By Rayyanu Bala

Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura is right: he is among the governors who built the APC. I am, of course, a living witness to how Senator Al-Makura, along with other APC governors, unveiled the APC flag at the former Presidential Lodge, opposite the APC Secretariat along Shendam Road Lafia. At the time, I was his Senior Special Assistant on Media.
Senator Al-Makura’s statement about the APC was a powerful one. He reminded Nigerians that he was among the governors who sat down to strategise, chose the name of the party, introduced its logo in Lagos, and eventually moved to Lafia, where the party’s flag was raised and the APC was formally unveiled.
In his own words: “The APC is ours; it is our home. We built this house, maintained it, made it beautiful and brought people into it.”
But for a man who helped build a house, he should also understand the responsibility that comes with protecting it.
The question is: How does someone who proudly says, “We built this house,” become associated with actions that, in the eyes of many party members, appear to be weakening that same house?
The question here is not whether Senator Al-Makura has the right to disagree with individuals within the APC. Of course, he does. Politics is built around disagreement, debate and competition. The question is whether personal political interests should become more important than the survival and unity of the party that one helped establish and build.
The people of Nasarawa State are very much aware of the role Al-Makura has been playing in efforts to connect all the dots in former Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu’s political project, which is perceived by many as being against the interests of the APC. If the APC is truly his home now, why participate in anything that could weaken the APC in Nasarawa State?
There have also been scenes in Lafia where some people were seen burning APC brooms and party flags. It is worth recalling that Al-Makura was the person who first hosted the unveiling of the APC flag in Lafia. He was also reportedly present, and allegedly laughing, during one of such moments of broom burning.
A political party does not survive only because of its name, logo or constitution. It survives because its members believe in it, defend it and resolve their disagreements within it. When the people who helped build a political structure begin encouraging its members to walk away from it, the contradiction becomes difficult to ignore or reconcile.
You cannot reasonably tell people, “This house is ours,” while simultaneously encouraging others to defect to another party.
If there are disagreements over leadership, candidates or political direction, there are internal mechanisms for addressing them. If one believes the party needs to be “renovated and beautified,” as Al-Makura himself said, then the natural question is: Why not renovate it from inside rather than pull people away from it?
There is another example of party loyalty that deserves mention.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s political journey provides an illustration of patience and persistence within a political organisation. During the eight years of the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, Tinubu was relegated to the background, and his position as party leader was largely nominal.
For example, at a campaign/delegates’ meeting in the countdown to the 2023 election in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Tinubu himself spoke in Yoruba about his experience within the APC and the Buhari administration. He complained that although he had worked hard to help bring Muhammadu Buhari and the APC to power in 2015, he received little recognition or benefit from the government through our the eight years of Buhari.
The most widely reported part of his remarks in Abeokuta was his analogy that, despite his contribution, he did not even ask for “water, garri or fura,” and that even if he had asked, he would not have been given any.
Despite disagreements and frustrations at different times, Tinubu did not abandon the Buhari project within the APC he worked assiduously for the party regardless of the frustrations. He was even quoted at some point as saying that he could not destroy the house he had helped build.
He remained consistent, continued building relationships and eventually became President of Nigeria. This is the lesson Senator Al-Makura ought to have learnt.
The lesson is not that every politician must agree with every decision of his party. But political patience can coexist with any ambition one nurses, just as Tinubu demonstrated. One can fight for his interests without necessarily destroying the platform through which those interests are pursued.
Nobody can take away the historical role Al-Makura played in the formation and development of the APC. Al-makura helped build the APC, he deserves credit for building it.
But the person who builds a house should also be among the first people to protect it.
Senator Al-Makura should remember his own words.
The APC is the house he says he helped build.
And when a house develops cracks, the builder’s duty is not to celebrate the cracks. It is to repair them.
Politics is temporary. Positions come and go. Candidates change. Leaders rise and fall.
But the institutions politicians build can outlive them.
That is why the real test of Al-Makura’s political legacy may not ultimately be whether he helped create the APC in Lagos or unveil it in Lafia. The real test, therefore, is whether he will refrain from contributing to its destruction, just the way Wike destroyed the PDP.
And this can only be achieved by adopting the kind of political strategy demonstrated by Tinubu, as highlighted earlier: remaining within the house, pursuing one’s interests, resolving disagreements and working to strengthen the institution instead of pulling it down.