti-PDP activities identified even by some family members of his party – on which cradle the state leadership rode to power – that a group of party stalwarts from the Northwest headquarters of the PDP petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan over Shema’s excesses in Katsina state. They went so far as to posit that such development was capable of undermining the success of the party in the state during 2015 elections.
The Northwest Group under the aegis of PDP Consolidation Movement, in a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan last week, alleged that as a result of Shema’s surreptitious activities or excesses t he (Jonathan) could not today boast of any federal appointee that would work for his interest as, according to the group, all those with such appointments – who hail from Katsina state – are answerable only to the governor.
The petition to the President reads in part: “Your Excellency Mr. President, we want to let you know that you have no one in Katsina currently, among the coterie of political appointees at the federal level – who will identify with your cause without attracting the wrath of Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema.”
The Northwest PDP Group’s letter signed by the Movement Chairman and Secretary, Yahaya Shehu Wudil and Al-Amin Rabi’u, cited example with the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Alhaji Dikko Suleiman whom, they alleged, feels that they owe their appointments to Shema and therefore turned the President’s loyalist, Umar Abdullahi Tsauri, alias Tata into a punching bag.
The PDP Group Chairman and Secretary opined that governor Ibrahim Shema is working with agents of destruction to bog down the PDP to its knees and ensure that the party did not present a credible candidate for the February 2015 governorship elections in the state, thus seriously threatening the gubernatorial ambition of the other six gubernatorial aspirants of the party ; hence it is a grand plan by the governor to destabilize PDP in Katsina state.
Governor Shema’s anointed Katsina PDP gubernatorial aspirant, Engr. Musa Nashuni, as against any of the other governorship aspirants of the party in the state, when favoured by the Governor to carry the party’s flag for the February 2015 elections, would land his contest or even the party in waterloo, hence the need for the PDP leader to check the excesses of Shema.
So the question round the town is how healthy is it to create such a worrisome political atmosphere in Katsina state, where both the stakeholders and electorate can be coerced? Or is Shema paying back for the recent statement credited to Mr. Fix it (Chief Tony Anenih) that he should shelve his Vee-Pee bid? It’s only time or posterity that can vindicate who is right or wrong in this atmosphere of political confusion, as the February 2015 general elections draw nearer.
Interestingly all the six PDP aspirants who were denied support by the state government and the party itself, have teamed up for their campaign – with Senator Ibrahim Ida as Chairman of the team, and are presently gaining support of the masses across the state. Some have even been offering special prayers for their success – the defeat of Engr. Nashuni.
