“Hmmnn,” Maikaho said as he breathed deeply. “In this world you cannot trust human beings.” “What happened?” I asked impatiently. He shook his head several times and then said, “Our minister, Iliya Dokin Karfe. He has resigned to come and enter the governorship race.” The glass cup I was holding fell from my hand and crashed to the floor. “What?! Where did you hear that?” “Just now, on NTA,” Maikaho said. “President himself announced it at council meeting. He mentioned him among the ministers that said they are resigning to go home and contest for governor. I heard it with my own ears.” Seeing that I didn’t believe it, Maikaho said, “The way I heard president mention Dokin Karfe’s name today, may Allah make me to hear the Holy Prophet’s voice like that on the Day of Judgement.” Within minutes my other top campaign aides had also joined us in my living room. This is a very serious development that threatens to change the entire race.
Luckily, we were not the only people who were alarmed by the minister’s sudden resignation. All the other aspirants in the race were also alarmed, including Goshin Bauna, the deputy governor Shamsu Maigwangwani, Senator Abdu Lifidda and the state assembly speaker, Salmanu Katakoro. We soon learnt that the governor too was alarmed. When some party elders went to him to find out what was happening, he said he himself was very surprised because the last time he discussed with the minister, he assured him that he will not contest. He promised the governor that he will support anybody that the governor anoints in return for a promise that he will be nominated again to return to the cabinet after next year’s election. He told the governor that he is waiting for many ministers to resign and go for elections so that the president will promote him from minister of state to full minister in a juicy ministry.
That afternoon party chairman Sallama Maikudi phoned me. He said the minister has betrayed the party. He assured the governor that he will remain in Abuja to defend our interest, since he is even a member of the secret Campaign Strategy Committee at the national secretariat. That is where many underground things are done; that is where they anoint people who will take over in which state, depending on the interest of the president. Now this man has abandoned that vantage position and is coming here; how will we know all the things that they are planning for our state?
The party is therefore planning a welcome for him and party officers secretly contacted all the aspirants in order to get our cooperation. It was decided to keep the plan secret and to encourage the minister to actually submit his resignation letter by Monday, since the president said the seven of them had signified their intention to resign but had not submitted letters. As soon as we are sure the minister has submitted his letter, a caucus meeting will be called where he will be challenged to say why he resigned without first consulting the party. He will then be asked to say what benefits his ministership brought to the party or to the state. Finally, he will be confronted with evidence of his anti-party activities since he gave contracts to some people who are now in the opposition party in Tafki State.
We soon got information that Dokin Karfe is preparing for himself a welcome party back home. Two men who got juicy contracts from him are the ones planning the welcome party. Their plan is for him to be received at the airport and then to ride into town in a motorcade. He will go and pay courtesy calls on the emir and the governor and then go for a special prayer at the Central Mosque. But because the minister does not have any boys of his own, his men now tried to recruit our Youth Wing members for the procession. Our Youth Leader Maitawaye reported to Maikahon Karo that Dokin Karfe’s men contacted him and asked for assistance to protect their procession. They said when they took their letter of request to the Police Commissioner, the CP disappeared through the back door while they were waiting for him in his visitors’ room. That must be because the governor told the CP not to protect Dokin Karfe’s welcome home procession.
Maikahon Karo was chuckling with mischief as he reported to me. They have fallen into our trap, he said. The minister is in for a nasty surprise. Maikaho instructed Maitawaye to take over the entire security of the procession. He will tell the minister’s people that they don’t even need policemen, they should leave everything to him and his boys. What they don’t know is that Dokin Karfe will have the shock of his life. Maitawaye will arrange for another group of our boys to attack the procession and they will be shouting, “Tafki sai Goshin Bauna” to give the impression that it is our rival who sponsored the attack. Then there will be a free for all fight in which the minister’s cars will be overturned and all his men will be sprayed with pepper and potash.
Our friend the editor of Tafki Chronicle, the one who did that fake opinion poll for us, has already been briefed. He will station five photographers at different sections of the route. They will get a good picture of the minister, his cloths torn, his body covered with potash and his eyes covered with dust, and it will be splashed on the front page of Tafki Chronicle the following day with the bold caption, “Go back to Abuja, Tafkians tell ex-minister.”
