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Why Buhari Must Unshackle Himself From The TBO By Hassan S. Indabawa
“The tendency is to become hostage to loyalists, who in turn have self-interest to shut out others, who they have adjudged not to be loyal to Buhari”. - Ishaq Modibbo Kawu
It gladdens the heart of all who mean well for General Muhammadu Buhari that many have been observant enough since the retired general joined politics and got surrounded by some within The Buhari Organization (TBO) that he has not been receiving the right advice, or rather have become their hostage and that this has contributed to past failures and uncertainties of the immediate future.
One cannot help wondering why Buhari has consistently found it near impossible to relate well with people who are leaders of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in their own rights, such as state governors, who can actually contribute meaningfully to his success except to attribute it to a lack of progressive advice from those who mill around him.
It should disturb every genuine follower or admirer or member of Buhari and ANPP that the party has lost three governors within one year and may soon lose a fourth one. Yet, it can quite easily be said that the “Buhari Factor” could be the reason for the defection of so many important members that the party has been witnessing since his joining the party in late 2002.
When the ANPP family gathered in Gusau February 21, 2007 to flag off Buhari’s North-West Zonal campaign, the man for whom everyone was there stood in disconcerting aloofness to wash his hands off the challenges which many party faithful were facing from opposing camps. At a time when other parties and their prominent leaders chose to reject the list of 135 aspirants prepared by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) because of the mischievous circumstances surrounding it, Buhari “accepted hook, line and sinker, the controversial (EFCC) lists” even as it affected the strongest of his supporters.
“The final list as it will affect one or two states in the North West will be out on March 8, 2007 and whatever decision INEC takes, we will abide by it as democrats”, Buhari said. On the surface, he could not have taken a better position, all things being equal. But we are talking about a list, which emerged through a most questionable process. In addition, “it appears bizarre”, Ishaq Modibbo Kawu observed in the Daily Trust of Thursday, March 1, 2007, “that a general can contemplate going to war without battle-tested troops in the North West part of Nigeria, which is the greatest area of his support”.
Malam Nuhu Ribadu, the EFCC chairman who engineered the list first said what the law recognized, namely that it was just a piece of advice, to guide the different parties as far as those on the list were concerned. The same Nuhu Ribadu soon changed his mind and “ordered” the parties to replace their members on the list with fresh candidates.
Ribadu took up this position after a similarly controversial Federal Government panel sat to “try” the same set of people against whom the EFCC claimed it had proven cases, and issued a white paper which is expected to have legalized EFCC’s unconstitutional assault on otherwise respectable citizens.
Among the highly respected citizens that EFCC had roped in its controversial “advisory” list was the Kano state governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau. Shekarau’s name got into the list because he allegedly opened bank accounts and built houses overseas. But when Ribadu spoke to Daily Trust of February 27, 2007, he was honest enough to admit that the allegations had no substance.
For lack of something more convincing, they are now raking up a failed fertilizer contract against him, a contract which Ribadu himself absolved Kano State Government of any under-the-table deal. The EFCC Chairman was quoted as having told the BBC Hausa service in October 2004, that “neither governor Shekarau nor any member/official of his government was involved in any shady deal in the fertilizer scandal”. The New Nigerian of October 4, 2004 also quoted Ribadu as having said: “The EFCC has exonerated Kano State government from any misdeeds in respect of the fertilizer contract”.
Back to ANPP, Buhari, and the 2007 general elections; we know how Sokoto governor Dalhatu Bafarawa left the ANPP with some of the party’s influential members and how Bafarawa stands today as a presidential candidate of Democratic Peoples Party (DPP). Bafarawa we would recall, was important enough within ANPP to become interim national chairman during the party’s 2003 presidential primaries. He believed enough in Buhari to support him and did much to see him emerge as the party’s presidential standard-bearer that year.
Today, Bafarawa is not only in an opposite party, he is going to come face to face in direct contest against Buhari come April 21 when the presidential election will hold. This should be food for thought about how badly things have fallen apart in the ANPP and how Buhari, has failed to hold the house together.
When last year the “rumour” got out that Governor Saminu Turaki was going to leave for the Peoples Democratic Party from the ANPP, not many believed the “rumour” would come alive. It did quickly enough and it has now become history.
The more recent case of Kebbi State Governor’s defection from the ANPP to PDP seemed even more difficult to believe when the media first announced that possibility, until it finally happened.
Governor Adamu Aleiro left the ANPP saying he joined PDP because the Federal Government marginalized his State, but anyone who has a little common sense will know immediately that he was being economical with the truth. We know now that he joined PDP because he had become thoroughly fed up with the way ANPP is run.
The ANPP may soon lose Yobe State. It is already thick in the air that Governor Bukar Abba Ibrahim has become doubtful about remaining in ANPP and is having fruitful discussion with the PDP.
Sokoto state has actually already gone from the ANPP. When Bafarawa left for the DPP last year, his former Deputy Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wammako held what remained of ANPP and did a good job of holding it. Curiously, however, Wammako suddenly switched over to the PDP where he will now try his hand at becoming the State Governor, under PDP! This is not a celebration of PDP’s seemingly perfect way of attracting people that matter into its fold. It is instead a lamentation of ANPP’s inability to stand together as one and consolidate on its gains.
In any case, ANPP’s losses are Buhari’s losses. He needs ANPP’s members, to become Nigeria’s next President. The question is how well is he doing to keep the members?
When it became certain last year that TBO was doing more harm to him than good, Buhari reached the decision to ban it. He did this eventually by announcing that it had been collapsed into the ANPP. But TBO is still around. Those who made it unpopular are still very much into their usual way. They derive joy in antagonizing all who can be useful to him, making him feel they mean well; while actually it seems they hold him hostage, driving away support rather than attracting same, to serve their own selfish interests.
The ANPP and Buhari do indeed have a lot to do as the all-important elections draw nearer. This is the time for Buhari, being the party’s national leader as its presidential candidate, to rise up and be father to all. This he can do by unshackling himself from the fanatical( politics of) exclusivity of some TBO members and learning to bring everyone together rather than standing aloof as disintegration threatens the party.
Indabawa lives in Kano.
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