Leadership (Abuja)
Ibrahim Garba Azare
13 January 2009
opinion
Since Malam Isa Yuguda's decamping from the People's Democratic Party, PDP, and his subsequent overwhelming victory at the polls on the platform of All Nigeria People's Party, ANPP, in the April 2007 gubernatorial elections, well-meaning members of the PDP nationwide have experienced a deep sense of loss - loss of a charismatic member, a man of the people.
Hence, they have been calling on him to return to the party. And lately the voices are on the increase, especially within Bauchi State chapter of the party. In fact, even some of those who decamped with him are now whispering to the governor on the need for him to return. But will Yuguda listen to these voices, considering the humiliation he suffered in the hands of Dr. Ahmadu Ali the then PDP National Chairman and Former Governor Adamu Muazu which led to his defection? Answering this question will require going back to the genesis of the problem and closely examining the factors that led to his change over, and the resultant present political order in Bauchi State.
It all began with Yuguda's succumbing to presure from his close associates to aspire to contest the governorship of Bauchi State after series of frustration and intimidation he and his political associates received from his friend, the Former Governor, Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Mu'azu. Normally, this should be considered as a legitimate ambition, but the fact of the matter is that, the then Governor was not only rampage with his clique in the State but were playing God. This was the underlying reason behind the decision of Yuguda to contest. Not only was Yuguda's intention viewed with suspicion, but various underground tactics were employed to prevent him from realizing his dream. First, he was unceremoniously booted out of his ministerial office while on tour outside the country. Then he was prevented from renewing his party registration. In his words; "I went to Bauchi to renew my party registration but learnt of a directive from the state headquarters not to register me or any of my political associates. In fact, I only got my party card in the early hours of December 4, 2007, the very day the delegates election was due." At the same time, the state's party treasurer, the party chairman in his local government area and several others were removed for identifying with him.
Yet, Yuguda refused to be intimated. He went ahead to seek for nomination as gubernatorial candidate. And that was when he got the greatest shock of his life. The PDP's screening panel did not only refuse to collect the photocopy of his nomination form in accordance with the party's rules, it also disqualified him. The provisional clearance certificate issued to him by the panel on December 6, 2007, stated that he had not been cleared on the grounds that "he had no evidence of indigeneship and no original tax clearance certificate." Furthermore, the panel accused him "of anti-party activities and disregard for constituted authority and that his actions and utterances had put the leadership of the party in disrepute."
To clear himself of what he described as unfounded allegations and prove to the world that the panel was only giving him a bad name in order to disqualify him; Yuguda organized a press conference shortly after the screening exercise. At the conference, he circulated copies of the indigeneship certificate that he submitted to the panel. The certificate, which was issued by the chairman of Bauchi Local Government on May 18, 1993, referred to a letter received from the District Head of Bauchi town, sent three days earlier, which confirmed he was a native of Bauchi. That confirmed that the requirement of the party was satisfied.
As regards tax clearance, Yuguda also presented his tax clearance certificate issued by the Abuja office of Federal Inland Revenue Service, showing he had been up-to-date in his tax payments. Besides, since his graduation from the University,he has been an employee on PAYE and the Tax clearance certificate was to end in December, 2006. And in the case of the allegation of anti-party activities, Yuguda dismissed it as an unfounded allegation, cooked up by those who had conspired to prevent him from running for the governorship seat, considering the fact that at no time was he given a query, warned or suspended for an act that was considered inimical to the interest of the party. Beside he had paid his contribution to the party at the State, Zonal and National level as at when due.
Events before and after the screening saga were a clear testimony to the conspiracy theory. For instance, when Yuguda went to visit Bauchi shortly after leaving the ministerial position, Bauchi State government under the leadership of Mu'azu, sent over 1,000 security agents to go and disperse the teeming crowd that had come to welcome him back home. When he arrived in Bauchi in a plane, the governor directed that the control tower should not allow him land there but be directed to Jos airport. The plane however landed to Bauchi in line with aviation regulation. And thereafter,The Governor began to deal with all the Party officials and Members that went to receive him. All sorts of persecutions were meted out to Yuguda and those who dared to associate with him.
To cap it all, when Yuguda attended the PDP's national fund raising dinner in Abuja a day before he appeared before the screening panel in Bauchi, he sat at the one million naira a plate table and when President Obasanjo came round to the table he was visibly surprise at seeing Yuguda there. The President tried to recover by asking Yuguda to collect donations from the table and bring them over to him. Malam Isa later discovered the reason why the president was surprised to see him was because he was earlier on informed by Ahmadu Ali that Isa Yuguda had decamped to AC!, as Chief Toni Anenih challenged Ahmadu Ali there and then on his false allegation to the hearing of those setting around them. Ahmadu Ali responded by saying that Yuguda had changed his mind.
It did not entirely surprise Malam Isa Yaguda that Colonel Ali bore false witness against him. Earlier in the 2006, when an armed attack took place at Yuguda's Abuja residence and was foiled by his police guards, Ali told newsmen in Bauchi that no such attack took place and that Yuguda made up the story. When the former minister protested, Ali privately denied that, he made the statement, but refused to make a public clarification. The matter was then reported to Obasanjo, who, in the presence of several party chieftains, including PDP national secretary Ojo Maduekwe, advised Colonl Ahmadu Ali to beware of his utterances, lest he cause security problems in the country. The strange action of the screening panel merely confirmed a pattern.
