The unending feud threatening Bauchi APC

ISHOLA MICHAEL writes on the unending feud that has engulfed the major political players in Bauchi State for over two years while promises made to the electorate remain pending.
       THE general belief was that immediately after the victory recorded by the then opposition political party in the country, the All Progressives Congress (APC) across Nigeria in the 2015 general elections, there would be a harmonious working relationship among all the state governors and others elected under the umbrella of the party, particularly members of the National Assembly from their states who are popularly tagged ‘Abuja politicians’. It was expected that they would put their heads and pull political resources together in order  to  be able to ameliorate the ‘hardships’ faced by  the electorate in their  states after the victory of APC over Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election.

Although a bit of harmonious working relationship can be observed among some state governors and members of the National Assembly, thereby consolidating the gains of their 2015 victory by bringing development to their people, the situation in  Bauchi State, which produced the number four citizen in the national leadership hierarchy of the country, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, is nothing but frosty because from day one of the victory of the party, there has been no love lost between the governor,  Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar and majority of the members of the National Assembly from the state. From the look of things, it is obvious that an end to the lingering feud between them may not be in sight; a development that is taking negative toll on the people of the state because much energy is dissipated in justifying the actions or inactions of either camp.

One development to the unending feud however, is that even the traditional institution has been roped into the melee in one way or the other in the sense that the National Assembly members are no longer ‘welcome’ in the palaces or are given cold receptions when it becomes absolutely unavoidable, just as both sides of the divide have opened new fronts of political war against one another using every available tool to run down one another.

The crisis started soon after the politicians, mostly riding on the popularity of Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), collectively won elections. Unfortunately, rather than working together, the major actors, for some undisclosed reasons, refused to consolidate their gains. Despite two years of efforts by the state and the national leaderships of the party to resolve the problems, the politicians, specifically the governor and his supporters on one hand, and the team of legislators on the other, are increasingly opening new frontiers of misunderstanding.

However, while some of the lawmakers are fighting the battle behind the scenes, others like Senators Ali Wakili, Isah Hammah and to a certain extent, Suleiman Nazif, are more vocal in expressing their opposition to the policies of Governor Abubakar. Leading the antagonists in the fight, is Ahmed Yarima, representing Misau/Dambam federal constituency,  who, through his weekly radio programmes, take swipes on the activities of the government by using the medium to always pick holes in whatever the governor does.

The lawmakers specifically accuse the governor of failing to fulfil any of the campaign promises they collectively made to the electorate during the campaigns while canvassing for votes, particularly the continuous refusal of the governor to conduct local government council elections but rather appointed caretaker committees, a development that the governor has, at several occasions justified, by saying that the state had no money to conduct local government elections. He also claimed that such an exercise would cost about N2 billion at a time of economic downturn when it is struggling to pay worker’s salaries and retirement benefits.

Another issue that has lingered for a long time and which had aggravated the cold war then, was the payment of salaries   when due; though that issue has since been addressed by the state government. However, the NASS members from the state had hyped on the issue while it lasted and at the height of the cold war, an earlier attempt to recall the three senators from the National Assembly by a coalition within the APC was seen as an attempt by Governor Abubakar and the party’s leadership at the state level to get at the senators.

In the vanguard of the recall process was one Ali Sa’idu, who accused Senators Ali Wakili, Hammah Misau and  Suleiman Nazif  Gamawa of supporting Senate President Bukola Saraki against the APC and President Mohammadu Buhari but the APC national leadership tried to reconcile the senators and the governor’s group over the recall attempt. The issue, however, later re-surfaced, when another group petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), seeking to kick-start the recall process.

Ironically, a different group went to the INEC office in Bauchi and countered, saying they were fully in support of their senators.

Thereafter, stories emerged online with names of some politicians, who would purportedly replace the elected legislators in the event they were recalled. The move, according to sources, was to pave way for Governor Abubakar to have a smooth ride in 2019. However, in an advertorial published in a national daily, the APC leadership and the governor denied anointing some politicians to replace members of the National Assembly and said  that the online report was allegedly planted by the same legislators trying to discredit the governor and the APC leadership in the state.

