PDP

By Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani

In a democratic setting like ours, leaders are expected to set guiding principles from which followers are expected to learn good conduct and moral behaviour. Sadly, the Bauchi state government is setting a bad precedent, which won’t augur well for the unborn generation.

I was compelled by a video going viral on the internet at the instance of the Bauchi state governor, his commissioners, and top government appointees watching as a car painted with the pictures of APC presidential candidate Bola Ahmad Tinubu, the Bauchi State APC governorship candidate, Ambassador Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar rtd. CFR and his deputy, Aliyu Musa Barden Gabas, were destroyed while they were watching with admiration.

Electoral market volatility makes them susceptible to negative campaigns since “voters have loosened their ties with their party.” Not only that, the people of Bauchi are tired of the misrule of the PDP, yet they resort to diverting attention to their abysmal failure. Education is comatose, infrastructural decay, salary has now become a privilege, pensioners are crying wolf etc.

 As patriotic citizens of Bauchi, we strongly condemn the ruling party’s abysmal attitude. However, it’s expected that they set a pace for the younger generation while noting that Bauchi, as a civilised state is much aware of the happenings in the city. What we desire is a rancorous-free campaign, and we, therefore, urge the APC not to tear the line of the ruling party; let us emphasise to our supporters to shun violence in whatever guise while, at the same time, mobilising people to turn out in mass to vote for the APC at all levels.

As a people-focused grassroots party, APC has continued to champion the cause of issue-based politics while snubbing every temptation by the PDP to lower our standards by joining them in their infamous style of uncouth politics fraught with crass incivility. To put the records straight, Sadique had never been found wanting in such negativity.

As the leading opposition in Bauchi state, we are conscious of our responsibility to be law-abiding and concentrate on the issue-based campaign. We shall do everything possible to discharge that responsibility with total commitment to the rule of law and the sanctity of our nascent democracy. Often, we call on Bauchi State not to be deterred by the lawlessness of the PDP; it’s imperative to use our PVC and send them out of Ramat House because this irresponsibility has no place in our nascent democracy.

The many ills that bedevilled our state include corruption, economic underperformance, abject poverty, and a dysfunctional educational system derived from the action of the ruling PDP. How does a government that benefited from the freedom of expression and association to rise to the highest echelons in the state become so insensitive and uncaring to free campaigns? 2023 we need a purpose-driving and visionary government with a mission to transform the state for the benefit of all and sundry. With Sadique as the 2023 governor, the above is assured. 

Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani writes from Galadima Mahmoud Street, Kasuwar Kaji Azare, Bauchi State.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress, has continued to be criticised over his failure to show up at the ARISE Townhall interactive sessions attended by other presidential candidates on Sunday.

Tinubu has been challenged for being unprepared and incapable of withstanding the rigour and the complex nature of the session.

The main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said Tinubu decided to avoid the debates intentionally because he had nothing to tell Nigerians.

However, addressing some young Nigerians in London, Tinubu said the debate was not an issue, adding that he could have debated from morning till night.

He added, “I am ready to debate with you from morning till night… and I’m speaking in London, not in Jigawa. It is great that you are alive to tell the story, just giving the assurance never to give up…

“Broadband creation, the energy that you talked about.. if they’ve taken our advice.. at the beginning of democracy in 1999, we brought in investment. 

“My Deputy then is here.. and then so many other innovative things….,” he said.

By Muhammadu Sabiu

Yakubu Dogara, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, has rejoined the main opposition party a few days after endorsing the Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar for president. The defection is the latest political move by the lawmaker in his consistent opposition to the same-faith ticket of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

On Monday, the former legislator was welcomed into the party at a rally in Lagos State for the presidential race.

Note that this is coming just 48 hours after Dogara and several irate northern APC officials expressed their support for the former vice president’s presidential candidacy.

This is not the first time the former speaker changed his party, as it’s less than a year since he dumped PDP for APC at the Presidential Villa Abuja.

By Muhammadu Sabiu

Atiku Abubakar, the former vice president and presidential candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), claimed that Nigeria had veered off its path toward unity and prosperity under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement released by his campaign group on Sunday, Atiku said that for Nigeria to be great, it must be inclusive and united.

He continued by saying that a nation needs strong leadership that is willing to carry out the mission if it is to be united.

In the former vice president’s words, the approaching general elections are a rescue operation to save the country’s spirit.

