Sequel to a piece which appeared in the Daily Trust of Saturday, February 18, 2017 with the caption quoted above, which made an interesting reading to political followers of the immediate-past governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko and his political “godson”, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, one feels there is need to further buttress the issues raised on why the relationship between the godfather and the god-son dated back to decades of political respect has remained so cordial and why it will wax stronger in the years to come.
The political alliance between the two is not a mere bond that political hangers-on can easily take advantage of, therefore, as the Daily Trust reporter said in the second paragraph of her analysis, “it came amid assumptions that the two were falling apart with many pundits alleging that Tambuwal was bent on dismantling the political structures of his predecessor”, why would Tambuwal dismantle a platform which gave him the ticket on a platter of gold? If he did that, which platform is he going to use for his next political campaign either locally or nationally as the case maybe? As aptly captured by the reporter, that assumption will remain even though there are political opponents of both Wamakko and Tambuwal who want to see that happen so that they would capitalise on it for selfish political reasons.
The reporter went further by saying; “Some were even with the opinion that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state was polarized with a large portion loyal to Wamakko and the other loyal to Tambuwal”. There is no doubt about that but they should not forget that even Tambuwal is loyal to Wamakko because he made the APC not only in Sokoto what it is today but the entire North-west was his constituency as the zonal coordinator before the 2015 elections and it is the only zone out of the six that gave Buhari a 100% mandate. Apart from ensuring that Sokoto is dominated by the APC, he also ensured same in Kebbi State where he used his political machinery in settling the row within the party shortly before the general elections.
It should be noted that for every political structure to withstand the test of time, it needs a man with political calculations who has mastery of the game and that politician in Sokoto is Wamakko who as a deputy- governor suffered political persecution for almost seven years under Bafarawa and yet came out victorious despite all the political scheming to edge him out. The Wamakko political structure was not built in this contemporary political era but was established right from the Second Republic and it would be fool-hardy for pundits to merely imagine that it will easily crumble. Senator Wamakko who began the 1999 journey as a deputy-governor was the only deputy who succeeded his boss even though his boss, just like most of the governors at that time, did everything to stop him but failed. Wamakko as a governor between 2007 and 2015 was also the only governor to be elected three times as a result of litigations.
For a politician who has come this far, allying with him for political fortunes by other politicians is a way of learning the politics of survival because it takes a politician with strong character like that of Wamakko to sustain political dominance and relevance. At the reception which the reporter mentioned, Gov Tambuwal extolled the virtues of his predecessor as “a father to all who is worthy of emulation”. He further stated that the award given to Wamakko by the Gwandu Emirate Council was for the entire people of the state because Wamakko had proved to be a loving and caring father who is seen as a role model for other politicians to emulate.
The reporter concluded the piece by giving the reader a political background of how Tambuwal rode to a national hero status as House Speaker who went through series of persecutions and how he rode on the back of the Wamakko structure to become the governor of Sokoto State. It reminded me of the analysis on the governorship aspirants I did in 2014 in which I predicted the emergence of Tambuwal to succeed Wamakko. Having carefully studied all the aspirants both in the APC and the PDP, Tambuwal appeared at that time to have the best political credentials even though not the best in terms of political experience. The then deputy-governor, Barr. Mukhtari Shagari, had the best chance to succeed Wamakko but his minus was lack of building bridges ability, especially “human capacity wise”. He failed to emulate the virtues his boss used in 2007 by reaching out to the high and low, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, royalty and the ordinary. In politics, you do not undermine or under-rate a single voter because he counts and that was the magic Wamakko used to become the god-father of Sokoto politics.
Gov Tambuwal is lucky to have Wamakko as a political god-father, adviser, mentor and above all, a political pillar willing to back him in his political journey. Although, the Daily Trust reporter ended her piece by projecting that the build up to the 2019 election would see alignments and re-alignments and that would determine who is where and what is for who. The piece also said it was too early to say that the Sokoto story was rosy as we journey through the second stanza of this administration. In politics, the overall interest is winning and already, both Wamakko and Tambuwal have proved that the unity between them is beyond 2019, therefore, those pundits would always be proved wrong. In a citation to honour Tambuwal in 2011 at the Sokoto State Polytechnic, Wamakko, then a governor, had this to say: “Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal requires no introduction neither here at home nor beyond the shores of our borders. He has impressively lived up to the confidant expectations of not only his colleagues but indeed fellow Nigerians with his calm and responsible leadership of the House in a manner that has strengthened our democratic dispensation and deepened our understanding of the delicate intricacies and the necessary symbiotic relationship among the three arms of our democratic government.” Wamakko further stated: “It is note-worthy that Hon. Tambuwal won the broad-based acceptance of the members of the House in popular recognition of a combination of positive personal traits and rich pedigree in professional and other admirable antecedents which are unmistakable in any interaction with him. He is respectable, people oriented, progressive, straight-forward, tolerant and an adept team player. He is also disciplined and humble”.
Wamakko went further to say that Sokoto was willing to offer Aminu Waziri Tambuwal for any national assignment because the state had confidence in him to be a worthy ambassador. For now, the Tambuwal administration is striving to better the lives of the people of the state but there is the need to focus more on human capacity building. However, so far, so impressive.
Mohammed wrote from Sokoto
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