Northern governors in trouble over PDP primaries
Saturday, 22 January 2011 00:00 Ahmed Tahir Ajobe, Abuja & Lawal Ibrahim, Katsina, Ismail Mudashiru, Kaduna, Mahmud Lalo, Jos, Ahmed Mohammed, Bauchi, Ibrahim Abdul’Aziz, Yola
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THE Governors
The defeat of the former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar by President Goodluck Jonathan during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Primary Thursday, January 13 has left a sour taste in many mouths across the north. Jonathan beat the former vice president by a landslide, polling 2,763 votes against 803 for Atiku. Although some observers had predicted that Atiku might lost at the primary to the incumbent citing several factors, especially the power of incumbency, no one thought Atiku’s loss would be greeted by such disquiet. Atiku’s loss at the primaries, where he even lost his home state, was not only humiliating to him but also it was the humbling of the Northern geopolitical zone which had not only dictated the political dynamics of the country but also dominated it for several decades.
Atiku’s emergence
Atiku emerged after several weeks of painstaking selection process by the Adamu Ciroma-led committee which was mandated by the four Northern PDP presidential aspirants of General Ibrahim Babangida, Governor Bukola Saraki and General Aliyu Mohamed Gusau to help them decide on a consensus candidate in order to approach the PDP primary election with a common front in defence of the party’s zoning arrangement, under which the North is supposed to produce the president until 2015.
Discordant tunes had trailed the emergence of the consensus candidate, with the anti-zoning elements in the North disowning the arrangement. Analysts were not surprised by the controversy over the consensus issue. The North and its elders had been divided over whether or not power should return to the zone after the completion of Yar’adua/Goodluck ticket in 2011. The zoning issue also spited the zone’s elite, producing two political associations, the Northern Elders’ Political Forum and Northern Political Summit Group with each fighting for and against the formula. The pro- zoning group led by Alhaji Adamu Ciroma are Alhaji M.D. Yusuf and former Senate President, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, former Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, former Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Agriculture and Action Congress Chieftain, Professor Ango Abdullahi, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Retired Air Vice Marshal Hamza Abdullahi among others, while the anti-zoning working for the jettisoning of the power sharing arrangement are former PDP Chairman Chief Solomon Lar, Special Adviser to the President, Special Duties, Senator Isaiah Balat, Professor Jerry Gana, former Governor of Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu and former presidential candidate, Chief Barnabas Gemade among others.
Governors as beautiful brides
As the pro- and anti-zoning elements slug it out, the governors of the 19 states that made up the zone became the beautiful brides each camp reaches out to for support. At the Kaduna meeting of the Northern Governors Forum in July last year, The Northern Elders’ Political Forum led by the former Inspector General of Police, Alhaji M.D Yusuf, and another group led by Senator Isaiah Balat and Chief Solomon Lar argued for and against abandoning the zoning formula.
The three All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Governors Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano, Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe and Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno have made it clear they have nothing to do with the zoning arrangement, saying zoning is a PDP affair. Thousands of youths from the zone under the aegis of Coalition of Northern Youth Groups and Associations also staged a mass rally to forestall any attempt by the 19 Northern governors to trade off the zoning agreement. The co-ordinator of the coalition, Barrister Ibrahim Waya, told newsmen in Kaduna then that youth from the zone were worried about the stand against the zoning of the presidency after the south had taken its turn for eight years. He said: “This rally is to caution northern governors not to trade off subsisting agreement in exchange for their continuity in office.”
The betrayal
The appeal by the youth coalition and several months of intense lobbying not withstanding, some of the governors who earlier voted for the retention of the zoning formula retraced their steps. After what analysts described as high- wire politics and intrigues from Jonathan’s camp, the rank of pro-Jonathan’s governors swell with some openly drumming support for the president. However the NEPF kept the pressure on the governors to support the cause of the zone, especially with the emergence of the consensus candidate. Re-election carrots were said to have been dangled before the governors serving their first term, while incentives such as Senate seats and immunity from the anti-graft agencies were handed to those who have served their two terms. Recalcitrant ones were said to have been outrightly intimidated into submission. The governorship primary was the sure opportunity for Jonathan to boost his chances of clinching the party’s presidential ticket.
All the first-timers were returned amid protest by opponents. In addition, both the first and second timers were given free hands to anoint their own into all the seats from the state assembly up to the Senate. The gestures were reciprocated at the Eagle Square, Friday January 14, where delegates from all the states in the North, excerpt four voted overwhelmingly for Jonathan. The defeat, analysts say is significant in that Jonathan cleared every single state in the North East, thereby grabbing 100 percent in the area strategic to the former vice president with little resistance only in Bauchi.
In the North West which is the second largest voting block in the country after the South West, Jonathan won in three of the seven states, losing Kano, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi States. Jonathan also won all the North Central states except Babangida Aliyu’s Niger where former President Ibrahim Babangida, a staunch pro-zoning contender holds sway.
