By Safwan Bin Abdallah
As a young person I have always lived by two principles of life. To respect elders/ leaders and to always speak the truth and defend it no matter what hardships it can cause me. So after listening to the defence put up by Comrade Salihu Mustapha for his callous statement following Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani’s stepping aside from being the state coordinator of the Tinubu/Shetima campaign council, I was torn between keeping mute out of respect and stating the facts as opposed to the falsehood used as defence.
I almost opted to keep quiet when suddenly I started seeing some apologists also re-echoing the same falsehood as justification for the statement.
An following the path of the philosophy that evil triumphs when good men remain mute over rumours and obnoxious fallacy going round as much as Wole Soyinka would poetically point out that “the man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny”.
The greatest tragedy that can befall a system is for leaders to listen to sycophants who sing their praises and tell them that everything they say or do is always correct.
Leaders are human and they are bound to make mistakes. In this case, Comrade Salihu Mustapha has made a very big mistake and those urging him to make more mistakes are enemies of the system.
And for anyone with a sense of rationality, here are reasons to know that the statements issued by Salihu Mustapha are obnoxious fallacy, insensitive, dishonest highly divisive and Sali-hallucinated calculated kind of callousness.
Salihu said he wanted to clarify the fact that Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani did not step aside, she was removed. And his apologists kept re-echoing these narratives.
Let us assume for the sake of argument that the Senator was removed. The begging questions are:
Who were the appointing authority? Who should have removed her? Who should challenge her if she gives wrong information on the matter?
The answers in one to all the three questions is the ‘Presidential Campaign Council’
Definitely it was not the National Secretariat of the party to which comrade Salihu Mustapha belongs as NWC member that made the appointment. So, why was he the purveyor of the supposed clarification?
But let us also for the sake of argument accept that the National Secretariat had a hand in the appointment and removal of the Senator as the state coordinator. The questions begging for answers in that case are
- Who is responsible for the Secretariat duties of the party, a Vice Chairman or the National Secretary?
- If a statement of refutal is to come from the National Secretariat, should it come from a spokesperson in this case the Publicity Secretary or a Vice Chairman?
In both cases the answer is not and cannot be the National Vice Chairman.
There are constitutional, procedural and civilized ways to address such matters. But if they are treated whimsically by the feelings of an individual, then it becomes dangerous.
If legal and procedural processes are to be breached at will by people in authority just for the simple reason of being in authority, then society would definitely be ruled by tyrants with anarchical manifesto.
The most responsible thing expected of the National Vice Chairman Northaast would have been to admit the following, that;
- He made a mistake and over-reached himself by issuing the divisive statement he issued.
- In order to make amends he has decided to issue an apology for creating an unnecessary controversy instead of being a moderating voice in the State.
The current arrogance displayed by him and his supporters and the retinue of sychophants urging him to believe he was right even when the facts speak otherwise is not good even for him.
As for us, despite all that is happening in the party in Adamawa State, we believe that the APC will overcome it’s challenges and have a popular gubernatorial candidate and in fact, win the 2023 elections.
But to achieve this, leaders with their supporters must commit to honest honoured peace and sincere reconciliation. However, if the National Vice Chairman is too deeply engulfed in the factionalization of the Adamawa APC, then the National Secretariat must wade in and broker peace.
Things cannot be allowed to continue like this. Truth must be told and must be defended at all times; we must not fall apart because other people’s perceived, rather selfish centre could centrally get to hold and would want all to join them in their no longer at ease. At least there should be a spirit of sensibility even in the realm of scandal.