It’s glaring that since His Excellency Dauda Lawal Dare was sworn in as governor of Zamfara state, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state appears to be experiencing an overload of post-election – post-failure trauma. The agony of defeat is traumatising the Matawalle’s failed APC. Hardly a day passes by without the party offloading a press release, saying one insensible thing or another against the new governor, Dauda Dare, and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Indeed, they are living in downright delusion and seeming misbelief that power is no longer with them and a new Sherriff has taken over the affairs of the state.
It will appear the APC in Zamfara is only now piecing together the full ramifications of their monumental loss at the last elections. The party has been living in denial since and somehow, the veil has been lifted and they are just realising how woefully they failed the people of Zamfara. In their warped sense of guilt, they believe the best way to hide that failure is to constitute themselves into a nuisance brigade against the new government of Dauda Lawal Dare. They are trying to be a clog in the wheel of economic and security emancipation of the state by the new administration. This is quite unfortunate.
Isn’t it funny that the APC whose candidate ruled Zamfara for four years albeit spending just below two in their party, but failed to tame insecurity is now accusing a two-month old government of failing to do what Matawalle couldn’t do in four years? We are talking about Matawalle who is on record swearing to high heavens that he’ll never leave the PDP, the party on which the Supreme Court declared him governor but he later dishonourably decamped to APC. He believed APC was the club of former governors of the state such as Senator Ahmad Sani Yarima, Mahmud Shinkafi, and Senator Abdulaziz Yari, among other political big shots in the state. Matawalle forgot that the same God Who mysteriously and miraculously made him governor in 2019, gives and takes power at will.
No matter the gang up, it was predestined by God that its now Dauda Dare’s time and possibly to rescue the state which had suffered greatly from the maladministration of the ex-governors. It is evident that Dare defeated not only Matawalle or APC but also the sanctuary of all past governors of Zamfara state, who were put to shame and disgraced, having collectively and roundly been defeated at the polls by the same PDP it had severally dismissed as not having the wherewithal to win elections?
Recently, in one of their bizarre press releases, the APC claimed that Governor Dauda Lawal Dare’s asset declaration form is riddled with falsehoods, adding that the governor couldn’t have been worth the assets associated with him. They implied that Governor Dare may be making a bogus claim to stupendous wealth in anticipation of looting Zamfara state dry as the erstwhile Governor Matawalle, whose entire fortune can be traced to politics, is alleged to have done. Governor Dare, having nothing to hide, may have given assent for his asset declaration form to be made public and no entry in the form was vague or unverifiable. APC can go and verify!
At the rate the APC is going, they may soon start lurking around the governor’s restroom to get whiffs of his business with a view to using it to craft another of their world-class press releases. It’s really embarrassing to see that within a space of two months, the APC in Zamfara has become so jobless that the only work they can carve for themselves is that of unwholesome ramblings over issues that continue to mirror the failure of former governor Matawalle.
It’s settled that the opposition has a watch dog role in a democracy, but it must be seen that this role is deployed for the general good of the people and not in furtherance of campaign after elections. This reduces the seriousness of governance into petty kerfuffles that target the pre-office progress of individual political players. In fairness to the APC in Zamfara, this is the first time they can be said to be really out of the government house in Gusau as the Matawalle Supreme Court declaration doesn’t count. Therefore, they may really be progressive-opposition rusty, so, we must cut them some slacks.
However, regardless of their rustiness, they need to be reminded that elections have since been won and lost. Matawalle, for all his failures, engaged in an ugly fight and confrontation against the government that was legitimately voted into power by the good and the hitherto beleaguered people of Zamfara state. Apart from the composed media war against the present government, he went to the tribunal to waste time and distract the new government from delivering on its campaign promises to the people of Zamfara. The APC and Matawalle must now need to retool and really oil its opposition machinery and set it on the course of supporting the government of the day to succeed where they failed.
From the onset and considering his official engagements and actions, Governor Dare is well equipped and determined to take Zamfara state out of the woods. The state has plunged into the owing to the insincerity of its previous leaders. Thus, no amount of campaign of calumny will derail Governor Dare’s drive in resetting and rebooting the state to an enviable status.
The journey is very long and only those without experience will start panting at the take-off point. Zamfara APC should learn from the opposition at the center who have been very mature with their disagreement and/or praise of the APC government in Abuja.
Besides, Matawalle and his failed armies should have got an iota of dignity and modesty by seeing reason to keep quiet and watch how things are done, having woefully failed. An administration that oversaw the abduction of over 300 Jengebe school children and other security fallouts, should have buried themselves in a muddy sand of shame than being needlessly verbose. We aren’t going to be deceived again, we’ll rally round the present and passionate administration for a better and glorious Zamfara state.
Abubakar writes from Gusau, Zamfara state
