Short Essay 14
By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
Nigerian Opposition and the River Niger Principle
The common sense we often take for granted is not common in politics. Nigerian politicians invest so much energy in politics but with very little result to show. In the end, even as a ruling party, the PDP only succeeds in keeping itself on power through rigging, while the opposition parties return home empty handed after every election, complaining, because they are unable to overcome their egos and unite against the behemoth at the center.
I wrote my last essay under the assumption that the opposition parties are true realists as their rhetoric portrayed since their defeat in 2007; that they will merge, they will align, or simply do whatever it requires to unite and remove the ruling PDP from power. They held many talks without producing any result. So they let the chance of merger, or what they called "megaparty", to slip away. Then they entered the stage of alliance. Here too, they are dragging their feet, unable to script down a document that would be to their common satisfaction. They are behaving like the Children of Israel at the gate of the City.
It is getting late, again. Only three days are left before INEC closes the gate of submissions. The only one that would remain is that of some of the candidates lining up behind one, with little chance of bargaining, and hence little possibility of occurrence. Like in 2007, we may approach the polls with a divided opposition assuring the PDP of another four year tenure. They would have wasted their time and smashed our hopes.
The arithmetic is simple, for we outsiders, anyway. It informs the most fundamental principle in Nigerian politics: the River Niger principle, if the reader would allow my innovation. No politician or party has ever become the President of this country without crossing the Niger. We are not blessed with a Mwalimu, like Tanzania, that would rally us behind the ideology of a motherland; we do not have a pact that shares powers in predetermined ways like Lebanon; etc. But we have the Niger. It dares every candidate to cross it and pick the mantle of leadership. "Cross me, shake the hands of your brothers on the other side and your ambition is fulfilled", the river has told every presidential candidate in the past and present.
Many candidates attempted but failed, either because they did not know how to sail or because they lacked the engine power to make the distance. Some did not even attempt it as they were satisfied with the little crabs they could pick on their side of the river. Only four succeeded: NPC during the First republic, NPN during the Second, SDP during the Third, and PDP during the Fourth. The opposition parties could not. They allowed the ruling parties to steal the boats.
As the country yearns for change from its present state of decadence, the Niger is once more daring the opposition parties. Unless the CPC and the ACN cross the river, our hope for change next April is diminished. Goodluck can as well start to bake his victory cake and hold pre-election victory party right now. I assure him that he woud not need to rig, such that my brother Jega can have less stressful days ahead.
Last weekend the two sides could not agree on the MoU. On Monday, one side snubbed the other by not turning up at all. Yesterday too, no agreement was reached at. If they fail to reach any by the end of the week, they will both put themselves in that debilitating situation where the high probability of failure will weaken their resolve and drain their support.
The opposition parties should not think that they have much time left. Even after they sign the agreement, they would realize that they need to cover a lot of ground against the ruling PDP which has enormous resources at its disposal, sufficient to buy voters and rig elections. Greater than resources to surmount is the religious divide that the party has entrenched already and which no victory would come to the opposition without it being bridged. And bridging it would require a lot of sagacity, time and effort. The comfort of Abuja hotels is not for the opposition now.
If the talks between the parties fail, let the candidates start talking directly, perchance as individuals they might not be encumbered with the divergent interests of their parties. If theynarempatriotic enough, some of them will withdraw for someone. It is interesting to learn that Buhari is already exploring this option by inviting Ribadu to discuss the issue a week ago, an invitation which the latter honoured without delay. The advantage here is that neutral intermediaries would be allowed a role to play. But this too has to be pursued quickly; otherwise, any delay would be to the disadvantage of the emerging candidate.
So let us pray that the opposition parties and their candidates would muster the courage to agree soon and cash on the promise of the Niger. Otherwise, let them give up hope of making a big catch next April but content themselves with the crabs and snails that they would pick on their own side of its bank.
If they do not hearken to the call of the river, the PDP would, as it has been doing before.
