By Suleyman Malami Ahmed
Worried by the irregularities observed during the concluded ward and local government congresses of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Bauchi State, former Governor Muhammad Abdullahi Abubakar embarked on a rescue mission to salvage the party from eminent collapse.
He is doing this as a committed party loyalist with interest to chart a new cause for the party and to reclaim its ‘robbed’ mandate of 2019 which was manipulated by some key players within the party, for reasons not clear but not far from hate and other obvious reasons.
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Consequently, because of the desire to protect the party from losing the exalted seat of the governor, M.A Abubakar submitted a petition to the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party challenging the irregularities and anomalies for possible reconciliation, an action which attracted attention and dominated discussions on pages of newspapers, broadcast and social media platforms.
While those at the other end viewed the renewed efforts of M.A Abubakar as a futile exercise aimed at exposing their hidden agenda, many others welcomed it as it will pave way for justice and fairness that could lead the party to bounce back come back to power in 2023.
Although, some stakeholders in the APC project may be surprised at the rationale behind the petition, but it was a deliberate attempt to halt a move by self- acclaimed big wigs who are bent on ruining the party as they did in 2019 and now orchestrating a hatchet plan to cause more devastating havoc by attempting to change the list of party officials and delegates before presenting it to the national secretariat of the party, preparatory for the forthcoming party primaries and the 2023 general elections with the aim of presenting their apologists that can only serve their interest at the detriment of the party and the state.
To put the record straight and without mincing words, APC’s failure during the 2019 general elections was piloted and executed by the so-called major stakeholders within the party through their actions and or inactions by betraying the trust and confidence of President Buhari and the people of Bauchi State.
It could be recalled that the attempt to scuttle the party’s success started in 2019 with a phone call by one of the so- called leaders urging M.A Abubakar, then the serving governor to cancel his scheduled campaign tour to attend a meeting of Bauchi State APC stakeholders called by a cabal.
However, the governor opted to turn down the request based on his position as leader of the party that was not consulted before the said meeting.
He, instead, proceeded with his campaign as planned. It is also regrettable to mention that the former governor was only invited a day to the scheduled meeting through a phone call by a minister which he only saw hours after.
Moreover, M.A Abubakar also avoided another similar meeting organized at the residence of a former governor in view of the fact that he lacked the morale right to host such a meeting, insisting that the right thing must be done in the best interest of the party and the state.
Also several of stakeholders’ meetings were organized and hosted by the said minister without the knowledge or participation of former governor M.A Abubakar.
During such meetings, participants who enjoyed the respect and loyalty of the former governor surprisingly piloted strategies to ensure that M.A Abubakar was side-lined.
Other people that played negative roles were some strong stakeholders from Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa axis that expended huge sums of money to achieve their diabolical mission of dampening the dream of the former governor for his 2nd term bid.
Though the aforementioned instances were just a tip of the iceberg, it was meant to serve as an eye opener to the concern party loyalists and the good people of Bauchi State whose mandate was compromised, and to ensure that due process is adhered to so as to avoid repeating the avoidable and neglected mistakes.
M. A. Abubakar who took the bull by the horn to ensure strict adherence to the party’s constitution and set down procedure, did not take this decision arbitrarily, but with wide consultation with his political associates and loyalists who share the pain of instability of the party in Bauchi State.
It is the fervent prayer and hope of party loyalists, that the APC National Working Committee considers a reverse of the ill mated decision for an appropriate direction by recognizing only party congresses conducted and supervised by INEC officials, National party leaders, the Nigeria Police and the DSS as contained in party rules and regulations.
Ahmed sent in this piece from Bauchi
