'Seun Ibukun-Oni, Abuja
DAILY COURIER - "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely" comes from the nineteenth-century English historian Lord Acton (1834–1902). Despite the quote's profundity and popularity, it is not entirely clear why successive substantive APC national chairmen have chosen to be potentia ebrius est (power drunk) and this is just putting it mildly.
A flanking maneuver is an ancient military tactic which involves the envelopment of an enemy army using your own army, then forcing them to cram into smaller and smaller spaces through successive advances, until they become a dense pack of human bodies that is easier to target by any weapon. The aggravated army winds up in a hellish position, barely breathing because of narrow spaces; their bodies are forced to press on against each other, forcing them to carry each other's weight, thus tiring them in the process.
The most talked about political figure in our burgeoning polity in the last few days is Dr Umar Abdullahi Ganduje, the man at the helms of Africa's largest political party, the All Progressives Congress. Sadly, Ganduje has been in the news during this period for only the wrong reasons.
In what started like a child's play, the former Kano state governor was purportedly suspended by members of his ward, the Ganduje Ward in the Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano State.
The Executive Council of Ganduje Ward led by Haruna Gwanjo disclosed this during a press briefing in Kano on Monday.
But in a joint press conference on the same day, the Ganduje Ward Chairman Ahmed Koko said: “Those who addressed the press conference were sponsored by the NNPP state government, and from the record of the party at the ward, local government, and state, are not card-carrying members of the APC”.
Koko insisted that the alleged suspension held no validity.
However, a Kano State High Court affirmed the decision to suspend Ganduje. The order granted by Justice Usman Malam Na’abba, on Tuesday in addition to issuing an exparte order, also prohibited him from portraying himself as a party member.
The following day, Ganduje got a counter exparte order of Federal High Court, Kano presided over by Justice A.M Liman restraining all the respondents from implementing and or given effect to the purported decision reached by the Ganduje Ward executives on his suspension.
While the news of the stay order was yet to reach town, Ganduje named Kogi state governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo to lead the seven-man committee to conduct the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Ondo Governorship primary election slated for today, Saturday.
Ododo based on public perception undoubtedly ranked number 36th when he was named to commandeer Ondo guber primary due to his inglorious role in aiding his predecessor, Yahaya Bello from being arrested by the EFCC.
The Attorney General of the federation, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, while chiding Ododo and his godfather said: “This is a matter of very grave concern. It is now beyond doubt that the EFCC is given power by the law to invite any person of interest to interact with them in the course of their investigations into any matter, regardless of status.
“Therefore, the least that we can all do when invited, is not to put any obstruction in the way of EFCC, but to honourably answer their invitation.
“A situation where public officials who are themselves subject of protection by law enforcement agents will set up a stratagem of obstruction to the civil and commendable efforts of the EFCC to perform its duty is to say the least, insufferably disquieting’’.
Talk of the legendary 'fool mate' move in chess and you have what Ganduje did.
Not done, Ganduje, probably in a bid to sustain the loyalty of his army of supporters in the centre of commerce, single handedly turned what was supposed to be a national assignment by the party in Ondo state into a Gadujiyya affair. The 90-man lists according to the National Vice Chairman South-East, Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu was drawn without the input of the national working committee except the deputy National Organizing Secretary, Chidi Nze-Duru who has become the new con man, a party chieftain who crave anonymity said.
Arodiogbu, faulted the 90 man list which he said did not have his input nor that of a majority of members of the 25 man National Working Committee of which he is a member.
He noted that since the constitution of the membership of such a committee was a national affair then members of the NWC ought to have made their own input to give the list some semblance of collective leadership and not the restriction to only two offices, this naturally may affect the performance of the committee in such a keenly contested primary election. He also stated that such non involvement of a majority of NWC members could be wrongly interpreted as a ploy to foist an unpopular candidate on the party members in Ondo.
He called on the National Chairman, Alhaji Abdulahi Ganduje and the National Organizing Secretary, Alhaji Suleiman Argungu to repudiate the list and seek the input of all members of the NWC members as the constitution of the party dictates.This he said was pertinent to avoid the drama that played out in the Edo primaries, where the NWC inaugurated a committee and a parallel committee was formed and inaugurated by aides of some members of the NWC.
The grandmaster of this flanky chess game is the deputy national organizing secretary's office. The Greek gift from their disgraceful conduct in Edo state governorship primary may have emboldened them but it is a flanky maneuver in Ganduje's name.
A few secretariat staff on the list are in Ondo state with a caveat to trade off percentage of their lawful estacode and prospective Greek gift to the grandmasters. This is a new low and the national chairman must not feign ignorance.
While it is almost impossible to correct this kakistocractic style of running a national assignment, it is important to note that sheer braggadio as this begat the fall kernel of your ousted predecessors.
In addition to the sheer volume of these false starts, Ganduje must take responsibility for the increasingly bloated national headquarters workforce that has turned into Kano state annex since he assumed office. The power of NEC ceded to the NWC must be discharged with equanimity responsibly.
Successive substantive chairmen start to fail when they get too focused on the oviations of opportunists without the culture and the values to keep their eyes on the ball. You can avoid these episodes of drift that is fast defining your leadership or else may quickly lead to your downfall like your predecessors.
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