BY Safwan Bin Abdallah
It is now a known fact that the ruling APC in the North-East geopolitical zone is immersed in serious internal crisis. In 2015 the party won presidential elections and governorship in four states of the Six states of the North-East with majority of members in States and at the National Assemblies.
This was because the party was solid on ground and had focused, committed and
mature North-East Zonal Vice-Chairman in the person of Mr. David Babachir Lawal. Soon after Mr. Lawal was appointed Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Comrade Salihu Mustapha lobbied to be made the Acting Zonal Vice Chairman. The party obliged believing the young man was going to learn, respect elders, leaders of the party and be democrat, having watched your predecessor.
Unfortunately, that was not to be. No sooner had you taken over, you turned the office into an enterprise for the highest bidder to purchase.
By 2019 general election, the party lost Bauchi and Adamawa to the opposition PDP. Not only that but many more seats in States and the National Assembly seats were lost.
In the case of Adamawa, we clearly recollect the treacherous and ignoble role you as the Zonal Vice-Chairman played in making the party lost its Governorship seat that year. In addition, the party lost 2 of the 3 Senatorial seats, and 5 of the 8 House of Representatives seats.
At the level of State House of Assembly, APC lost woefully to less than one third of the seats, it hitherto controlled 14 of the 25 before 2019. This was barely two (2) years after becoming a Zonal ViceChairman.
Today, the APC is factionalized in all States of the North-East except Borno. The worst case scenarios are Adamawa and Taraba states, where the party is said not to present Governorship Candidates.
Comrade Mustapha, you have become notorious and too arrogant as if you are a law unto yourself. In Adamawa, you have gone ahead to dabble into party affairs and the party structure. You single handedly directs the removal of elected party officials at the wards, Local Government and State structures and replacing them with your surrogates without recourse to any procedure, rule or constitution of the party. This is on the false authority that you claim to be receiving orders from the National Chairman of the party.
Our National Chairman is a seasoned political father, a statesman, a foremost champion of democracy and a learned gentleman (Lawyer) who would never give such orders.
In your tragi-comedy interview two days ago, alleging that Senator Binani is an unpopular politician is to say the least laughable.
Let me remind you if you have forgotten, how Binani defeated you in 2011 in the House of Representatives elections right here in Jimeta, Yola North, yet you dare say Binani is not a popular politician. Not only that, check figures of the 2019 election results across all political parties for Adamawa Central Zone, you will see the votes Binani obtained compared to all others who contested all elections in the Zone. If you have any shame, that should humble you as to whether or not Binani is a popular politician.
We are aware of the middleman role you are playing with power mongers in Abuja and your marabout godfather. A time will soon come when such treachery shall be exposed. If you are willing to sell your conscience at a price because your preferred candidate woefully lost primary election, this time around, we APC foot soldiers will not tolerate such betrayal of our party from you, we dare you to contest an election in your registered voting ward in Jimeta for the post of a councilor and see the result.
Finally, supporters and youths as APC Vanguard are closely watching you. A word is enough for the wise. We can no longer tolerate your level of political arrogance. Not here in Jimeta anymore