Bauchi,
25 January, 2011
Showing posts with label CPC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CPC. Show all posts
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Monday, December 13, 2010
Trivial 4 Buhari May Leave CPC
Trivial 4
By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
Buhari May Leave CPC
The recently concluded congresses of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) at ward level in many states of the federation has left no one in doubt about the nature of the party’s leadership. All the commentators I read or listened to so far have expressed their shock regarding the extent to which some candidates went to rig the outcome of the exercise. Reports have also confirmed the widespread irregularities especially in states considered as the strongholds of the party and its presidential aspirant, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).
Barely ten days after writing Fraud, Moneybags and CPC (fridaydiscourse.blogspot.com/2010/11/discourse-311-fraud-moneybags-and-cpc.html), it is disheartening to report back that the fears I expressed in that article regarding the emerging bad reputation of the party have materialised. Unless something is done quickly, the confidence which many Nigerians have – that the party will put up a formidable challenge to the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) – will be quickly eroded. The fraud that is taking place has no equal in the annals of Nigeria’s political history.
The first bad omen came from Katsina, the home state of Buhari himself. There were widespread allegations that a gubernatorial aspirant, Senator Yakubu Lado Danmarke, has bribed each member of the state caretaker committee with N5million and each chairman of local government caretaker committee with N400,000. The state committee did not waste time in sitting and declaring that it has reached a consensus to give Danmarke the gubernatorial ticket of the party, to the total exclusion of other candidates. Naturally, the likes of Aminu Masari that did follow that rule cried foul. A supporter of Danmarke was heard over the BBC admitting that indeed N5m money was given but as a “contribution” to running the party. He even rhetorically asked, “Would the party run without money?”
How could a group of few people sit and decide to give a party ticket to someone in a state of four million people, without any primaries and in a party that promises to institute social justice among 150 million Nigerians? The ward congresses of Katsina State where ward executives and three ward delegates will be elected are coming up next week. The story is not over. But I bet you it will not be different.
Yes. It will not be different from what happened in the neighbouring state of Kano where the National Chairman of the party, Senator Rufa’i Hanga, violated the directive of the Board of Trustees (BOT) not to use the initial limited registration cards of the party in last Saturday’s congresses. But having known that the cards were sold mostly to his supporters, Hanga refused to carry out the directive. Haruna Danzago, the Chairman of the party in Kano, was heard on air a day before the congresses threatening that anybody who goes to the venue without the membership card will be promptly arrested by the Police. Many people called on Buhari and other BOT members to complain of this bizarre display of injustice. One of the Board members was heard advising some of the complainants on phone that they are free to “resort to whatever is possible to fight for their rights.” It was an advice given in ignorance of what the National Chairman of the party had in store in the next few hours.
As it turned out, in most local governments the congresses did not take place at all. Results were cooked and submitted to the party headquarters in Kano. Where the congresses took place, Hanga’s supporters outsmarted those of other candidates: the congresses were started at 2am in the night in some places, others until Fajr prayers were said at 5pm! By 8am when the congresses were to start officially, all was concluded. This is a new achievement in rigging. Not even PDP can beat this record, as a commentator said on Dandalin Siyasa, a yahoo discussion group. Of course, all the officials and delegates who emerged as winners from the charade are supporters of the National Chairman, who is a gubernatorial aspirant in the state. This act of desperation now gives credence to the allegation that he purposely formed the party and lured Buhari into it in order to become the Governor of Kano State. Haruna Danzago, the party chairman in Kano and who was never short of words in criticising Governor Shekarau for ‘betraying’ Buhari, told the BBC that nothing could be perfect in this world. I do not know if Danzago has realised that by this singular act he has betrayed Buhari more than any person before in the history of Kano.
I will not leave the Kano scene without weighing the capacity of CPC for injustice in comparison to the ruling PDP. Last year or so, the PDP conducted its congress in Kano where it elected state party executives. It was carried out in broad daylight and we have not heard the losers, late Abubakar Rimi and his supporters – complaining of rigging. Parties in this country have been conducting primaries but never have we seen them rigged to the extent that is presently done in the CPC.
