BY RAYYANU BALA
With barely one month to parties’ primary elections and about five
months to the 2019 general elections, alignments and re-alignments of
forces as well as intrigues and permutations are bound to occur.
Election year in all democracies of the world is characterized by
intrigues, permutations, alignments and re-alignments of forces; gale
of defections here and there as well as insidious attacks from the
opposition to the ruling party and vice versa are in sum, what to
expect in an election year, which are all part of the ‘goodies’ of
democracy.
In an election year, only a politically naïve person will expect the
polity to be cool and calm. In an election year the polity must get
heated and tensions must rise while boxing the air and shooting the
sky must become the order of the day, from expected and unexpected
quarters. Now since we are approaching an election year in Nigeria,
what we are experiencing in our polity today is normal and is the
things we should expect. All the intrigues, the permutations and the
tensions in the polity today are not astonishing in any way; they are
all what an election year has in store.
In Nasarawa state, the situation is no different. The permutations and
the intrigues as well as assaults on one political party by the other
or by one aspirant on the other or by one political camp on the other
have started rearing their heads. Our social media space was in the
last two or three weeks awash with allegations and counter allegations
as well as permutations and intrigues all geared towards making one
aspirant or one political camp to be ahead of the other. From the All
Progressives Congress (APC) to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the
story is the same. In the PDP each governorship aspirant is trying to
outsmart the other and each senate aspirant is also trying to do same
to his co-aspirants. In APC the game is increasingly becoming more
amusing due to the number and quality of aspirants that are vying for
one political office or the other under the party’s platform. Each
aspirant is trying to undo the other. Though, there is an adage which
says ‘the more the merrier’, from what is unfolding today in the APC
in Nasarawa state, the game is about to take a dangerous dimension
which if care is not taken, the party may lose some substantial number
of its members to other political parties. It is true that by virtue
of its status as the ruling party in the state, the intrigues,
permutations and assaults by one camp on the other is supposed to be
more pronounced in the APC. But allowing these machinations to
degenerate into something else portends danger to the ruling party.
Already, these permutations and machinations in the APC have started
taking a turn for the worse hence the need for the party, more
specifically the leader of he party in the state who is the governor,
to take a more proactive measure to nib in the bud any unpleasant
situations that may likely cause the party to lose some of its
members.
Going by the unfolding drama among the aspirants under the APC
platform where one aspirant is accusing the other of an untoward
behaviour and the other is pointing fingers at the other for indecent
acts, there is the urgent need for the elders of the party in the
state to meet so as to douse the tension generated by these
permutations and the machinations that are increasingly gaining
currency in the state.
The allegations and counter–allegations trending in the social media
about underhand deals involving some aspirants and some close aides of
the governor are counter-productive. The people of Nasarawa state are
the ones to anoint who succeeds Governor Al-makura come 2019. The
insinuations that Governor Al-makura is the one to decide who will
succeed him are just mere talks that have no basis in a democratic
environment. All aspirants of political offices in Nasarawa state must
have it at the back of their minds that it is the votes of the people
that can make them actualize their dreams, not affiliations or
endorsement by any individual or group.
Although, in our kind of political environment, elites’ consensus play
a role in deciding who goes where, the present governor, Al-makura
nonetheless, has demystified that age-old understanding when in 2011,
nobody anointed him, nobody endorsed him and above all, elites’
consensus was not in his favour, yet he won the contest to the chagrin
of the so-called elites in the state.
Aspirants of political offices in the state must learn from Governor
Al-makura and seek for mandate from the people as against the mandate
of individuals. When Al-makura decided to contest for the seat of
governor of Nasarawa state in 2011, virtually those who matter, from
the local governments to the state and federal government, none
supported him. In fact the elites in the state did not only desert him
but went ahead to demonstrate their support for then incumbent (now
late) Aliyu Doma. But their actions and utterances did not deter
Al-makura from pursuing his dream until God in his infinite mercy
answered his prayers.
Just as earlier observed, our aspirants must draw a lesson from
Al-makura’s experience and stop seeing or believing that somebody
somewhere, can make them realize their dreams. Political office
aspirants must believe that power rests with the people and must go to
them to seek for power instead of seeking for favours or anointment
from someone.
Governor Al-makura while hosting the people of Lafia who visited him
in Lafia last Friday on Sallah homage, dispelled insinuations that he
has anointed some one to succeed him and enjoined the people of the
state to disregard all news suggesting that he has thrown his weight
behind one particular aspirant for the office of governor.
While Governor Al-makura’s clarification was heartwarming, he must go
further and demonstrate in clear terms that he is not really behind
any aspirant and he can only do that by providing a level playing
ground for all the aspirants in the forthcoming primary elections.
But beyond shadow boxing and shooting the sky which is normal and
usual in an election year, the APC in the state must tread with
caution. The forthcoming primaries which the APC governors opted for
‘indirect’ during their Thuesday NEC meeting must be transparent at
least to give all the aspirants a sense of belonging.