The statement partly reads, “The ruling party, APC, has taken us adrift, and we are far off the course to the purpose of unity and prosperity.

“That is why you and I must work assiduously together to ensure that we recover Nigeria.

“Saving the soul of Nigeria must begin with denying the APC your vote in 2023. They have failed us woefully and must be punished for that.

“But it’s not enough to vote out the APC. We must coalesce into the PDP – the only viable party that has the capacity to dislodge the failed ruling party”.

By Kabiru Danladi Lawanti, PhD

As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lifted the ban on the 2023 elections campaigns, attention has now shifted to analysing candidates’ policies and programmes. In Gombe State, like in many states, the governor seeks a second term. Governor Inuwa Yahaya of the All Progressive Congress (APC) is facing a tough battle with People’s Democratic Party’s Alhaji Jibrin Barde (Danbarde), a former banker turned politician. Danbarde was the first runner-up in the 2018 APC primary and was defeated by the incumbent Governor, Inuwa Yahaya. However, he defected to PDP in 2021, ascribing his action to bad governance in the state.

As the 2023 elections fast approach, the two leading candidates are gearing up to face each other again, not at primaries, but in the murky waters of campaigns and the general election in 2023. Already political permutations and predictions have started flowing from those in support or against the two candidates. With the reconciliation between the Governor and his erstwhile friend turned political enemy – Alhaji Danjuma Goje, many predicted that Inuwa Yahaya would have an easy sail in 2023. Coupled with incumbency and support from a political heavyweight in the state, the Governor seem to have no serious challenge going into the elections.

Things took a new turn some weeks ago when Goje appeared to have scrapped the earlier reconciliation efforts by the APC reconciliation committee weeks before the party’s National Convention. Instead, Goje remains as unpredictable as the weather in recent times. Some political pundits on conventional and social media believe Goje may support Danbarde in 2023. This was very clear when he insisted that all candidates seen as Inuwa’s supporters were to be dropped for his anointed candidates during the primaries. It took the intervention of some party stalwarts at the state and national levels to agree to allow these candidates to participate in the primaries.

However, for politicians, especially those who look to the future of who becomes Governor in 2027 in the state, support for who becomes the Governor in 2023 will be based on the odds for those contesting in 2027. For instance, since the return to democracy in 1999, Gombe state has had four governors, including the incumbent, Inuwa Yahaya. Three of these governors came from the Gombe North Senatorial District. These are Abubakar Habu Hashidu (Dukku LGA), Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo and Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe LGA). Only Danjuma Goje came from Gombe Central (Akko LGA). On the other hand, Gombe South has never produced a governor, though all the deputy governors were from that senatorial district.

Suppose the other Senatorial Districts decided to support the PDP’s Danbarde, and eventually, he becomes the Governor. In that case, it means Gombe Central and Gombe South have to wait for another eight years to have a chance to present a candidate for the number one office. This is also tricky because they may decide to support Inuwa Yahaya, with the understanding that APC may consider zoning the Governorship position to either Gombe Central or Gombe South. Can Gombe South buy this mouthwatering offer and support Inuwa? Others think that Gombe South has nothing to lose on whoever becomes the Governor in 2023, as far as the Governorship position is concerned, because they are assured of the position of Deputy Governor for any election year. It is a tradition maintained by all Governorship candidates in both parties since 1999. 

This may leave only the Gombe Central Senatorial district with a serious dilemma. Already the district’s political heavyweights have started their permutations. Most believe that supporting Danbarde means handing over the number one seat to Gombe North for 18 years. Dankwambo 8 years, Inuwa 8 years and Danbarde 8 years. Therefore, support for Inuwa Yahaya in the forthcoming elections is like a national duty if any of their sons is aiming for the Governorship seat in 2027. The two local governments that made up the senatorial district are crucial and strategic in the state’s political equation. With the state’s highest number and registered voters, they had the highest voter turn-out in the 2019 general elections.

Whatever decision the politicians and the electorates take in the forthcoming elections in 2023, they should remember that it can either make or mar their chances of producing the next Governor in 2027. Therefore, Alhaji Danjuma Goje, Alhaji Usman Bello Kumo, Abubakar Mu’azu, Barrister Idris Umar Abdullahi and other politicians from the district need to look beyond their disagreements and think ahead for the senatorial district. This may sound like another push for regional considerations, but some of these choices usually guide rational choices in politics. While no one can doubt the good performances of Inuwa Yahaya in the last four years, Gombe Central’s support for him goes beyond his perceived performance and anticipation for a more common public good. Therefore, the votes from this senatorial zone should/must be used to negotiate a power shift to the senatorial district.