In Kebbi State, it was a different story. The complaint is coming from moneybags who joined the party few days ago – a candidate who is supported by Senator Adamu Aliero, the former governor of the state, and another, an ex-custom officer, who is supported by the renowned smuggler, Dahiru Mangal. As usual, they started making efforts to take over the party using money. A leaflet was circulated in Birnin Kebbi a day before the election purporting that a consensus was arrived at which conceded the ticket to the former custom officer, Abubakar Garunmalam. This made CPC supporters to further rally around K. T. Turaki (SAN) who has been nurturing the party since its formation. The congresses were duly conducted and the supporters of Turaki won. There are now hues and cries from the moneybags who, not surprisingly, have the sympathy of the National Chairman, are calling for the congresses to be cancelled.
This morning, I heard the fire-spitting spokesman of Buhari, Engr. Buba Galadima, promising party supporters that they have not shifted from its ideology of social justice and that he will insist that justice must be done to all after a careful study of supporters’ complaints and reports from the police and INEC. Otherwise, Buba threatened to resign from his position as a member of the BOT or even from the party completely. I just learnt this afternoon that he has announced the dissolution of the party executive in Kano and Katsina, a good face-saving measure.
The threat of Buba should echo in the mind of Buhari, if we will advise the General honestly. If CPC will not be run in accordance with the principles of justice which he stood for all his life but only according to the whims and caprices of moneybags, he too should consider resigning from the party. The injustices in the party have been very much around to the knowledge of the General himself. Decisions of the BOT he chairs are blatantly ignored by the National Chairman.
Unless due process is followed, starting from the congresses, CPC will severely suffer from crisis of reputation by this time next week. The more contentious primaries of Katsina, Jigawa and Bauchi states are coming next Saturday. The National Chairman has long ago dissolved the party executives in Bauchi and Jigawa in favour of some moneybags that joined the party recently. If the same fraud is repeated at those congresses in favour of such characters, then the party should as well forget winning any state during the next election, let alone making Buhari the President of Nigeria. What would we expect from people who cannot retrain themselves at party level when we entrust them with the leadership of this country? Bauchi is a good example.
In that case, Buhari should seriously consider abandoning the party entirely as Buba threatened. (In fact Buba by his comment may be preparing the minds of Buhari’s supporters exactly for that.) It will be too crippled to guarantee his success and too undeserving for his membership. I have expressed my reservations to him few weeks before he joined the party based on some initial signals I intercepted. Now that they have disappointedly become real, he must start thinking, and think quickly, of a better option.
And who said such option does not exist? There are many ideologically credible parties around that have been tested and trusted. The Peoples’ Redemption Party of Balarabe Musa and Labour Party will welcome him. They supported his presidential bid in 2007. Even ACN is far more assuring than CPC, as it is. Besides, I do not know of any supporter of the General who will object to his joining the ACN or Labour Party. It will be a welcome decision and a revolution in our political history. It will improve his chances of victory and help to significantly reduce the north-south divide of our politics. This has been my stand. After he has left CPC, the moneybags can make anything of it. But at least we have denied them the chance of using Buhari to hoodwink the masses as it happened in Bauchi in 2007.
This is my advice to the Buhari. I implore every reader to express his in the comment box below (http://fridaydiscourse.blogspot.com/2010/12/trivial-4-buhari-may-leave-cpc.html if you are not reading the article from my blog). I will ensure that it reaches him immediately. Try, please. Your advice could make a difference.
Bauchi,
13 December 2010
POSTSCRIPT
The BOT met yesterday and Buba Galadima announced the cancellation of the congresses conducted in Kano and Kebbi. The excos of Katsina, Kebbi and Katsina have also been dissolved. The National Chairman, apparently displeased by the decision, objected by disclaiming Buba Galadima as incompetent to speak on behalf of the BOT. (Source: BBC Hausa service, 14 Dec 2010. 6.30am)
By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
Buhari May Leave CPC
The recently concluded congresses of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) at ward level in many states of the federation has left no one in doubt about the nature of the party’s leadership. All the commentators I read or listened to so far have expressed their shock regarding the extent to which some candidates went to rig the outcome of the exercise. Reports have also confirmed the widespread irregularities especially in states considered as the strongholds of the party and its presidential aspirant, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).
