By Maxwell Adeyemi Adeleye<\/p>\n
“It is dangerous for politicians to joke with enemies while preparing for
\nelectoral contest. Enemies in politics plot evil against their opponents.
\nAlways be ahead of your opponents in evil. In politics, when you take an
\nelectoral decision and your opponents kicks, just know that the decision
\nis detrimental to their interest. Maneuver your opponents, destroy them by
\nall means necessary” Nicholo Machiavelli opined in his widely read book,
\n“The Prince.”<\/p>\n
The seemingly engineered outrage currently trailing the appointment of
\nformer Governor of Borno State, Senator Alimodu Sherrif as the National
\nChairman of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has further
\nshown that hyperbole is trademarks of the ruling All Progressives Congress
\n(APC).<\/p>\n
The manner the members of the APC are kicking against the appointment of
\nSAS, as Sherif is fondly called by his admirers is enough reason to have a
\nrethink that the emergence of the former Senator may be a threat to the
\nAPC in the core northern part of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The APC supporters and their agents within the ruling PDP have labeled
\nAlimodu Sherrif the founder of the Islamic Fundamentalist Group, Boko
\nHaram that had killed over 20, 000 Nigerians in the Northern part of the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, the present APC members labeling Senator Alimodu Sherrif a
\nfinancier of Boko haram were the one defending him (Sheriff) when PDP,
\nthen as ruling party, slammed the Boko haram tag against the former Borno
\nState Governor.<\/p>\n
Alimodu Sherrif was one of the people that formed the ruling APC. He was
\nin the opposition from 1999 until he had issues with Bola Tinubu’s clan in
\nthe APC in late 2014 over the chairmanship seat of the APC. He campaigned
\nvigorously from the north to the south, east and west of Nigeria to have
\nthe amalgamation of the APC comes to reality.<\/p>\n
As the National Leader of the defunct All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP)
\nthat formed the APC, SAS led three sitting Governors,10 senators and 58
\nHouse of Reps members to team up with the defunct Congress of Progressives
\nChange (CPC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to form the APC.<\/p>\n
All through his days in the opposition ANPP and later the APC, SAS was
\nrestless. His name was ubiquitous. He was the beautiful pride of the then
\nopposition currently ruling Nigeria. When APC was registered in 2013, SAS
\nwas one of leaders of the party that visited former Presidential Olusegun
\nObasanjo in his house at Abeokuta to solicit for his (Obasanjo) support
\nfor the party. The prince of Elkanem Politics led some APC chieftains to
\nYola and Abuja to lobby Atiku Abubakar back to the APC and they succeeded.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, SAS was in Ado-Ekiti in 2014 to campaign for the failed
\nreelection bid of former Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. Senator
\nSherrif was also in Osogbo in August 2014 to mobilize the Hausa Community
\nfor the successful reelection of Rauf Aregbesola as Governor of Osun
\nState.<\/p>\n
All through the aforementioned period, SAS was christened a change agent
\nby the progressives. To them, he was a pan-Nigerian. They vehemently
\ndenied that SAS has nothing to do with Boko Haram. They tagged him a
\nresponsible and perfect gentle man of teetotal. The most interesting part
\nof this scenario is that SAS is married to a daughter of President
\nBuhari’s sister. In fact, Buhari himself handed over the lady, Zainab in
\nmarriage to SAS in 2012. Therefore, I want to ask, did President Buhari
\ngive his late sister’s daughter out in marriage to a Boko haram founder
\nand financier?<\/p>\n
Simply put, my verdict on the hues and cries that has greeted the
\nemergence of SAS in the media space is that the controversial former Borno
\nState Governor is arguably a treat to the survival of the APC in the
\nNorth.<\/p>\n
As Nicholo Machiavelli posited in The Prince, political tacticians should
\nalways think ahead of their opponents. PDP has caught APC red handed by
\nunleashing a controversial character like Alimodu Sheriff against it to
\ngalvanize the North.<\/p>\n
Today, the name SAS rings bell among the core Northerners. The noise about
\nBoko Haram only exists in the imagination of those in the south,
\nespecially the western Nigeria that controls the media. The average people
\non the streets of Minna, Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe, Maiduguri, Damaturu,
\nKatsina, Kano, Yola, Jalingo, Dutse etc cares not about what those in the
\nsouth are saying about SAS.<\/p>\n
To the almajiris, SAS is their leader whom they so much trusts and believe
\nin. Today, after President Buhari, the only leader who does not need money
\nto gather one million people together within an hour in the core north is
\nSenator Alimodu Sherrif. The APC knows this and that’s why they are
\nkicking.<\/p>\n
The rumor of Sherif\/Fayose ticket in 2019, if true, may wreck the APC and
\nthat’s why they are having a sleepless night about who PDP members
\nappoints as their chairman. Today, Fayose is like a brand selling like
\nSachet water in the south south and south eastern parts of Nigeria and
\nOndo and Ekiti axis of South West Nigeria. Fayose may also deliver Oyo
\nState to PDP if he plan well. The APC leaders are aware of this obvious
\nfact and that’s why they are using the media in their usual manner to
\ntwists the thoughts of Nigerians towards their interest.<\/p>\n
Senator Alimodu Sherrif is a controversial figure just like Governor Ayo
\nFayose of Ekiti State but there’s no man that will make history that won’t
\nbe controversial. There’s no man that ever made history in the political
\nparlance anywhere in the word that is not controversial. The triumph of
\nObama in the United States was controversial. The historical victory of
\nBuhari over Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 was enmeshed in deep controversies.
\nThe continuous reign of my beloved Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s clan in Lagos
\nState has been with gregarious controversies.<\/p>\n
Prior to 2015 general elections, the APC applied Machiavelli’s approaches
\nagainst PDP and triumphed. Now, the PDP is repeating similar trait using a
\ndifferent format, fronting Fayose and Alimodu Sherrif. Anyone willing to
\ndefeat the current APC must always be at alert. You cannot joke with APC
\nas presently constituted and succeed. The APC only think of evil while
\npreparing for elections. Thus, they are shocked that PDP is thinking
\nfaster than them in the game of evil machinations. The have been caught
\nunaware.<\/p>\n
Consequently, when ever APC supporters say the duo of Sherrif and Fayose
\nare criminals, my response has always been that Sherrif, a Boko Haram
\nFounder and Fayose, a criminal in the midsts of progressives because the
\nduo were once supporters of APC’s programs and policies branded as Change
\nAgents.<\/p>\n