APC must..be wary of the antics of governors who want to eat their cake and also have it. Doing away with the delegate system of party primaries can only enhance people’s right and diminish the capacity of governors to hand pick candidates for all elective posts. The party leadership at the national level must resist any trap and any attempt to use any platform within or outside the party to manipulate its primaries.
It will be needless tautology to say that the attention of the whole nation has now shifted to the 2019 elections. There is now keen interest in what might be the outcome of the elections for so many reasons. First, the elections, in some States, will mark the end of two terms of some governors and the beginning of new hands in the mantle of leadership. It is also the election that will see President Muhammadu Buhari seeking another opportunity to consolidate on his achievements and ushering in a legacy of the rule of All Progressives Congress (APC), whose focus remains social justice and development. The elections are also decisive because they will mark a milestone of the continuous and smooth transition of power through the ballot. However, one of the states that will be closely watched is Yobe, which has stood by progressive politics since 1999. Beyond the end of what will amount to ten years of the governorship of Alhaji Ibrahim Geidam, the 2019 election will mark a moment of thorough soul searching and the posing of pertinent questions on which direction the State will take in this journey of democratic governance.
Key soul searching is moving Yobe State to rapid development. Development challenges the State has been facing and continues to face is one of the major reasons why Yobe needs a new direction. The staggering impact of the Boko Haram insurgency had set some parts of the State backwards in so many ways. Educationally, Yobe is still one of the States at the bottom of the table, likewise in the areas of healthcare, agricultural development, investment and youth employment. The State is in dire need of rapid infrastructural development. Education in Yobe is in need of an aggressive and planned rescue that will see to the rise of schools enrollment, and improvement in the quality of teaching and learning, especially at secondary and primary levels. Desertification continues to diminish the prospects for a boom in agriculture. Also, the increasing impact of climate change on Lake Chad has been adversely affecting the social and economic lives of people living along the great lake. The bigger challenge is the fact that Yobe State is in the league of states with its level of poverty below the national average, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The elections of 2019 presents an opportunity for Yobe State to change direction and take a new path, with emphasis on rural development, social welfare, massive youth employment and infrastructural development. But for these to become a reality there are key issues that must be addressed to set the State on the path of equality, social justice and progress.
Let us now start with justice and fairness, which are key to the harmony that allows social development to prevail. It is important that power shifts from Zone A, which comprises local governments that produced Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, who ruled the state for 10 years and Alhaji Ibrahim Geidam who by 2019 will as well clock ten years as governor of the State. This zone, although having just 23 per cent of the population of the State, holds sway in almost every sense. All the major federal appointments to Yobe State come from this zone. They include that of the current minister of state for foreign affairs, the ambassador appointed from Yobe state, the national secretary of the ruling APC, the INEC commissioner representing Yobe State, and even the federal permanent secretary (although this was on his merit of service). The other zones of the State – B and C – which account for 40 per cent and 38 per cent of the population can be described as mere onlookers in the governance of their own State. Apart from creating an atmosphere of inequality, these one-sided appointments are gradually widening what appears to be a systematic exclusion of other parts of the State from governance. Other parts of the State are beginning to feel marginalised, without a stake – both at the State and federal levels.
The 2019 elections in Yobe State will also be an opportunity for Governor Ibrahim Geidam to consolidate his legacy by ensuring, as he has promised, a level playing field for all aspirants, no matter their tribes. It is an opportunity to ensure that all parts of State and all the people of the State are given an equal opportunity that will ensure justice and fairness.
Since 1999 the people of Yobe State have stuck to the progressive political leaning and it was in continuation of this that the State is right now firmly in the hands of APC. But this loyalty of the people needs to be translated into concrete rewards of justice and fairness. The current leadership of APC under Comrade Adams Oshiomhole must sustain this loyalty by ensuring that all upcoming party primaries across the State are conducted through direct primaries that empower the people, as clearly seen from the example of Osun. The divisive outcome of the delegate system of primaries, as seen in the recent Bauchi South senatorial by-election primaries, shows the danger it poses to party harmony and justice. The fact that general elections have been taking place in Yobe peacefully is an indication that direct party primary elections are feasible and can be a testimony to President Muhammadu Buhari’s successful defeat of the Boko Haram insurgency. Direct primaries will empower the people and ensure that right from the scratch the choice of leaders is people driven. Oshiomhole has so far shown commitment to ensuring justice in the party by giving the people the power to determine who will lead them – directly, and by eliminating the political ‘middlemen’ called ‘delegates.’ No State deserves direct party primaries more than Yobe, where people yearn for inclusion in every sense. APC will be making a mistake if it misses the opportunity of rewarding the loyalty of the people of Yobe State with direct party primaries that can do away with the selective and easily manipulative nature of party primaries involving the use of delegates. Any argument against direct party primary elections in Yobe State will amount to further exclusion of the people and a litmus test for APC.
APC must also be wary of the antics of governors who want to eat their cake and also have it. Doing away with the delegate system of party primaries can only enhance people’s right and diminish the capacity of governors to hand pick candidates for all elective posts. The party leadership at the national level must resist any trap and any attempt to use any platform within or outside the party to manipulate its primaries.
The 2019 elections in Yobe State will also be an opportunity for Governor Ibrahim Geidam to consolidate his legacy by ensuring, as he has promised, a level playing field for all aspirants, no matter their tribes. It is an opportunity to ensure that all parts of State and all the people of the State are given an equal opportunity that will ensure justice and fairness.
It is hoped that both President Muhammadu Buhari and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole will pay keen attention to politics in Yobe State. Particularly, President Buhari has been the choice of the people of our State at all elections. The president can only pay us back by ensuring that there is fairness, equality and justice in the way the state is run, as well as how its leaders are elected.
Adam Mukhtar Jajimaji wrote from Sabon Pegi, Damaturu, Yobe State. Email: mjajimaji@gmail.com
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