Badaru and the Fallacy of PDP Decampees In Jigawa -By Dahiru Hassan Kera

I was baffled when my attention was drawn to a live event by the Nigerian Television Authority on December 19, 2015 with a mind-boggling caption, “Reception of 370,000 Peoples Democratic Party members defecting to All Progressives Congress in Jigawa State”. Although, I am not from Jigawa, I was curiously attracted by the high calibre of dignitaries on the occasion and the number of the defectors which demand for a professional content and data analysis, especially in the convergence world of journalism where data is an earthshaking aspect.

Jigawa State has an approximate population of about three million people. According to data obtained from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the state had 1,817,087 registered voters in the 2015 general elections. Alhaji Abubakar Muhammad Badaru of APC won the election with 648,045 votes against the 479,447 of Malam Aminu Ringim of PDP. A simple arithmetic will give a difference of 168,598 only between these two major contenders but ironically, the difference is less than 50 percent of the Saturday’s decampees. Further analysis has shown that the decampees’ figure was pegged at 57 percent and 77 percent of the total votes for the APC and PDP, respectively, which are chuckling and giggling propaganda by the Badaru led APC government.

Political defection is synonymous with democracy where one has the discretion to defect from one party to another party. In advanced democracies, the defectors may have very good reason to back their decision that may not be unconnected with their political principles and ideologies. However, the Jigawa defectors seem to be selfish and couldn’t justify their actions. It sounds myopic, deceptive and crooked for a politician that served in the cabinet of Governor Sule Lamido as Secretary to the State Government or chairman of a local government council to say he is decamping to APC because the government he served wasn’t transparent, especially when they had joyfully exhausted their tenure in that government. In football, there is a season when players either go on loan or transfer to teams and that usually happens during the free-season or off-season; likewise in politics, there is a season of defections and that usually occurs during free-election periods. But it is treachery for some people to join your tent after you’ve won elections and malign the administration they had served; the acceptor must be wary of these political backstabbers.

One is not surprised, though, seeing the former Jigawa State Governor, Saminu Turaki, that was accused of diverting about N36 billion during his locust ravaging regime by the EFCC joining APC especially at a time when the new EFCC chairman has reiterated his commitment to revisit their case files with a view to ensuring justice is done to recover the loot. So Saminu may seem an asylum seeker to politically influence his trail by the EFCC.

We must not shy from telling the truth that the government of Sule Lamido has done remarkably well in transforming the state. In fact, he is seen as an architect of modern Jigawa.

Nigerians must be sincere on their political engagements despite being on different political platforms. We must not shy from telling the truth that the government of Sule Lamido has done remarkably well in transforming the state. In fact, he is seen as an architect of modern Jigawa. Laughably, the dignitaries came to Jigawa through a befitting airport constructed by the Lamido government, the roads they were ferried to the venue was also constructed by Lamido and above all, the conducive venue of the rally, Malam Aminu Kano Triangle, was equally constructed by the government they gathered to ridicule. The current Transport Minister, Rotimi Ameachi, was in Jigawa during the Sule Lamido regime and commissioned the School of Nursing and Midwifery and a well-constructed road was named after him. Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State also commissioned the Jigawa State House of Assembly complex. Yet, they were all there celebrating a governor that showcased receiving decampees as his major project. When Sule Lamido handed over the leadership in Jigawa, people were seen crying at the airport and even during his trial that many believed to be politically motivated, he was received warmly by his supporters and sympathisers.

Apart from various roads and schools constructed by the Lamido administration in Jigawa, projects like the International Airport, Dutse; International Model School, Jigawa Broadcasting House, Dutse Modern Motor Park, State High Court, Dutse Mini Stadium, 500 Units of Muhammadu Rimi Housing Estate, NYSC Camp and many other projects too numerous to mention here were the landmark achievements of the Sule Lamido government. I was then perplexed when I saw governors that were accused of lying to President Muhammadu Buhari and who collected N11 billion on false bailout, budgeting N200 million for prayer warriors. Also many of them who unanimously agreed that they can’t afford to pay N18,000 minimum wage were out celebrating the cooked figure of 370,000 decampees.

Nigerians are suffering now than ever – the persistent fuel scarcity in the country, even with the approval of a supplementary budget and subsequent payment of outstanding fuel subsidy to marketers, the Shi’ite crisis, and pro-Biafra, fallen value of naira against the dollar, dwindling economy. Yet, eight governors, a serving minister, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, who should converge and address these teething national problems were busy attending a propaganda meeting in Jigawa. I advise Gov. Badaru to engage in viable projects than engaging in a mere propaganda.

Dahiru Hassan Kera wrote from Kaduna.