Barely ten days after writing Fraud, Moneybags and CPC (fridaydiscourse.blogspot.com/2010/11/discourse-311-fraud-moneybags-and-cpc.html), it is disheartening to report back that the fears I expressed in that article regarding the emerging bad reputation of the party have materialised. Unless something is done quickly, the confidence which many Nigerians have – that the party will put up a formidable challenge to the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) – will be quickly eroded. The fraud that is taking place has no equal in the annals of Nigeria’s political history.
The first bad omen came from Katsina, the home state of Buhari himself. There were widespread allegations that a gubernatorial aspirant, Senator Yakubu Lado Danmarke, has bribed each member of the state caretaker committee with N5million and each chairman of local government caretaker committee with N400,000. The state committee did not waste time in sitting and declaring that it has reached a consensus to give Danmarke the gubernatorial ticket of the party, to the total exclusion of other candidates. Naturally, the likes of Aminu Masari that did follow that rule cried foul. A supporter of Danmarke was heard over the BBC admitting that indeed N5m money was given but as a “contribution” to running the party. He even rhetorically asked, “Would the party run without money?”
How could a group of few people sit and decide to give a party ticket to someone in a state of four million people, without any primaries and in a party that promises to institute social justice among 150 million Nigerians? The ward congresses of Katsina State where ward executives and three ward delegates will be elected are coming up next week. The story is not over. But I bet you it will not be different.
Yes. It will not be different from what happened in the neighbouring state of Kano where the National Chairman of the party, Senator Rufa’i Hanga, violated the directive of the Board of Trustees (BOT) not to use the initial limited registration cards of the party in last Saturday’s congresses. But having known that the cards were sold mostly to his supporters, Hanga refused to carry out the directive. Haruna Danzago, the Chairman of the party in Kano, was heard on air a day before the congresses threatening that anybody who goes to the venue without the membership card will be promptly arrested by the Police. Many people called on Buhari and other BOT members to complain of this bizarre display of injustice. One of the Board members was heard advising some of the complainants on phone that they are free to “resort to whatever is possible to fight for their rights.” It was an advice given in ignorance of what the National Chairman of the party had in store in the next few hours.
As it turned out, in most local governments the congresses did not take place at all. Results were cooked and submitted to the party headquarters in Kano. Where the congresses took place, Hanga’s supporters outsmarted those of other candidates: the congresses were started at 2am in the night in some places, others until Fajr prayers were said at 5pm! By 8am when the congresses were to start officially, all was concluded. This is a new achievement in rigging. Not even PDP can beat this record, as a commentator said on Dandalin Siyasa, a yahoo discussion group. Of course, all the officials and delegates who emerged as winners from the charade are supporters of the National Chairman, who is a gubernatorial aspirant in the state. This act of desperation now gives credence to the allegation that he purposely formed the party and lured Buhari into it in order to become the Governor of Kano State. Haruna Danzago, the party chairman in Kano and who was never short of words in criticising Governor Shekarau for ‘betraying’ Buhari, told the BBC that nothing could be perfect in this world. I do not know if Danzago has realised that by this singular act he has betrayed Buhari more than any person before in the history of Kano.
I will not leave the Kano scene without weighing the capacity of CPC for injustice in comparison to the ruling PDP. Last year or so, the PDP conducted its congress in Kano where it elected state party executives. It was carried out in broad daylight and we have not heard the losers, late Abubakar Rimi and his supporters – complaining of rigging. Parties in this country have been conducting primaries but never have we seen them rigged to the extent that is presently done in the CPC.
