VIEW FROM THE GALLERY by MAHMUD JEGA
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s clinching of the PDP presidential ticket early Sunday morning climaxed a week of high drama in Nigerian politics, which produced many firsts on the turbulent political scene.
One high drama that captured the essence of the season unfolded in Kaduna. Adam Namadi, son of former Vice President Namadi Sambo, lost his bid for PDP’s Kaduna North House of Representatives ticket after showering two million naira on each delegate. He promptly demanded for a refund. There is a Hausa adage that says where there is no fire, what was it that consumed the charcoal? According to Senator Shehu Sani, Adam managed to gather back his money by employing hunters and vigilantes. These tough men temporarily abandoned the hunt for kidnappers and bandits that have been terrorizing Kaduna and instead went after duplicitous delegates, who reluctantly refunded the money.
A man showered N2 million on each delegate and still lost a House of Representatives primary? Because other aspirants paid more. Another aspirant was said to have paid N2.5 million each while the eventual winner allegedly paid N3.5million to each delegate. So the highest bidder won.
Unlike his taciturn, scandal-averse father, the former vice president, Adam Namadi is a newbreed politician who does not fear controversy. When one newspaper described his demand for a refund as dramatic, Adam wrote to it, saying, “There was nothing ‘dramatic’ about the request…Delegates themselves are aware of the directives given by major PDP stakeholders in Kaduna North that any sums given to delegates by various aspirants for their support should be returned to those unsuccessful in their primary elections.” In other words, party elders officially sanctioned the monetization of primaries, up to and including a rule that money spent by losing aspirants should be refunded. Politics couldn’t sink lower than that.
Similar drama unfolded in Ondo State when PDP Senator Ayo Akinyelure lost his reelection bid. Akinyelure got 58 votes while Ifedayo Adedipe, SAN, got 82 votes. The senator’s men quickly retrieved a Lexus car from a delegate, Chief Segun Adegoke. They also gave Adegoke a 24-hour ultimatum to return the dollars he reportedly collected. Akinyelure was as straight-faced as Adam Namadi; his spokesperson Charles Akinwon said the delegates did not fulfil their part of the bargain.
All over the country last week, no occupation had a higher status than “delegate.” According to social media wags, a young man went looking for a wife somewhere in Nigeria and when he was asked what he does for a living, he said he is a delegate! Just like dollar, the exchange value of delegate appreciated when President Buhari failed to sign the last-minute amendment to the Electoral Act which would have increased their number three or four fold by introducing statutory delegates. This artificial scarcity of delegates thus led to a dollar-style stiff value appreciation.
Senator Shehu Sani, who took to Facebook to reveal Adam Namadi’s novel debt collection strategy, himself got 2 votes in the same contest. He did not embark on any debt collection because he had earlier declared that, as an adherent of new politics, he will not give money to any delegate. When he however promised to show gratitude to the two anonymous delegates that voted for him, more than 30 delegates came forward and claimed they were the ones! Delegates are no better than bandits, Sani declared. While Shehu Sani got two votes, Senate Leader Dr. Yahaya Abdullahi, Mallamawan Kabi, got zero vote in Kebbi APC’s governorship primary. His supporters promptly cried foul.
Drama aside, other consequential things happened on the political scene last week. With a few days to PDP’s convention, Mr. Peter Obi suddenly quit the presidential race and the party. That removed the most serious South East contender from the PDP race. There was a lot of speculation that Obi would team up with Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso in NNPP but he eventually pitched tent with Labour Party. The last time LP recorded success in an election was when Olusegun Mimiko clinched the governorship of Ondo State on its ticket, a decade and a half ago. Obi’s arrival quickly raised the party’s profile, even though he is not exactly the kind of left-wing flagbearer envisioned by LP’s trade union founders.
A gale of withdrawals and defections in both major parties followed last week’s primaries. Former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu quit PDP’s Enugu governorship race. Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe quit PDP’s Abia governorship race. Former Kebbi State governors Muhammad Adamu Aleiro and Sa’idu Dakingari quit Kebbi APC’s senatorial races. Two days to the convention, Mohammed Hayatudeen quit PDP’s presidential race. As the PDP convention got underway, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal called it quits. While some of them blamed happenings within the primary process for their decision to quit, Hayatudeen blamed the monetisation of politics. Surprising for a banking guru, who should be at home with anything to do with money.