Instead of the crisis simmering, fresh allegations emerged from the governor’s camp that the lawmakers, in cahoots with “other disgruntled elements within and outside the APC,” have already resolved to work against Governor Abubakar in 2019 alleging that the lawmakers and their supporters elsewhere have selected someone among them that would be supported to unseat the governor in 2019.

Another factor said to be aggravating the feud in Bauchi State is the alleged involvement of some former APC aspirants who lost out in the party’s primaries. The former aspirants were said to be angered by Governor Abubakar’s perceived ‘winner takes all’ attitude, leaving nothing for them after the elections. However, the governor’s former spokesperson, Sabo Mohammed, had in an earlier interview dismissed this insinuation, saying that the governor has been very magnanimous in working with people that are very close to all the other aspirants.

He was quoted saying: “I am a perfect example of Governor Abubakar’s magnanimity and democratic principles. I was from the Dr. Yakubu Lame camp, but he appointed me to serve him. Look around and you will find out that all the governor’s appointees have links in one way or another to all the other aspirants.”

Also in an effort to resolve the lingering feud between the two camps, the party at the state level held an expanded executive council meeting which had in attendance, almost all its executive council members and other prominent figures, including Governor Abubakar. However, the absence of Senators Wakili, Nazif and Hammah, as well as Speaker Dogara and other major actors involved in the feud had signalled to political observers that the feud was nowhere near ending.

Though, some lawmakers had attended the meeting, the APC spokesperson in the state, Auwal Jalla, informed journalists that those who did not attend the meeting had sent in their apologies. But Senator Wakili, in an interview a few days later, said they received the invitation to the meeting very late.

The problem became aggravated when the APC chairman in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area, Mijinyawa Hardo, believed to be loyal to the governor and the state leadership of the party, was removed by some officials loyal to Senator Wakili and Speaker Dogara. The group accused him of sidelining members of the party as well as alleged anti-party activities. But in another twist, the APC leadership in Senator Wakili’s Lere ward in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area suspended him from the party. The suspension letter dated January 8, addressed to the local government party chairman and signed by Markus Silas, stated that Senator Wakili was suspended for committing offences inimical to the progress of the party.

However, the senator, in a statement by his senior legislative aide, Ladan Ahmad Gumau, alleged that the plan to suspend him was hatched by some officials of the party, with the support of the state government. But the state leadership of the party later reiterated that the suspension was in order as the offences he allegedly committed were against the party’s constitution.

Also, the member representing Lere/Bula constituency in the Bauchi State House of Assembly who is also seen as loyalist to Speaker Dogara and Senator Wakili, Alhaji Aminu Tukur, was suspended by his Bununu ward APC executive council in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area. However, some APC members, led by Mr Ishaku Simon and Alhaji Korau Bununu, at a rally in Bununu, headquarters of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area, dismissed the alleged suspension of Senator Wakili and the state lawmaker from the party. They also said the people who allegedly suspended the two lawmakers “are enemies of APC and the people of Tafawa Balewa,” saying they have written a letter to the state APC and the national headquarters of the party in Abuja on the situation.

The recent visit of the Speaker to Bauchi State to kick off road construction in his constituency has made it clear that the cold war is nowhere near ending due to the fact that during the ceremony, which was held in Dass Local Government Area, no traditional leader or any government official was seen at the occasion which was well attended with the presence of the immediate past governor of the state, Isa Yuguda.

Even the planned homage visit to the Emir of Bauchi who is the chairman of the state Council of Traditional Rulers was aborted at the last minute because of what some people alleged was the handiwork of the government which was said to have given directives that all traditional rulers and government, officials in the state should not accord the Speaker any audience or attend his functions though an official statement from the state government promptly denied the allegation, stressing that the state government did not issue such directives to traditional rulers.

Though the national secretariat of the party had sent a reconciliatory team led by Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige to the state to broker peace, for now, Bauchi South seems to be the battle ground for the intra-APC wrangling, as the governor, Senator Wakili and Speaker Yakubu Dogara are from the area thereby, the electorate are lamenting the continued cold war.

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