In Kebbi State, it was a different story. The complaint is coming from moneybags who joined the party few days ago – a candidate who is supported by Senator Adamu Aliero, the former governor of the state, and another, an ex-custom officer, who is supported by the renowned smuggler, Dahiru Mangal. As usual, they started making efforts to take over the party using money. A leaflet was circulated in Birnin Kebbi a day before the election purporting that a consensus was arrived at which conceded the ticket to the former custom officer, Abubakar Garunmalam. This made CPC supporters to further rally around K. T. Turaki (SAN) who has been nurturing the party since its formation. The congresses were duly conducted and the supporters of Turaki won. There are now hues and cries from the moneybags who, not surprisingly, have the sympathy of the National Chairman, are calling for the congresses to be cancelled.
This morning, I heard the fire-spitting spokesman of Buhari, Engr. Buba Galadima, promising party supporters that they have not shifted from its ideology of social justice and that he will insist that justice must be done to all after a careful study of supporters’ complaints and reports from the police and INEC. Otherwise, Buba threatened to resign from his position as a member of the BOT or even from the party completely. I just learnt this afternoon that he has announced the dissolution of the party executive in Kano and Katsina, a good face-saving measure.
The threat of Buba should echo in the mind of Buhari, if we will advise the General honestly. If CPC will not be run in accordance with the principles of justice which he stood for all his life but only according to the whims and caprices of moneybags, he too should consider resigning from the party. The injustices in the party have been very much around to the knowledge of the General himself. Decisions of the BOT he chairs are blatantly ignored by the National Chairman.
Unless due process is followed, starting from the congresses, CPC will severely suffer from crisis of reputation by this time next week. The more contentious primaries of Katsina, Jigawa and Bauchi states are coming next Saturday. The National Chairman has long ago dissolved the party executives in Bauchi and Jigawa in favour of some moneybags that joined the party recently. If the same fraud is repeated at those congresses in favour of such characters, then the party should as well forget winning any state during the next election, let alone making Buhari the President of Nigeria. What would we expect from people who cannot retrain themselves at party level when we entrust them with the leadership of this country? Bauchi is a good example.
In that case, Buhari should seriously consider abandoning the party entirely as Buba threatened. (In fact Buba by his comment may be preparing the minds of Buhari’s supporters exactly for that.) It will be too crippled to guarantee his success and too undeserving for his membership. I have expressed my reservations to him few weeks before he joined the party based on some initial signals I intercepted. Now that they have disappointedly become real, he must start thinking, and think quickly, of a better option.
And who said such option does not exist? There are many ideologically credible parties around that have been tested and trusted. The Peoples’ Redemption Party of Balarabe Musa and Labour Party will welcome him. They supported his presidential bid in 2007. Even ACN is far more assuring than CPC, as it is. Besides, I do not know of any supporter of the General who will object to his joining the ACN or Labour Party. It will be a welcome decision and a revolution in our political history. It will improve his chances of victory and help to significantly reduce the north-south divide of our politics. This has been my stand. After he has left CPC, the moneybags can make anything of it. But at least we have denied them the chance of using Buhari to hoodwink the masses as it happened in Bauchi in 2007.
This is my advice to the Buhari. I implore every reader to express his in the comment box below (http://fridaydiscourse.blogspot.com/2010/12/trivial-4-buhari-may-leave-cpc.html if you are not reading the article from my blog). I will ensure that it reaches him immediately. Try, please. Your advice could make a difference.
Bauchi,
13 December 2010
POSTSCRIPT
The BOT met yesterday and Buba Galadima announced the cancellation of the congresses conducted in Kano and Kebbi. The excos of Katsina, Kebbi and Katsina have also been dissolved. The National Chairman, apparently displeased by the decision, objected by disclaiming Buba Galadima as incompetent to speak on behalf of the BOT. (Source: BBC Hausa service, 14 Dec 2010. 6.30am)
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Discourse 311 Fraud, Moneybags and CPC
Discourse 311
By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
Fraud, Moneybags and CPC
Both Muhammadu Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) do shoulder the responsibility of stopping the ongoing fraud in the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) regarding the use of fake cards in its ongoing membership registration exercise. In this task, the responsibility of the former is largely moral, while that of the latter is constitutional. Desperate politicians who thronged the party are setting new records of fraud in the history of our political culture in their bid to use Buhari to hoodwink the masses and capture power in states where the presidential candidate has large followership.
