Imagine a political powerhouse that will have arisen out of a Kwankwaso/Ganduje common unity
By Abdullahi Usman Yelwa
The judgement, on Friday, of a court in Birnin Kebbi, on the legality of the APC state Executive Council has brought to an end a crisis that needed a court judgement to avert a long drawn battle which has the potential to divide the party along very dangerous intra-party partisan lines.
With this judgement, it has become expedient and necessary to draw attention on the need for the two sides to sheath their sword and bury all differences in order to forge a common front to confront opponents as 2023 inches closer.
The Adamu Aliero side of the divide appeared to be the vanquished in this matter, having lost a chance to control the levers of power if the court had pronounced them victors. To a discerning mind however, the rift which gave rise to the debacle should be seen as a family feud which arose out of the legitimate desire by the two sides to win the case to control the party. As a family matter and as a legitimate struggle for space, I will rather look at the court judgment as a ‘’no victor, no vanquished’’ in the real sense of it.
Now that a judgement has been passed and it has gone the way it did, time has come for Senator Adamu Aliero to look at the bigger picture, use his famed foresight and eschew all forms of bitterness by accepting the magnanimity of the Governor Atiku Bagudu side which had since extended a hand of brotherhood, to team up and work together to advance the cause of the party as the country heads into a general election which promises to further cement APC’s stranglehold on the polity if it gets into the battle with all the unity it can muster.
Of course, the temptation is there for the Adamu Aliero side to feel aggrieved and therefore feel justified to begin to look at other options. To me, this is more of an escapist strategy which will only compound the problem for both sides and render them vulnerable to losing grip and therefore finding it more difficult to remain relevant in the long run. What I am trying to say is that the two sides are better together because both Senator Aliero and Governor Bagudu have come a long way together and what they have been able to achieve together has proved that the future will be spacious enough to accommodate the desires, interests and relevance of each other and the retinue of their followers.
To begin with, Governor Bagudu has shown, in the way he has tolerated all manner of insults directed at his person, that he is large hearted enough to provide the leadership required to bring stability to the kind of political journey that lay ahead. On his part, Senator Aliero has paid his dues in all ramifications and is seen, justifiably, as the compass and the beacon to a better tomorrow in the state.
It is interesting to look at the history of politicians who were once in the current situation Aliero has found himself and see how a wrong and hasty decision of leaving their original party on the basis of ‘’family feud’’ led to very disastrous outcomes. You remember Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso – the popular architect of Kano Renaissance who started the process of making Kano truly great.
Kwankwaso got angry at perceived injustices in the APC which he labored to build along others. He rushed out of the party and headed for the PDP with his supporters where he erroneously thought he will get a better deal. After spending seven wasted years in the PDP, today Kwankwaso is tinkering with the idea of jettisoning all the investment he has made in the PDP and may end up joining a nondescript party, in what looks very much like another jaded misadventure that may rubbish a stellar political career that took him a lifetime to build. If he had arisen beyond the ordinary permutations and had remained in the APC – regardless of the perceived injustices, he will have retained his lofty heights as a consistent, principled and bridge building politician. History will have been kinder and all these clumsy cross carpetings and their messy outcomes will have been avoided.
Imagine a political powerhouse that will have arisen out of a Kwankwaso/Ganduje common unity. No political force in Kano would have withstood the hurricane.
The same scenario is about to play out in Kebbi if, instead of rising beyond human frailties, Aliero allowed his head to spin out of control and feels his interest will better be served elsewhere other than the APC he had spent time, energy and fortune to build.
It is not late for reason to prevail. Both Bagudu and Aliero can overcome this temporary problem and forge ahead in unity. In all of these, it is the interest of Kebbi state and its people that should preoccupy its leaders. I am not disputing the fact that Aliero is justified to feel wronged. It may well be the case. But if you look at what the consequences will be to the future of Kebbi state vis a vis the implication to the development of the state, one will be forced to call for caution. We should not throw away the baby with the birth water.