With barely one month to parties’ primary elections and about five
months to the 2019 general elections, alignments and re-alignments of
forces as well as intrigues and permutations are bound to occur.
Election year in all democracies of the world is characterized by
intrigues, permutations, alignments and re-alignments of forces; gale
of defections here and there as well as insidious attacks from the
opposition to the ruling party and vice versa are in sum, what to
expect in an election year, which are all part of the ‘goodies’ of
democracy.
In an election year, only a politically naïve person will expect the
polity to be cool and calm. In an election year the polity must get
heated and tensions must rise while boxing the air and shooting the
sky must become the order of the day, from expected and unexpected
quarters. Now since we are approaching an election year in Nigeria,
what we are experiencing in our polity today is normal and is the
things we should expect. All the intrigues, the permutations and the
tensions in the polity today are not astonishing in any way; they are
all what an election year has in store.
In Nasarawa state, the situation is no different. The permutations and
the intrigues as well as assaults on one political party by the other
or by one aspirant on the other or by one political camp on the other
have started rearing their heads. Our social media space was in the
last two or three weeks awash with allegations and counter allegations
as well as permutations and intrigues all geared towards making one
aspirant or one political camp to be ahead of the other. From the All
Progressives Congress (APC) to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the
story is the same. In the PDP each governorship aspirant is trying to
outsmart the other and each senate aspirant is also trying to do same
to his co-aspirants. In APC the game is increasingly becoming more
amusing due to the number and quality of aspirants that are vying for
one political office or the other under the party’s platform. Each
aspirant is trying to undo the other. Though, there is an adage which
says ‘the more the merrier’, from what is unfolding today in the APC
in Nasarawa state, the game is about to take a dangerous dimension
which if care is not taken, the party may lose some substantial number
of its members to other political parties. It is true that by virtue
of its status as the ruling party in the state, the intrigues,
permutations and assaults by one camp on the other is supposed to be
more pronounced in the APC. But allowing these machinations to
degenerate into something else portends danger to the ruling party.
Already, these permutations and machinations in the APC have started
taking a turn for the worse hence the need for the party, more
specifically the leader of he party in the state who is the governor,
to take a more proactive measure to nib in the bud any unpleasant
situations that may likely cause the party to lose some of its
members.
Going by the unfolding drama among the aspirants under the APC
platform where one aspirant is accusing the other of an untoward
behaviour and the other is pointing fingers at the other for indecent
acts, there is the urgent need for the elders of the party in the
state to meet so as to douse the tension generated by these
permutations and the machinations that are increasingly gaining
currency in the state.
The allegations and counter–allegations trending in the social media
about underhand deals involving some aspirants and some close aides of
the governor are counter-productive. The people of Nasarawa state are
the ones to anoint who succeeds Governor Al-makura come 2019. The
insinuations that Governor Al-makura is the one to decide who will
succeed him are just mere talks that have no basis in a democratic
environment. All aspirants of political offices in Nasarawa state must
have it at the back of their minds that it is the votes of the people
that can make them actualize their dreams, not affiliations or
endorsement by any individual or group.
Although, in our kind of political environment, elites’ consensus play
a role in deciding who goes where, the present governor, Al-makura
nonetheless, has demystified that age-old understanding when in 2011,
nobody anointed him, nobody endorsed him and above all, elites’
consensus was not in his favour, yet he won the contest to the chagrin
of the so-called elites in the state.
Aspirants of political offices in the state must learn from Governor
Al-makura and seek for mandate from the people as against the mandate
of individuals. When Al-makura decided to contest for the seat of
governor of Nasarawa state in 2011, virtually those who matter, from
the local governments to the state and federal government, none
supported him. In fact the elites in the state did not only desert him
but went ahead to demonstrate their support for then incumbent (now
late) Aliyu Doma. But their actions and utterances did not deter
Al-makura from pursuing his dream until God in his infinite mercy
answered his prayers.
Just as earlier observed, our aspirants must draw a lesson from
Al-makura’s experience and stop seeing or believing that somebody
somewhere, can make them realize their dreams. Political office
aspirants must believe that power rests with the people and must go to
them to seek for power instead of seeking for favours or anointment
from someone.
Governor Al-makura while hosting the people of Lafia who visited him
in Lafia last Friday on Sallah homage, dispelled insinuations that he
has anointed some one to succeed him and enjoined the people of the
state to disregard all news suggesting that he has thrown his weight
behind one particular aspirant for the office of governor.
While Governor Al-makura’s clarification was heartwarming, he must go
further and demonstrate in clear terms that he is not really behind
any aspirant and he can only do that by providing a level playing
ground for all the aspirants in the forthcoming primary elections.
But beyond shadow boxing and shooting the sky which is normal and
usual in an election year, the APC in the state must tread with
caution. The forthcoming primaries which the APC governors opted for
‘indirect’ during their Thuesday NEC meeting must be transparent at
least to give all the aspirants a sense of belonging.
nasarawaeye.com 