The call has become necessary because, surprisingly, the party leadership is backing the fraud, a practice that is an antithesis of its promise to use the party as a platform for progressive politics. If the fraud is not checked, it has every potential to wreck the prospects of the party and spoil the legendary image of Buhari himself especially given his position as the party's Chairman, Board of Trustees and, understandably, its natural presidential flagbearer.
The story is simple. Many gubernatorial aspirants in the party do not want to play the game by its rules. They want to singlehandedly determine every stage that would lead to their nomination. Aiding their ambition and encouraging it is the poor financial state of the party. Whoever has money will have the upper hand. Simple. He will have everything twisted in his favour regardless of any INEC procedure or the provisions of the party's constitution. And the source of his money is not an issue. What is essential is to have the money, pay the party leadership, contribute handsomely to funding the party and the way becomes his. The entire state executive of the party will be dissolved at his instance; an interim leadership that is favourably disposed to him will be sent to his state; it will solicit for his funding; and it will approve his wishes.
It is not therefore surprising that the complaints are the same across the affected states, whether in Kebbi, Katsina, Kano, Kaduna or Bauchi. Such aspirants who have earned the goodwill of the National Chairman of the party are sponsoring candidates for the chairmanship of the party executive bodies at state, local government and ward levels. Through these aspiring chairmen, or directly on their own, such gubernatorial aspirants have printed hundreds of thousands of fake party membership cards and distributed them among the masses, waiting for the party congresses that are just about to hold. At the congresses, the fake membership cards, which outnumber the meagre genuine 50,000 maximum which the party sent to each state at its debut, will be used to elect the executives nominated by such gubernatorial aspirants. When inaugurated, such party executives, who according to the existing guidelines of the party will be the party delegates at all levels, will back the candidate who sponsored their success. A gubernatorial candidate of CPC has then emerged. Then Buhari will take the lead in backing such a candidate. The masses, working on their trust for Buhari, will vote for the candidate, as they did to Isa Yuguda in Bauchi in 2007. Your Excellency is then formed!
The person supporting this scheme is the National Chairman of the party, former senator Rufa'i Hanga, who within a short time has earned the bad reputation of being extremely unreliable. Supporting him are many close associates of Buhari himself who have their 'boys' working in concert with the Chairman. There is a fundamental difference between Buhari and these people. They focus on winning elections, hook or crook, in line with the ideologies of their former parties - the PDP, the ANPP and the UNCP (the 'PDP' of Abacha if we can recall). To them politics means power; and power yields money. As they play it, politics is livelihood. Buhari, on the other hand, as we all know, believes power is for service which must be hinged on the rule of law in government; then power itself in a democracy must be attained through internal democracy and free and fair elections. As he plays it, politics is a cause, not a livelihood.
These schemes will only produce governments that are inept and corrupt, like the one we have in Bauchi now. It is totally worthless though it came to power on the platform of opposition politics and with the backing of Buhari. The present membership of CPC is overwhelmingly from ANPP and PDP, and so is the majority of its aspirants for political offices. There is the need for the party to prove itself better than both PDP and ANPP by being transparent in its conduct and prudent in its affairs. So far, its national chairman has not proved that difference.
Tomorrow, Monday, 29 November 2010, the national leadership is sending a delegation of lawyers to defend the use of fake cards in its registration exercise before a federal high court here in Bauchi. An order was duly secured by aggrieved members of the party. It baffles me that a party that goes about dropping the name of Buhari can stoop so low to defend a clear case of fraud. Nothing can be more shameful. Bauchi is just one out of many cases. Its masses will pitifully be deceived again via the same route if care is not taken. The intention is to usher in a stooge governor who will allow outsiders to once more ransack their treasury and leave them without water, healthcare, education or security.