This is politics.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Things appear to be continuously falling apart in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the party has been unable to resolve its internal crisis.

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State had on Thursday subtly endorsed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi. This has inarguably caused more division in the party.

Governor Wike while playing host to the Labour Party presidential candidate and his running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed in Porthacourt on Thursday, pledged logistics supports for Peter Obi’s campaign.

“Each time you want to campaign in the state, let me know, all the logistics support, we will give to you,” Wike told Obi to the cheers of Obi’s supporters.

Wike who is strong stalwart of the PDP, had fallen out with the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, after he lost the party’s primary election to the latter in May this year.

Three months to the 2023 general election, Wike and four other PDP governors are requesting for the resignation of the party’s national hairman, Iyorchia Ayu. They were reported to have said they will not support Atiku Abubakar if their request is not granted. Unfortunately, neither the party chairman nor the presidential candidate is ready to accede to their demands.

Wike and his allies had argued that it is against equity to have the presidential candidate of the party and the national chairman of the party from northern part of the country.

By Mukhtar Jarmajo

Indubitably, Bauchi State is one of the hottest political spots in Nigeria. With a very volatile electorate, the state has remained one to watch whenever Nigerians are to go to the polls. More so, especially in recent times, the opposition in Bauchi state is hardly passive. In most cases, the government in power is challenged by a strong opposition which, from recent experience, the latter defeats the former at the polls. 

For instance, in 2015, the then-opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated the ruling Peoples` Democratic Party (PDP), culminating in the emergence of M. A. Abubakar as the governor of Bauchi state. And in 2019, the now-ruling PDP succeeded in ousting the APC from power. Such is the case of Bauchi State, where the electorate is apparently democratically well exposed, so much so that the political landscape is as undulating as it is sophisticated.  

And as Nigerians walk to the polls next year, the political temperature in Bauchi state is already rising, with the two main governorship contenders working hard to outdo each other. However, instead of issues to characterize the electioneering campaigns where the government in power will try to convince the electorate that it has performed well, just as the opposition APC will try to show the electorate how the former has not done well, it beats even the wildest imaginations that politicians in the state have resorted to destroying the billboards of their opponents. There is obviously no need for that.

The PDP-led government in Bauchi state can present its performance sheet to the electorate with a view to convincing the people how it delivered all the promises it made ahead of the 2019 governorship election. It should tell the world how it impacted the lives of the people. On the basis of indices, let the world learn how governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed has not failed to transform education, agriculture, healthcare delivery, transportation, roads, security and the civil service in the almost past four years. 

And for the opposition APC, let it convincingly tell the good people of Bauchi state how the PDP-led administration has failed. Also, on the basis of indices, it should prove that it can do better by presenting reasons, amongst which should be the credentials of its standard bearer, Sadique Baba Abubakar. Let the world know how the erstwhile Chief of Air Staff met the Nigerian Air Force in almost the same situation Bauchi state is in today and turned around matters only to leave it a better place. 

In essence, rather than develop primitive tendencies, politicians in Bauchi state can focus on issues so that the electorate can know who is the best and can therefore make informed decisions on election day. After all, democracy is about the people in terms of their well-being and general development. 

Jarmajo wrote from Wuse, Abuja. 

Sule Abubakar Lucky Mark

What aphorism could have more aptly encapsulated Atiku’s socially divisive, searing and bigoted mannerism better than the saying in William Shakespeare’s play – ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ – which goes thus: ‘Would rather be a plain-dealing villain than an honest flattering man.’? By being a ‘plain-dealing villain’, Shakespeare means to be strict and yet upright so that people could even swear that despite your ever-growing strictness, your uprightness is still intact. So, in summary, it means to be a sharp model of rectitude.

And, being ‘an honest flattering man’, on the other hand, means, in a nutshell, to be tactically implicit in your wording so that no one’s ox would ever be gored, i.e., to be politically correct!

