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Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar Rimi was until recently the national Vice Chairman of Action Congres, AC in charge of North West. Before then, Rimi was one of the 34 founding members- christened G34, of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. It was quite clear that Rimi along with more than twenty other members of G34 including Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar were frustrated out of the party by dictator Olusegun Obasanjo as soon as he realized that they were not going to give support to his tenure elongation in office plans. I consider it necessary to give this background so that one can clearly see some sense in Rimi’s sojourn back to his party.
However, I am of the firm belief that Rimi had in the course of leaving a party he founded along with others abused the hell out the party and its members. He called them names that I personally consider unprintable and climax it with a pledge that he will never look its way. One then begins to wonder what the PDP has now become that makes it attractive in the eyes and conscience of Rimi warranting a sudden change of principle. Or can one say Rimi has joined the fray of unprincipled politicians of our time? Politicians whose major interests are not people’s development but what goes into their accounts?
Some of us who admire Rimi’s kind of politicks of development, ideas, and progressiveness during the Peoples Redemption Party, PRP days in the late 1970’s now begin to wonder where to place our once role model in politicks. The degeneration of Rimi into becoming a cash and carry politician is not only worrisome but can be said to be a political suicide to all his supporters and colleagues who along with late Aminu Kano fought that kind of politicks tooth and nail.
However, the only consolation one can get from Rimi’s political suicide of shameless rejoining the party of ‘massive rigging and other electoral offences’ is that Kano people in particular and Nigerians in general have re appraised his electoral history fortune (or is it misfortune?) since his debut into politicks in the first republic when he was elected a member of the house of representatives courtesy of Late Aminu Kano’s goodwill of using his acceptance to have credible candidates represent people not necessarily from those areas. The point has to be made here and now. Rimi has never on his own merit got voted into office or got somebody elected into public office. Lets talk of Rimi’s resignation as a PRP Governor of the then Kano State in 1983 to contest the same office under the Nigeria Peoples Party, NPP. Rimi, despite his acknowledged performance in office as Governor, lost woefully to the Late Senator Sabo Bakin Zuwo, a semi illiterate. Since then Rimi’s political value which was hitherto rated very high, has been on the decline. All his NPP candidates at the national and state assembly elections in 1993 also followed suite and failed woefully.
Rimi then called ‘limamin chanji’ or leader of change, in a desperate attempt to redeem his declining image in the eyes of his supporters and other political watchers across the country, joined the leftist party, Social Democratic Party during the General Ibrahim Babangida military regime political programme. He tried at all cost to get his SDP Governorship, other state and national assembly candidates elected into office but again failed. His SDP candidate was defeated hands down by an unknown and new entrant into politicks, Architect Kabiru I. Gaya of the rightist National Republican Convention, NRC.
Also in 199, Rimi fielded Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, a very close friend of the military over the years in Nigeria, to contest the PDP Governorship primaries against with Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. Kwankwaso defeated Rimi’s candidate but Kwankwaso was magnanimous enough to accept Ganduje as his running mate. Having fallen out of Governor Kwankwaso’s favours and unable to wrestle the party’s governorship ticket in 2003 from Kwankwaso Rimi decided to used all his political war arsenals at his disposal to fight and finish Kwankwaso. Well, as fate had it, Kwankwaso was defeated at the polls by a new entrant into partisan politicks and class teacher Ibrahim Shekarau. Even though his defeat was not in any way due to Rimi’s efforts but due to the support and endorsement given by the new mass movement of ‘ sai mai gaskiya’ otherwise known as Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari, Rimi still had the consolation that a fellow party member, Kwankwaso had lost his bid to retain power as Governor.
Another case of reference on Rimi’s zero political value is the recent elections in Kano state in April this year where his AC Candidate Usman Sule Ririwai failed to even come second. He came a distant third largely because he was Rimi’s candidate and Kano people have pledged that no matter what Rimi will never live to his candidates get elected into office. To confirm to Nigerians that Rimi has turned self centred and greedy, Rimi insisted that primaries must not be conducted in almost all positions AC was going into for the April 2007 elections. He just undemocratically offered tickets to his favourites despite protests by party men and women. Even one of his sons was offered an AC ticket to contest elections into the House of Representatives. The people in the constituency, like in all others rejected him and voted for other parties candidates.
It is now a widely accepted view that Rimi’s political fortune and value are on the decline on a daily basis simply because a number of his supporters have come to the harsh conclusion that he is now a cash and carry politician and not one who has the interest of his people at heart.
The summary of all of these examples is that Rimi’s pedigree is one of mass mobilsation of the populace to accept his political ideology as an accomplished politician. Regrettably however, Rimi’s mobisation begins and end in having an array of supporters whose political value is zero. On the surface, Rimi seem to have millions of supporters queuing up behind him during political campaign rallies but who will 100% vote against Rimi’s candidates at all election levels. This had happened even in his House of Representatives constituency in the last election where his son on the AC platform was defeated by an ANPP candidate.
Rimi had never won an election on his merit. He had never led a party to victory in his political career so far. He was a political parasite and liability in PRP. He was also a liability to the defunct SDP. So was he in PDP and later in AC. One major contribution Rimi had so far brought to Kano politicks is instituting a big crack in the leadership and follower ship of politicians in the state. Rimi, in a paper in 1983 titled ‘the ideology of the progressives’ in a book-‘TOWARDS A PROGRESSIVE NIGERIA’ edited by Asikpo Essien-Ibok, he warned all progressives in the country against committing political suicide based on greed and self centredness. According to him, the aim of the progressives in Nigeria then, now and forever is for them to present a programme for the transformation of the society in the interest of the workers and peasants of Nigeria. One wonders if Rimi is convinced in his mind that the PDP he had just returned to is capable of doing this since it is every Nigerians conviction that the party is more of a rightist conservative and tyrannical group of greedy and autocratic Nigerians.
I was surprised to see a prominent journalist turned politician from Kano state, Ujudud Sharif in his column in Daily Trust of October 30, 2007 titlted ‘PDP: The return of Rimi’ in which he described Rimi as ‘a constant denominator in Kano’s politicks to the extent that when he sneezes, the state and the nation catch cold’. This shows that either Ujudud has been commissioned to do the damage reputation job for Rimi for his sudden return to PDP which did not go down well with most of his supporters or he had deliberately done so for some ulterior motives which may one day come to the fore. UI however quite agree with Ujudud’s assertion that Rimi’s return to the PDP has set Kano PDP for the revival and birth of fresh crisis since the battle for the control of the party between him and Kwankwaso will be a do or die affair. Kwankwaso like his master Obasanjo will make it a real doe or die politicks while Rimi is also ready to by all means take over the party.
Even the National Publicity Secretary of AC, Lai Mohammed had recently described Rimi’s exit as good omen since his exit will not in any way affect the fortunes of the party. It is important to here and now restate the fact that Rimi’s ouster from the party is more of a curse than a blessing. He has thrown to the dogs politicks of decency, morality and conscience. I also quite agree with the view expressed by one Barrister Rafindadi Mohammed in his opinion titled ‘ Rimi: a political merchant or jungle politician?’ in Gamji online recently and also add that Rimi is now using politicks as a merchandise and in addition using thuggery and intimidation to achieve his selfish and parochial ends.
I have no doubt in my mind that the real driving force and motive of Rimi committing political suicide at this point in time will sooner or later come to light. It is assumed that President Yar’adua is no fool at forty. He has the capacity to read in between the lines politicians’ pledge of loyalty and support
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