2023: Jigawa’s moment of truth
By Halidu Musa
The year 2023 harbours a lot of promise for all politicians and
ordinary citizens. It is the year Nigerian politicians will scramble
to outsmart one another in order to realise their political ambitions.
The much anticipated year of general election has come. Politicians at the local, state or federal levels will all be on their toes until the last whistle by the ‘referee’ was blown.
In any contest, there must be winners and losers. To win, you must plan well. I mean plan well in terms of political party on whose
platform one’s ambition rests. People who find out that their
platforms or political parties’ membership can no longer give them what they want or the positions they aspire for, are re-strategizing. And this is natural with all human aspirations.
It is no wonder that in Jigawa state, politicians who were once
chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are defecting to the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in droves. Among the prominent men and women who are changing camps is the big fish from the APC, the former deputy governor of the state under Governor Sule Lamido administration. His stint with the ruling APC and the subsequent defection to PDP has inherent telltale. He was a former PDP
chieftain, well respected because of his political clout, but defected to APC in order to reap the fruits of the party’s (APC) promises. Alas, all that glitters is not gold; those promises never came. The sweet promises the APC held for its members were empty. The sweet promises were just baits to entice the people and increase its membership in number without personal or group benefits. But deceit cannot last forever. Jigawa people have now realised that APC can no longer serve their interests, in a short term or long
term.
As earlier said, the former deputy governor of Jigawa state, and the
2023 gubernatorial aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, Ahmed
Mahmoud Gumel has defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Many people in the state could not believe this news until the state
PDP chairman, Ali Dinginsa, confirmed Gumel’s defection in an
interview with journalists after an emergency meeting.
He said the former deputy governor dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress and joined the Peoples Democratic Party alongside thousands of his equally aggrieved supporters. This is indeed a sad tale for the ruling APC. It is also a sad eye-opener for the party’s weakness at all its leadership levels.
It was reported that the former deputy governor resigned his
membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress due to “intra-party conflict, disunity and lack of commitment and confidence in the party stalwarts” towards the success of the party for the coming general election
The former deputy governor had, in 2015 dumped the Peoples Democratic Party few months before the general election for the All Progressives Congress (APC), but undoubtedly, his expectations and prospects of APC as a platform on which he could realise his dreams crashed due to the selfish interests of some party chieftains.
The deputy governor’s case is just a microcosm of what will happen
before the general election in 2023. More Jigawa people are still
warming up for mass defection to PDP because the good life APC
promised under the outgoing state governor, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru was not forthcoming. The expectation of the people was not met, dividends of democracy became illusive in the state, so it is natural that as humans, the people begin tov look for greener pasture (party) to enliven their hopes and realise their dreams.
In December last year, members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Jigawa state equally defected to the Peoples Democratic Party in large numbers over what they described as dismal performance of their
former party at both state and national levels. The decampees were mostly from Birnin Kudu, the local government area of former governor of the state, Sule Lamido.
Receiving the decampees in Birnin Kudu, the Northwest PDP national
vice chairman, Ambassador Ibrahim Kazaure, said he was not surprised over their defection, noting that no sensible politician would give a second thought to abandoning the APC because of its total failure at all levels of governance.
By the recent the developments and the gale of defection in Jigawa state from APC to PDP, by men and women with enormous political clout, its difficult to convince any electorate that Amb.
Kazaure was wrong in his analysis. Now the handwriting is on the wall is clear; Jigawa has now fallen into the hands of PDP, and holding promise for the party in 2023.
Musa, a public affairs commentator, writes from Dutse.