And so, I’ve always wondered why Atiku Abubakar, who intends to rule a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country like Nigeria, would be trapped in a circle of ‘honest flattery’ in his political voyage, and the most surprising thing is the fact that he does this without remorse. If you want to rule people, you should instead be a ‘plain-dealing villain’ than an ‘honest flatterer’, for it is in your ‘plain-dealing villainy’ they will know whether you would express deep concern about their collective plight or not in case you eventually become their leader.

On 16 October 2022, in an interactive session, Atiku reportedly told the Northern Elders Forum in Kaduna, ‘…I think what the northerners need is someone who is from the north and also understands the other parts of Nigeria, who has built bridges across the country. This is what a northerner needs. He doesn’t need a Yoruba candidate or an Igbo candidate.’ – Punch newspaper.

Atiku’s geo-ethnic bigotry and supremacism can be likened to what Shakespeare described in the play above as ‘mortifying mischief.’ And this ‘mortifying mischief’ of Atiku, if he is not adequately cautioned for it, could fan the flames of deep cleavage among Nigerians.

A presidential candidate who is said to be a ‘unifier’ should not carelessly shout an ethnic slur on/against other regions. He is expected to strengthen the dwindling bond of our existence and not weaken the already ailing breath of the fatherland. A patriotic ‘unifier’ should not play the ethnic card in the north and play ‘the unifier card’ in other regions. That’s sheer hypocrisy!

In his usual ethnocentric delusion, Atiku has always played ostrich when it comes to pressing national issues. On 12 May 2022, when some homicidal youths took the life of Deborah Samuel at Shehu Shagari College of Education, Atiku quickly posted on his verified Facebook account and condemned the illegal act. Still, after some people threatened that they would not vote for him, Atiku shamelessly removed the condemnatory post he had made earlier. That act alone has a subtle undertone: Atiku is in thrall, and he has no guts to pilot the affairs of this country!

And who knows if William Shakespeare also had Atiku Abubakar in mind when he described one of his characters in that same play: ‘Thou wast ever an obstinate heretic in the despite of beauty.’ In Atiku’s case now, despite his undeniable beauty, seemingly athletic figure, etc., he is still a rash reprobate. And if you are still inwardly an ‘obstinate heretic’, as a man, despite your beauty, especially in contemporary Nigerian society, you cannot be a reliable leader. Your government will be fraught with fabulous fraud and a glittering facade!

At this critical stage of national politics, people must be careful as they make their choices because they are in the hands of manipulative political musketeers who masquerade like angels with their honeyed rhetoric and empty promises. And if Nigerians are not careful, they will later have to find an answer to Birago Diop’s rhetorical question in his poem, which goes thus:‘If we cry roughly of our torments, what hearts will listen to our clamouring’?

Sule Abubakar Lucky Mark sent this article via suleabubakarmark2020@gmail.com.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The All Progressive Congress (APC) in Zamfara said the state government did not shut down media houses but only sealed them for breaking the law. 

The APC Publicity Secretary in the state, Yusuf Idris, clarified this on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily, saying the affected media houses collaborated with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to break the law.

The Daily Reality recalls that Zamfara State Government, through the announcement by its Information Commissioner, Ibrahim Dosara, ordered the immediate shutdown of the affected media houses.  

Since he announced the order, trials have continued to knock the state government over the closure of the broadcast stations in the state.  

Justifying the move, Idris said, “The information reaching you out there is incorrect. What I read from the government is that it sealed the media (houses), not shut down. 

“The government doesn’t have the right to shut down, it only sealed; no going in, no going out. Shutting down means they are not going to operate and cancelling their licenses; this is the responsibility of NBC.”

By Uzair Adam Imam

There has been tension among journalists in Zamfara as the state government shuts down all the federal and private media houses for covering political rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The state’s Commissioner of Information, Ibrahim Magaji Dosara, in a statement made available to journalists, disclosed on Saturday.

Dosara said the state governor, Bello Muhammad Matawalle, also directed the State Commissioner of Police to arrest all pressmen that attended the event.

The Daily Reality gathered that the event was organized by the PDP governorship candidate, Dr. Dauda Lawal Dare.

Several reports indicated that Matawalle earlier announced a suspension of all political activities in the state over the resurgence of insecurity.

However, the PDP went ahead with its inaugural rally which enjoyed media coverage by the affected media.

Radio Nigeria Pride FM Gusau, NTA Gusau, Gamji Television, Vision FM, Al’Umma TV are among the media affected by the order.