By Ayuba Ahmad
In the count down to the 2015 general elections, the political landscape of Sokoto State seems to be one that is set for defining battles between the key gladiators that have inter – changeable dominated the scene since 1999. The outgoing Governor Wamakko has since jumped PDP for APC and he would certainly do all and everything, to justify the expectations of his new political bed fellows who had strenuously bent backward over to lure him to their fold. Further, in line with the tendency of the nation’s out-going elected chief executives, Wamakko will also want to have as his successor, a crony or a protégé that will “cover his tracks” and “guarantee his safety” after his exit from office.
Moreover, for one that has severally said that he and he alone determines the direction of the political wind of Sokoto State, the opposition, that is the PDP, must be more than prepared to prove that “Alu” is not the one and only reason why Sakkwatawa go out to the polls at elections”.
In the count down to the 2015 General Elections especially with regards to the governorship context, the political configuration in Sokoto State appears, albeit the changes in the camps of the gladiators, to be a reenactment of the scenario on the eve of the 2007 elections. Like in 2007, the merger of political parties that resulted into the APC has narrowed the contest to one political up against the PDP. But unlike in 2007 when AliyuWamakko led the then ANPP into a merger with the PDP against PDP, this time around, the same Wamakko has again led away his followers from the PDP and thereby bracing up against the traditional PDP that has fused with AlhajiAttahiruDalhatuBafarawa’s political machine. It looks so much like the situation in the days before the 2007 elections when Wamakko would, but for the last minute merger between the PDP and ANPP, have gone into battle with two opposition parties.
In other words, Wamakko’s APC, essentially a reincarnation of a faction of ANPP, will, as it was to be the case in 2007, be locking horns with the fused forces of the defunct DPP and the original PDP in 2015. The only other difference however, is that while Wamakko’s political platform fought against a ruling party in 2007, he is today the leader of the ruling party being challenged by the combines forces of his erstwhile political allies and foes. The much vaunted “power of Incumbency” did not work against his victory in 2007 but, will the advantages of his being on the saddle of power leverage him to victory in 2015?
In an appropriate appreciation of the political sagacity of AttahiruBafarawa, his doggedness in political battles and the palpable fact of his grip of a large swap of the electorate, the PDP made the correct, even if in retrospect as some have said, panicky decision to merge with the fledging political platform of Wamakko in the 2007 governorship election. Also for the same reason Bafarawa’s political worth, PDP leadership and followers have become bolstered and more certain in the 2015 elections with his recent going on board their ship.
This is in addition to the belief of members of the party that, “Sokoto State is traditionally a PDP State” and that, “Wamakko was merely an opportunistic benefiting of the party’s widespread acceptance”. To these PDP faithful, “the party was set for victory in 2007 and its flag bearer, Barrister MuktariShehuShagari would have won the election and therefore, the PDP’s victory in that outing was not as a result of the much talked about charm of WamakkoThe question is: Is the PDP going to be up to the task?
First, if Wamakko was a shadowy entity that came to political limelight under the wide, sturdy wings of Bafarawa as a Deputy Governor in 1999 and, if he was that wimping political orphan who reaped from the known empathy and compassion of Sakkwatawa for to the oppressed, the reality today is that the man is the Governor with all the leverages of that office and one with a visceral grip on most of those in political offices in the state. He also has all the motivations under the sun not to meekly let go.
Very pertinently, those seeking to successfully up – set the present political status quo in Sokoto State must guard against internal wangling, anti – party activities and crass, narrow and self – centered ambitions that have been the real clog in the wheels of the PDP in Sokoto State these past years. The challenge therefore is can the party’s caretaker committees put in place to midwife a substantive executive committee that will lead the party into the decisive elections of 2015, bridged the whole differences while it sits over the party’s affairs in Sokoto?
Ahmed wrote from Lome Crescent, Zone 7, Abuja.