While this was going on, several attempts were made at reconciling Yuguda and Mu'azu but to no avail. The then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, tried to reunite them on four occasions the last of which was on the 8th of May 2006. The Emir of Katagum, the oldest Emir in Bauchi State, also tried to reconcile the two, but all in vain. Even a personal attempt by Yuguda at reconciliation was rebuffed by Mu'azu. And the conspiracy against Yuguda graduated to physical attack; several attempts were made on his life. As Yuguda himself put it in an interview in the Weekly Trust edition of April 7, 2007; "Many attempts have been made on my life and up to this time they are still hunting. They have sent their assassins after me; they are just waiting for the convenient spot to eliminate me..."
Despite the possibility of death by assassins, Yuguda had gone ahead to pursue his political ambition. And since it was no longer possible for him and his associate to contest primaries the PDP, he and his followers switched over to ANPP which was one of the several political Parties that approached him. He appeared before the ANPP's screening panel and passed without any difficulty. In fact, at the close of nomination, he was the only candidate vying for the party's governorship seat in the state, the other aspirants having stepped down for him.
His entry into the party became a huge blessing as it became energized. Defectors from PDP across the state were massively registered into the party. And there began an exciting political adventure for Malam Isa Yuguda and his teeming supporters - those who defected from PDP with him and those who had been in ANPP.
While it was an exciting time for Yuguda, however, it was a desperate time for Mu'azu. In his desperation, he devised various means to stop the train. One of such moves was an appeal to the traditional rulers to call Yuguda to 'order'. He invited all the Emirs in the state and requested them to call on Yuguda to drop his political ambition and that if he refused to listen to them, they should write to the then President Obasanjo alleging that he was constituting a security risk in the state and was not fit to be governor. But the royal fathers did not buy the idea. Then he devised yet other tactics, including attempts to prevent Yuguda from carrying out his electioneering campaigns. Even the presidential candidate of ANPP, General Muhammadu Buhari, was not spared in Mu'azu's design to stop Yuguda and ANPP as a whole. For instance, shortly after the presidential candidate was granted an approval to campaign round the state, Mu'azu gave an order restricting him to Bauchi town only.
On seeing the mass support the entire citizens of Bauchi State had for Yuguda, he sought for and got the support of his friend Ribadu the then Chairman of EFCC to by all means indict Yuguda for anything he can lay his hand on. Ribadu framed Yuguda through his hatched man who hails from Yobe State and recently in Police net. The Panel set up by President Obasanjo cleared Yuguda to the disgraced of both Muazu and Ribadu.
Yet, ANPP was unstoppable due to the overwhelming support Yuguda enjoyed from the people. Excited by his popularity, Yuguda had declared in one of his press interviews before the election that he could win gubernatorial election in any party of his choice. "I believe that my people will vote for ANPP not only for its programmes but because Isa Yuguda will be contesting the election under its banner. They know that wherever I am I will uphold the ethics of equity and justice irrespective of whose ox is gored." He added in the same interview that, "I have never wanted to become governor of Bauchi State at all costs. It is the people's desire that I should vie for that position." This indeed is no empty boast. The proof of these statements is a general knowledge that even his opponents cannot deny. In 1999 when political parties were being formed, Yuguda was one of those who helped to raise PDP to its present status nationally. In fact, with the full backing of his supporters, he spearheaded the 1999 political battle that earned PDP its victory in the polls. It was no wonder, therefore, that he was rewarded with a ministerial appointment.
And when circumstances forced him to join the ANPP, his popularity and charismatic leadership stood him in good stead. His emergence on the political scene of the ANPP in the state became a rallying point for all those who have the development of the state and indeed the nation at heart. And so when the people's power began to speak, sweeping across the entire state, those who did not belong could not but watch the political tsunami helplessly. At the end of the day, ANPP swept the gubernatorial seat and the two declared senatorial seats. And to add insult to injury, the party also won the home local government of Mu'azu with 48,460 votes to 35,451 votes. What's more, Mu'azu lost his senatorial bid to the ANPP candidate.
might say. But in spite of the unprecedented victory, Yuguda remained cool-headed, forgiving his opponents and promising to run an all-inclusive government if the opponents were willing to work with him. In his words; "If I see anybody that can add value to my government, I should be able to accommodate him... I should be able to have a large heart to accommodate everybody as long as they are going to be loyal to the people and to the government." His government, he added, would never frustrate, witch-hunt, intimidate or discriminate against anyone or prevent them from benefiting from his administration.
His attitude towards PDP and its leadership has been cordial and respectful. He has been having positive interaction with the PDP members. In fact, he received a congratulatory message from the leadership of the party as soon as he was declared winner. And since then the relationship has been cordial. According to him; "They have opened up their heart to me and I will certainly open up my heart to them... We should work and cooperate to build our state together rather than insist that we are enemies."
So, given this cordial relationship with PDP and the fact that Yuguda had left the party not out of volition but due to unbearable circumstances, is there any possibility that he would return to the party? Yuguda himself had attempted answering this question personally in a press interview; "If it is possible that I would be in the PDP tomorrow, maybe the environment would be created for me to leave ANPP and go back..."
In view of the facts examined above, taking into consideration the genesis and the eventual outcome of the crisis that led to his leaving the PDP, Yuguda has the political and moral rights to get back to base. For, in the first place, he was instrumental to the growth of the party and the party was in turn instrumental to his political beginnings, and by implication, his present position. He is among the three longest serving Ministers of the Government of Obasanjo which confirmed his credibility in the Government then. Moreover, as he himself had pointed out in a press interview, one of the reasons why he went over to the ANPP was to provide a political platform for his followers who were then being victimized by some PDP members because of him. In that case, therefore, it is only morally right for him to return them to their chosen party now that the condition that necessitated their decamping is no longer there. And he can only do so by returning to the party himself. This in return would attract federal presence in terms of development and unite the different political class in Bauchi.
Ibrahim Garba Azare is of No 22 GRA Azare
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