The solution fortunately is simple. The party should print millions of cards if it wishes and sell them to interested members through due process. However, it must validate previous ones that were genuinely sold by the former excos in various states while rejecting any fake card printed and distributed by any contestant under whatever circumstance. Then it can conduct its congress and primaries accordingly. If time is against it, let it use only the genuine cards distributed so far. It is assumed that any serious member must have acquired his long ago. There are about ten gubernatorial candidates in the state, for example. Let them all contest on this level playing ground. Simple.
Buhari needs to be firm on this matter in his characteristic measure. He carries on his shoulder the trust of the masses who will always subscribe to his judgement and presentation. He stands to account for that trust on the day of judgement. He must be under no illusions about that. His popularity is a gift that engenders a responsibility. "Then you will certainly be asked, that Day, about the favours (of God)." He can easily do this through his position as the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the party, its highest decision making body. No fake membership cards. No worshipping of moneybags. Period.
INEC would also need to wade in, just in case Buhari's effort does not yield the desired result. It has the duty to ensure that all political parties live to a certain standard of transparency in the conduct of their affairs, including congresses and primaries. These are the embryonic stages through which governance is ushered, whether good or bad, and to which neither the body nor we, ordinary Nigerians, can afford to turn a blind eye.
In conclusion, for the avoidance of doubt, I would Iike to state that I am not a card carrying member of any party. On the affairs of Buhari, I have maintained an advisory interest while I keep to myself the constitutional freedom to express my opinion regarding any issue that partains governance in my fatherland, Nigeria. I am thus also interested in the affairs of other candidates. As it relates my state, however, I owe its citizens the responsibility to aid in blocking any further attempt to hoodwink them, regardless of the platform that may be exploited to achieve that ignoble end.
Bauchi,
28 November, 2010
By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
Fraud, Moneybags and CPC
Both Muhammadu Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) do shoulder the responsibility of stopping the ongoing fraud in the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) regarding the use of fake cards in its ongoing membership registration exercise. In this task, the responsibility of the former is largely moral, while that of the latter is constitutional. Desperate politicians who thronged the party are setting new records of fraud in the history of our political culture in their bid to use Buhari to hoodwink the masses and capture power in states where the presidential candidate has large followership.
The call has become necessary because, surprisingly, the party leadership is backing the fraud, a practice that is an antithesis of its promise to use the party as a platform for progressive politics. If the fraud is not checked, it has every potential to wreck the prospects of the party and spoil the legendary image of Buhari himself especially given his position as the party's Chairman, Board of Trustees and, understandably, its natural presidential flagbearer.
The story is simple. Many gubernatorial aspirants in the party do not want to play the game by its rules. They want to singlehandedly determine every stage that would lead to their nomination. Aiding their ambition and encouraging it is the poor financial state of the party. Whoever has money will have the upper hand. Simple. He will have everything twisted in his favour regardless of any INEC procedure or the provisions of the party's constitution. And the source of his money is not an issue. What is essential is to have the money, pay the party leadership, contribute handsomely to funding the party and the way becomes his. The entire state executive of the party will be dissolved at his instance; an interim leadership that is favourably disposed to him will be sent to his state; it will solicit for his funding; and it will approve his wishes.
It is not therefore surprising that the complaints are the same across the affected states, whether in Kebbi, Katsina, Kano, Kaduna or Bauchi. Such aspirants who have earned the goodwill of the National Chairman of the party are sponsoring candidates for the chairmanship of the party executive bodies at state, local government and ward levels. Through these aspiring chairmen, or directly on their own, such gubernatorial aspirants have printed hundreds of thousands of fake party membership cards and distributed them among the masses, waiting for the party congresses that are just about to hold. At the congresses, the fake membership cards, which outnumber the meagre genuine 50,000 maximum which the party sent to each state at its debut, will be used to elect the executives nominated by such gubernatorial aspirants. When inaugurated, such party executives, who according to the existing guidelines of the party will be the party delegates at all levels, will back the candidate who sponsored their success. A gubernatorial candidate of CPC has then emerged. Then Buhari will take the lead in backing such a candidate. The masses, working on their trust for Buhari, will vote for the candidate, as they did to Isa Yuguda in Bauchi in 2007. Your Excellency is then formed!
