*By Abba Adakole*
Some commentators have said it times without count that the All
Progressives Congress (APC), the only party of progressives, is another
side of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) coin, but I have often disagreed
without going public with these commentators. However, recent happenings
are giving me cause for concern.
First, it was Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, but I concluded that his case was
good riddance, because I was never comfy with the man, having been named,
rightly or wrongly, as one of those that created the monster that is
ravaging the north east of the country. But in the case of Nuhu Ribadu, I
came to the sober conclusion that something may indeed be wrong with the
APC, or it is really no different from the PDP.
If I had any doubts about the accusation against Sheriff, a recent comment
by APC’s All Progressives Youth Forum said it all. It disclosed that it
would hold a nationwide ‎thanksgiving with special Sunday church service in
churches and Jumma’at prayers in Mosques over the defection of former
Governor of Borno State to the PDP.
Chairman of the group, Ismail Ahmed, in a statement, said the group
received news of the planned defection of Sheriff with so much joy, saying
the former Governor’s exit from the APC was the best thing that happened to
the life of the party. The Forum said it had conducted very serious
investigations about all the games in trying to attach a bad name to the
APC locally and internationally and “found out that the PDP uses sponsored
commentators in Nigeria to link Sheriff with Boko Haram, rightly or
wrongly, and because he was a chieftain of the APC, it was easy to sell
that to Nigerians using the media.”
But Sheriff himself is singing a different tune in explaining his departure
from the APC and relationship with Boko Haram. “Our interest should be on
what makes the nation move forward. My decisions will be guided by the
interest of the nation first. My thinking of moving to the PDP is also in
the interest of the nation. We believe that every time, as a leader who
leads people, you should advise them on the right course of action,” he
said.
He added that whatever information he had on Boko Haram with benefit of his
having governed Borno, he had forwarded to security agencies. He said, “I
am not a security man or personnel. Whatever that, as a civilian, I can do,
using my position as the chief executive of the state for eight years, what
I have seen during my tenure I will contribute to the security agencies
through whom I got the information.
“What you have to understand is that this country is a big country and
Borno State is a difficult state from any other state in Nigeria. Borno has
the biggest land mass bordering Niger, Chad and Cameroon. It is an open
border. Borno is not like the Republic of Benin with only one entrance into
Nigeria. In Borno, you can enter from 20 different points into the country.
Therefore, you need a perfect understanding of the terrain. You need
every knowledge that any politician has, particularly any politician that
operated in Borno State. That is all we can contribute for now.â€
What irks most about the APC’s Forum position was the strenuous effort it
made to tie the Boko Haram’s noose around Sheriff, forgetting that it was
accentuating the argument that the former Senator and Governor put this
group together when he was part of the opposition parties that formed APC.
In effect the group confirmed all the accusations against the APC.
I do not wish to comment about Femi Fani-Kayode who has become more of an
albatross on the party’s neck because the party mismanaged the relationship
with him and others. But Nuhu Ribadu’s matter disturbs so much, because
like his “former” friend, Nasir el-Rufai, he was a beautiful bride APC
should have done all to keep. Sadly, the Party lost him to the PDP.
From being a presidential aspirant, he now wants to govern his native
Adamawa State, where another of APC’s governors, or turncoats from the PDP,
Murtala Nyako, so mismanaged the State he was booted out. In response to
this move Nasir el-Rufai made one of the most blasphemous of statements of
all time against Islam. A loudmouth who should still be in mourning had
this to say on Twitter, “I will only consider the choice of defection to
the People Democratic Party (PDP) when Satan repents and converts to Islam.
I will consider the option; then reject it.â€
Why APC allowed men like this into its midst must still rankle it. If
el-Rufai is a good Muslim as he claims, then the repentance of Satan into
his religion is not good enough for him? He has again insulted the
sensibilities of Muslims just as he did to Christians a short while ago. It
is known that he joined the APC because he was about to be nailed by his
former friends in the PDP, but must he always speak before thinking? Must
he set the APC up with the Muslims as he did with the Christians? APC
leaders should quickly tell him to reconsider his thoughtless fanaticism or
be shown the way out.
Back to Ribadu! When he said he had left the APC, a statement was credited
to him in which he lashed out at the turncoat governors now giving the APC
sleepless nights. He quickly denied it on his Facebook page, suggesting
that politics was not going to make him lose his friends in the APC, but
this appeared unsatisfactory and they took him to the cleaners, if a
statement ascribed to the Rivers APC is anything to go by.
Apparently looking out for Governor Rotimi Amaechi, the Rivers Chapter
thundered that his defection was a political suicide, and his denial on his
page was not one in the true sense. The Rivers APC went further: “Ribadu’s
outburst is very unfortunate and borne out of ignorance of what the
antecedents of Amaechi are. It is on record that during the days of Chief
Rufus Ada George as Governor of Rivers State, he offered Amaechi
appointment as one of his Commissioners but Amaechi declined and instead
nominated his cousin, Sir Celestine Omehia, whom George appointed as the
Commissioner for Education.
“This does not in any way indicate somebody who is hungry for power. While
Amaechi, like Ribadu, has exercised his constitutional right to seek
election as Governor, his feats, which he rightfully attributes to the
grace of God, conclusively prove that he never sought office due to hunger
for power but, rather, in order to render service and make the society a
better place.
“This is in direct contrast to the conduct of Mallam Ribadu, who after
being the presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria
in 2011, has now stooped so low to buy PDP gubernatorial form to contest
the governorship of Adamawa State thereby committing a political suicide
and if we still know PDP very well, Ribadu will surely regret this unwise
step in a matter of few weeks. And to think that this is the same PDP
which Ribadu once described as a den of thieves! So between Amaechi and
Ribadu, who should rightly be accused of being hungry for power?”
In this classic case of political brickbats, the APC continues to show the
world that it is a bunch of unthinking politicians that cannot be trusted
six months to elections. The earlier the Party gets its acts together, the
better, else, it is just the other side of the PDP coin. May be the APC
should all collapse into the PDP and save the country the tension it is
enmeshed in. Head or tail, APC and PDP are all the same.
–
*Mr Adakole contributed this piece from Abuja.*