All is well that ends
well was the response of the generality of the people of Kebbi state
to the final determination of the election petition against Governor
Saidu Usman Dakingari in his favour after protracted legal battles.
In all honesty, not a few people regarded the petition filed by the
DPP as a barefaced effort to grab political power through the
back-door in view of the overwhelming political superiority and
acceptability of Governor Dakingari as evidenced by the results of
the governorship election. However, because of the sometimes
stunning verdicts of various election tribunals there was a palpable
fear that the judges were not after all beyond manipulation and the
DPP’s hopes seemed to have been brightened by the possibility of
staging a judicial coup d’etat. At the end of the day and after
several somersaults, even the judicial process could not but
acknowledge the genuineness of Dakingari’s election victory.
Since his success at the polls as well as the courts, Governor Saidu
Dakingari has set about the task of governance with all seriousness
and despite his acclaimed humility he has left no one in doubt about
his ability to govern, nor his commitment to the progress and
development of Kebbi state. This is hardly surprising given the fact
that Governor Dakingari was literally anointed by none other than
his predecessor, Senator Adamu Aliero, whose political dexterity and
leadership acumen was solely responsible for carving out both Kebbi
and Sokoto states from the ANPP stable into the PDP fold, thereby
reconnecting the people of this vast area with the mainstream
politics. It was well known that Saidu Dakingari himself enjoyed an
effortless ride to power in Kebbi state because Aliero had secured
all the factors necessary for such an outcome. As a result,
Dakingari had the benefit of close counseling and reliable track
record in governance-for-development which proved extremely helpful
in a successful take-off and early entrenchment in the power
dynamics of the state.
Perhaps, Dakingari’s apparent lack of political stature prior to his
anointment by Aliero was seen as a weak link by some political
opportunists, because he had hardly settled down to the onerous task
of governance when an orchestrated campaign was unleashed by some of
his aides ostensibly devoted to securing a second-term for him by
creating a personality cult around him and literally cutting off his
political umbilical cord with Senator Aliero. Whether they embarked
on this project with Dakingari’s consent or not, it became a matter
of great concern to the major stakeholders in the Kebbi State PDP
that the seeds of discord and disloyalty were being sown so early in
the tenure of Dakingari. The consensus was that those behind such an
agenda could only be motivated by selfish interest and certainly not
the interest of Governor Dakingari or Kebbi state.
The seriousness with which the party leaders and stakeholders viewed
the activities of the small band of rabble-rousers resulted in the
drastic disciplinary action taken by the Kebbi state PDP saw to the
suspension of the main characters involved in such a diabolical
plot, preparatory to their expulsion from both the party and the
government appointments as aides of the governor. Contrary to the
propaganda suggesting the tacit support of Governor Dakingari for
the so-called second term campaign, the Kebbi state PDP encountered
no objection whatsoever from the governor in the deliberations and
consultations that preceded the expulsion of the culprits from the
party and even approved the immediate stoppage of payment of salary
to the affected aides. The scale of the punitive measures taken
against them was seen to be commensurate to the level of mischief
they embarked upon as they went to the extent of printing and
distributing pamphlets to promote their objectives of pitching
Governor Dakingari against Senator Aliero and ultimately tearing the
Kebbi state PDP into factions. Indeed, their action had already
attracted an opposite reaction from the majority of loyal and
law-abiding party members who deemed it appropriate to rally round
Senator Aliero and the state party leaders with their own outfit.
The prompt action taken by the party outlawing the emerging groups
definitely nipped their plot in the bud and saved the state PDP from
imminent division and potentially violent factionalisation.
In the fall-out from the aborted plot, some interesting revelations
were made which confirmed that the entire scheme was hatched by
known enemies of progress of Kebbi state politics, led by a failed
politician who was in the House of Representatives to represent
himself rather than the people of his constituency as he earned the
distinction of never contributing to debates and deliberations of
the House. He was rewarded by total rejection by his constituency
and party and even when he sought to go to the Senate under the
platform of an emergency party, the people denied him and his party
crumbled under his crashed ambition. Seeing how he had lost on all
fronts and yet anxious to have a political recognition of some sort,
he instigated the gullible among Governor Dakingari’s aides to start
the so-called second term campaign so that a gulf can be created
between Dakingari and Aliero where he can now fit in as agent
provocateur. It turned out that neither the DPP nor the ANPP were
behind the plot, rather it was this notorious failed politician and
his recruits who have no political stake but a huge inordinate
ambition to reap where they did not sow. No wonder the whole plot
crumbled and the culprits were treated with ignominy without any
effect on the existing solidarity of the ruling PDP.
Unknown to the plotters, Governor Dakingari has never contemplated a
situation that would make him bite the fingers that fed him as far
as his current political stature is concerned. He has therefore
remained openly loyal to Senator Aliero whom he consistently defers
to and consults regularly for advice in the firm belief that the
exemplary human relationship that has kept them together long before
political calculations were made is much more valuable and
honourable to be sacrificed on the altar of temporary political
power. Senator Aliero on his part and in keeping with his reputation
as a calm and mature political leader has remained the good mentor
that he is to Governor Dakingari, giving advice where necessary but
leaving the governor to exercise his executive powers as he deems
fit, confident that Governor Dakingari has the competence and
capacity to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people of
Kebbi state - which is the ultimate challenge he faces. The issue of
second term or not is after all not going to be decided by
hero-worshippers, neither will it be decided by the diktat of
Senator Aliero whose emergence as the defacto political godfather of
Kebbi and Sokoto politics is the result of his impressive eight-year
tenure as Kebbi state Governor, during which he proved to be more
resourceful as a leader than all his predecessors combined. It will
therefore be entirely up to Governor Saidu Dakingari himself to keep
the flag of progressive development flying high throughout his first
term so that the people of Kebbi state will unanimously decide his
fate. Senator Aliero will be doing a disservice to his own political
pre-eminence as well as the much-needed progress and development of
Kebbi state should he do anything to promote mediocrity instead of
merit or to usurp the right of the people to decide who their leader
will be. In the same vein, Governor Dakingari will definitely want
to be associated with the progressive and people-oriented legacy
established by Aliero than to be cajoled by sycophants and allied
courtiers into building himself instead of Kebbi state.
It is worth pointing out that there is no opposition in Kebbi state
owing to the marvelous job of uniting and consolidating the
political estate of Kebbi state into one solid edifice undertaken by
Senator Aliero as a mark of his fatherly disposition and
positively-inclined perception of politics. The history of bloody
clashed between PDP and ANPP was conclusively terminated in the
process as was the era of meaningless opposition politics which
denied Kebbi state as well as Sokoto state a more beneficial
position in the national arena. The people of Kebbi and Sokoto
states are therefore one solid block of peace-loving and development
oriented people who are also now part and parcel of the major
political stakeholders in NIGERIA INCORPORATED. Those trying to
mischievously send Governor Dakingari on an ego trip in order to
crack the wall of political solidarity will be disappointed as the
bold writing on the wall is there for all to see and digest. They
are only trying to deploy diversionary tactics against Governor
Dakingari’s commitment to enthrone continuity instead of conflict in
the interest of uninterrupted development of the people of Kebbi
state. The detractors can continue fanning embers of conflict
through sponsored media campaigns but they will have neither
relevance nor impact on the real politik of Kebbi state or the
awesome people-oriented political machinery established by Senator
Adamu Aliero. Shikenan !
MAITUSHE writes from Birnin-Kebbi.
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