By Abdulaziz Abdulaziz
The words of the Adamawa State
Commissioner for Agriculture, Patricia Yakubu, was instructive as we moved the
convoy on Friday, from Jada – where a horde of party supporters had gathered to
receive us – to Toungo, where the ‘Thank you’ tour was billed to take off.
The momentum was the initiative of the
People's Democratic Party of Nigeria candidate for the Adamawa gubernatorial
race, Nuhu Ribadu and Patricia Yakubu encapsulated, with her profound feminine
intellect, the essence of what has been happening in the Adamawa State chapter
of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), in the last three weeks.
In the words of the commissioner,
the race for the party’s tickets is always riddled with infighting and
intrigues but at the end of it all everyone buries the hatchet for the common
good as no politician worth his salt wants to remain on the losing side.
The convoy, of course, was that of the
party’s gubernatorial candidate and other aspirants for various positions which
was on a door-to-door visit of appreciation to stakeholders and the party’s
delegates who were instrumental to the candidates’ emergence.
But the thought process of Yakubu had
struck a deeper philosophical meaning from no other corner than that of the
Executive Governor of Adamawa State, Barrister Bala James Ngilari, a few days
earlier.
On Ribadu’s arrival in Yola, penultimate Monday, he went straight from
the airport to call on the governor. The warm reception accorded the candidate
and his entourage by the governor was itself a pointer that a new chapter, the
chapter of a governor as a leader of the party, willing to support a saleable
article of the party, had just been ushered in.
The words of the governor that
afternoon at the Governor’s Office penetrates through the heart and gives
the impression that a genuine reconciliation and a family spirit was beginning
to germinate.
The governor appreciated the fact that in all contests, there is
certainly a victor and a vanquished. It is however a mark of the governor’s
civility that one gets to appreciate this fact and forges ahead at the end of the
contest.
Mr. Ngilari therefore underscored the need for all party men and women
to come together work for the success of the party in the two elections
coming on February 14 and 28, respectively, because it is the only
genuine solution, according to him that the state can rely on today.
Success requires unity to confront a
common foe he said, and it was for this that Gov. Ngilari made a double-pronged
charge to the victors and the vanquished. For those fortunate enough to be
saddled with the party’s tickets, the governor emphasised the need to reach out
to all and sundry, extend the olive branch and open doors for everybody. He
noted that every party man or woman indeed has some stake and he or she should
be fully involved and integrated into the party’s campaign train.
To those who fought hard but were
beaten to the ticket or could not clinch the tickets, the governor asked for
their large heartedness and the need to put the state and the party over any
personal ambition. To set a precedent, Ngilari openly declared his total
support and endorsement of Ribadu, by way of clearing any iota of doubt about
his loyalty to the party. “You’re at home,” he told the candidate and his
entourage, “I will do everything to support you, and I expect every other
aspirant, at whatever level, to also declare and openly exhibit similar
unflinching support.”
With this blessed and generous
endorsement, the Ribadu campaign got the boost it requires as the coming
days witnessed the collapse of acrimony and the emergence of bridges of
brotherhood and sisterhood among all stakeholders in the PDP family.
A
high-powered reconciliation committee under the chairmanship of the Makama
of Adamawa, Aliyu Mohammed, which started its work immediately after the
December 10 primaries, has gone on with its mediation efforts among all ranks
of party stakeholders in the state.
The work of the committee, which became
easy with the warm reception and utterances of the state governor, recorded a
number of successes. Aspirants at all levels hitherto at loggerheads, began
making up with past rivals who are to fly the party’s ticket, in a renewed
spirit of togetherness.
One observer said, “It is heartwarming
to see PDP’s formidable juggernauts working hand in hand to uphold that history
of Adamawa as a state won by the ruling party since the beginning of this
dispensation.”
Aside Ngilari, key party leaders
such as the two senators of the party; Senator Bello Tukur (Adamawa Central)
and Senator Ahmed Barata (Adamawa South), members of the House of Representatives,
members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly led by the Speaker, Hon. Ahmadu
Umaru Fintiri, and several other influential party men and stakeholders are
unanimous on the need to work for the party.
The fruit of this concerted effort was
visible as the entourage of Nuhu Ribadu toured four local governments in the
southern part of Adamawa State. As the long motorcade moved out of Yola to
Toungo and pulled up at the headquarters of Ganye, Jada and Mayo-Belwa, the
reception was not only spectacular but indeed beyond the expectation of the
organisers who had planned it to be a low-key outing.
But of course with the
caliber of politicians who have embraced the Ribadu project in those local
governments and Adamawa in its entirety, it is practically impossible to hold
back the crowd.
With the clock ticking towards the
climax of the election, it is discernible that the People's Democratic Party is
up for a smooth sail in Adamawa on account of two things: the party is deeply
entrenched in the political landscape of the state, and has evolved a beautiful
re-integration strategy to carry along all stakeholders.
The second reason is
not far-fetched. The candidate for the governorship seat, Nuhu Ribadu, is akin
to an ornament whose dazzling qualities sell him anywhere. With these two
critical factors in full view, it is evident that PDP is in for the win in
Adamawa State.
Of course it is not over, as the saying
goes, until it is over. Consolidating on the reconciliation and unification of
all party members is something that is very much needed.
With what is on
ground, however, it is clear that the dust that trailed the process of
producing candidates of the PDP in Adamawa State is fully settled and the
chapter of working as a family is now before all stakeholders.
Abdulaziz writes from Jimeta, Yola.
No comments:
Post a Comment