The person supporting this scheme is the National Chairman of the party, former senator Rufa'i Hanga, who within a short time has earned the bad reputation of being extremely unreliable. Supporting him are many close associates of Buhari himself who have their 'boys' working in concert with the Chairman. There is a fundamental difference between Buhari and these people. They focus on winning elections, hook or crook, in line with the ideologies of their former parties - the PDP, the ANPP and the UNCP (the 'PDP' of Abacha if we can recall). To them politics means power; and power yields money. As they play it, politics is livelihood. Buhari, on the other hand, as we all know, believes power is for service which must be hinged on the rule of law in government; then power itself in a democracy must be attained through internal democracy and free and fair elections. As he plays it, politics is a cause, not a livelihood.
These schemes will only produce governments that are inept and corrupt, like the one we have in Bauchi now. It is totally worthless though it came to power on the platform of opposition politics and with the backing of Buhari. The present membership of CPC is overwhelmingly from ANPP and PDP, and so is the majority of its aspirants for political offices. There is the need for the party to prove itself better than both PDP and ANPP by being transparent in its conduct and prudent in its affairs. So far, its national chairman has not proved that difference.
Tomorrow, Monday, 29 November 2010, the national leadership is sending a delegation of lawyers to defend the use of fake cards in its registration exercise before a federal high court here in Bauchi. An order was duly secured by aggrieved members of the party. It baffles me that a party that goes about dropping the name of Buhari can stoop so low to defend a clear case of fraud. Nothing can be more shameful. Bauchi is just one out of many cases. Its masses will pitifully be deceived again via the same route if care is not taken. The intention is to usher in a stooge governor who will allow outsiders to once more ransack their treasury and leave them without water, healthcare, education or security.
The solution fortunately is simple. The party should print millions of cards if it wishes and sell them to interested members through due process. However, it must validate previous ones that were genuinely sold by the former excos in various states while rejecting any fake card printed and distributed by any contestant under whatever circumstance. Then it can conduct its congress and primaries accordingly. If time is against it, let it use only the genuine cards distributed so far. It is assumed that any serious member must have acquired his long ago. There are about ten gubernatorial candidates in the state, for example. Let them all contest on this level playing ground. Simple.
Buhari needs to be firm on this matter in his characteristic measure. He carries on his shoulder the trust of the masses who will always subscribe to his judgement and presentation. He stands to account for that trust on the day of judgement. He must be under no illusions about that. His popularity is a gift that engenders a responsibility. "Then you will certainly be asked, that Day, about the favours (of God)." He can easily do this through his position as the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the party, its highest decision making body. No fake membership cards. No worshipping of moneybags. Period.
INEC would also need to wade in, just in case Buhari's effort does not yield the desired result. It has the duty to ensure that all political parties live to a certain standard of transparency in the conduct of their affairs, including congresses and primaries. These are the embryonic stages through which governance is ushered, whether good or bad, and to which neither the body nor we, ordinary Nigerians, can afford to turn a blind eye.
In conclusion, for the avoidance of doubt, I would Iike to state that I am not a card carrying member of any party. On the affairs of Buhari, I have maintained an advisory interest while I keep to myself the constitutional freedom to express my opinion regarding any issue that partains governance in my fatherland, Nigeria. I am thus also interested in the affairs of other candidates. As it relates my state, however, I owe its citizens the responsibility to aid in blocking any further attempt to hoodwink them, regardless of the platform that may be exploited to achieve that ignoble end.
Bauchi,
28 November, 2010
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