At the weekend one presidential aspirant, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, was cooling his heels in EFCC detention after a spectacular operation on Wednesday to capture him from his house. While EFFC agents laid siege to his house because he jumped bail, Okorocha broadcast an appeal to them on social media to allow him to finish his screening for the APC presidential primaries. This was brushed aside and the court remanded him in custody.
All first term governors in both major parties secured their parties’ return tickets. Mai Mala Buni in Yobe, Babajide Sanwo-olu in Lagos, Dapo Abiodun in Ogun, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq in Kwara, Mohammed Inuwa in Gombe, Abdullahi Sule in Nasarawa, Babagana Zulum in Borno and Bello Matawalle in Zamfara all secured APC return tickets with relative ease. Seyi Makinde in Oyo and Ahmadu Fintiri in Adamawa also secured PDP return tickets. One first term governor, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi, went for a hat trick. While contesting for PDP’s presidential ticket, Bauchi PDP elected his SSG Ibrahim Kashim as governorship candidate. Now that Bala has lost the ticket, watch out for a PDP substitution drama in Bauchi.
In states where the governors were not eligible to run, no one formula defined success in last week’s major party primaries. The deputy governor clinched APC’s ticket in Jigawa. In Sokoto, the SSG got PDP’s ticket. In Kebbi APC, it was a trade unionist. In Niger APC, it was an MP. In Benue PDP, State Assembly Speaker Titus Uba defeated the deputy governor. In Rivers PDP, Wike anointed his Accountant General. In Katsina, Director General of SMEDAN defeated a crowded field of aspirants including Masari’s SSG and Managing Director of the Mint. In Abia PDP, it was former Vice-Chancellor of Abia State University, Professor Uche Ikonne. In Enugu PDP, it was former Finance Commissioner Peter Mba. In Delta PDP, it was State House of Assembly Speaker Sheriff Oborevwori. In Ebonyi APC, it was former State Assembly Speaker Ogbonna Nwifuru, with former Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission [RMAFC] chairman Elias Mbam nominated by a rebel faction.
The most spectacular primary election win was probably in Adamawa APC where Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani defeated four big male aspirants, including former EFCC chairman and former ACN presidential candidate Nuhu Ribadu, former state governor Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow and former House of Reps spokesman Abdulrazaq Namdas. Some newspapers said her’s was the first major party primary election win by a female. That is erroneous; the late Mama Taraba, Aisha Jummai Alhassan was APC’s 2015 governorship candidate in her state. Another spectacular win, of Benue APC’s guber ticket, was by suspended Roman Catholic priest Hyacinth Alia, who defeated former PDP national chairman Barnabas Gemade and former Attorney-General of the Federation Mike Aondoakaa.
There were spectacular loses as well. High-flying ex-senator Dino Melaye lost PDP’s ticket in Kogi West while Senator Smart Adeyemi lost APC’s ticket in the same district. In Jigawa, the sensationally comical Mohammed Gudaji Kazaure lost APC’s ticket for Kazaure/ Roni/Gwiwa/Yar’kwashi federal constituency. If APC knew what it was doing, it should have ensured a consensus nomination for this national asset, who makes the most down-to-earth contributions in the House. APC and PDP are fielding strong candidates in some states that they don’t control. They include Zamfara PDP’s Dauda Lawal, Bauchi APC’s Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, Kebbi PDP’s Major General Aminu Bande and Kano PDP’s Mohammed Abacha.
There was some indication last week that political dynasties are taking shape in Nigeria. Among the persons who won various party tickets were General Sani Abacha’s son in Kano, former governor Sule Lamido’s son in Jigawa, Governor Nasiru el-Rufa’i’s son in Kaduna, former governor Abiola Ajimobi’s son in Oyo, former governor James Ibori’s daughter in Delta, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje’s son in Kano, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s daughter in Delta, former governor Adebayo Alao-Akala’s son in Oyo, former governor Ayo Fayose’s son in Ekiti as well as former governor Ahmed Sani, Yariman Bakura’s son in Zamfara.
For the biggest of all political drama, we are looking forward to APC’s special convention early next week.
