Perhaps, political observers in Bauchi State and elsewhere across Nigeria are yet to find out that Mallam Isa Yuguda’s popularity is latently getting greener as the 2023 general elections inch nearer. With every sunrise, the former governor’s political image becomes better defined. What is obvious is that as his political relevance continues to increase, the Matawallen Bauchi will likely play significant roles in Nigeria’s future elections.
But this is not surprising for anyone who knows the political antecedents of the 14th Bauchi State governor. Isa Yuguda is a man of conviction who is politically calculative and deliberately patient. If he sets out for a cause, no amount of drudgery and back breaking toil will have him get out of the trenches. Rather, he will remain determined and patient enough to fight to finish. And this is where both his political strength and weakness lie.
In both the general elections of 2007 and 2015 which were the most significant in his political annals, Isa Yuguda deployed all of his fire power to fight for what he believed were his best political options at the time. He got the former right and the latter wrong. But as a politician with the knowledge that irrespective of the outcome of election, what is important is the ability to manage the situation, the former aviation minister handled both victory and failure in such a manner that they all ended up as huge success.
And today, Isa Yuguda is standing tall at the top of the ladder of Bauchi State politics. Kin observers of political development in the pearl of tourism can easily notice that the dynamism with which he plays politics has made it possible for Yuguda to be one of the main key political actors in the state. He has one of the strongest political wiring in Bauchi State today.
And this owes to the fact that in the annals of the state, no politician has built people more than Isa Yuguda. Over the years, he supported almost anyone who came across him in the pursuit of livelihood or worked with him at the bank, the federal executive council or Bauchi Government House. Thus Yuguda has helped many Nigerians developed wings and can now fly. The present Bauchi State governor Bala Mohammed can testify to this.
Therefore, the All Progressives Congress (APC), both in Bauchi and at the national level, have in Mallam Isa Yuguda an untapped political resource, which if properly harnessed will give desired results. As the 2023 general elections draw closer, the party needs to involve the political juggernaut in its state, regional and national schemes of things so that it will all not end up like the Hausa proverbial chicken that slept all night on the bag of its feeds with empty stomach because of ignorance.
Mukhtar Jarmajo, Abuja