The protests
The consequence of what many described as the betrayal of the zone by their governors was unprecedented and spontaneous. The preceding morning of Saturday, January 15th, youths in their thousands troops into major streets in Katsina, the home state of late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua. Like wild fire, the protest spread to Jigawa, Adamawa, Benue and down to Kaduna, the home state of Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo.
In Kaduna the protest started with a threat by youths from across the 19 northern states which converge at the Arewa House, the office of late Northern Icon, Sir Ahamdu Bello, Sardauna Sokoto. They threatened to “deal” with all the governors in the region that “intimidated” delegates to vote against former Vice President Atiku Abubakar during the primaries.
They were brought together by the Arewa Citizens Action for Change (ACAC), Arewa Youth Development Foundation and the Arewa Students Forum. Making their stand on the issue known, the National Secretary of ACAC, Comrade Sani M. Darma blamed the governors of the region for the inability of Alhaji Atiku to clinch the party ticket. According to them, “ The primaries was a total charade, characterised by intimidation of delegates, fraudulent accreditation and deliberate increase of delegates slots in states strategically designed to garner votes for Goodluck Jonathan. The exercise is a complete sham and does not represent the aspiration of our people.’’
The youths who barricaded the ever busy WAFF Road for some time created tension in the state as passersby scampered for safety. The youth, who came on motorcycles, were chanting “Ba mu son PDP,’’ meaning they don’t want PDP. Speaking to Weekly Trust, one of the protesting youths, Adamu Mohammed said they decided to denounce the PDP following the way the party conducted the presidential primaries.
The socio-cultural organization of the region, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) also expressed reservation on the outcome of primaries. “ACF is not expected to celebrate over the outcome of PDP presidential primaries, considering the fact that the party did not heed ACF’s appeal that all political parties should copy what happened in 1999 and field their candidates from the northern part of the country in the interest of national harmony, stability and unity.
“The conduct of the Presidential primaries appeared transparent, what is not clear to ACF is whether the delegates had the freedom to vote according to the judgment and mandate of their individual constituencies,’’ the forum, through its National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani said. On the protest in the North over the presidential primaries, the Forum says, “They are protesting because the outcome does not reflect the aspiration of the people. And this may be because the delegates represented the governors instead of their people in the primaries.”
In Katsina State, dissatisfaction and anger continued to trail the conduct of the presidential primaries, posing a threat to the return of Governor Ibrahim Shema as the governor of the state. Anti-PDP text messages are being circulated even as religious leaders maintain their campaigns against the voting pattern of Katsina delegates in the mosques.
Although the fallout of the presidential primaries did not lead to protests in Plateau State, the general mood is that of disappointment. Alhaji Tijjani Musawa, a PDP chieftain who decamped to the Labour Party (LP) prior to the presidential primaries, said the Goodluck-Sambo campaign team have no cause to celebrate. He said the protest is only the beginning, paving the way for protest votes that will come from the North during the general elections.
A youth group known as the National Democratic Movement for Politics Without Bitterness in Nigeria on its part also flayed the way and manner the presidential primaries were conducted. Speaking with Weekly Trust, the president of the association, Comrade Sanusi Inuwa Mai Gado said the whole process of the conduct of the election was marred with irregularities.
Another youth group, the Arewa Citizen Action for Change (ACAC) also decried what it called the betrayal by state delegates including governors from the North during the PDP presidential primary. Speaking to Weekly Trust, Director, Media and Publicity of the group, Manshak Y. Harrison said the group is going to mobilize the youths to ensure that a credible candidate from the North is voted into the office of the presidency adding that what the governors and other delegates from the North did during the primary does not reflect the wishes of the average man in the region.
In Nasarawa State, there is widespread discontent among stakeholders of the PDP including some of the 64 delegates who participated in the presidential primaries in Abuja on January 13, in what is threatening protest votes both for Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma and President Goodluck Jonathan at the respective polls in April. Some of the delegates who pleaded anonymity said they voted against their wishes.
But speaking to Weekly Trust, some aides of the governors were unanimous that what happened at the Eagle Square was democracy in action, noting that the state delegates voted the way they did because they were against dividing Nigeria along tribal and religious lines.
They alleged that they were offered $7,000 by agents of Governor Doma, with threats to vote Jonathan or be victimized. They added that at the Eagle’s Square, venue of the primaries, Jonathan’s deputy coordinator in North-Central, Senator Walid Jibrin who hails from the state, collected and thumb-printed ballot papers on behalf of most delegates including the state party chairman, Yunana Iliya before protest among them stopped him.
This is just as other stakeholders alleged that delegates from the state were handpicked by Government House and imposed on the party. This allegation came particularly from Awe Local Government where two party men – one after the other, were given forms to fill as delegates, only for the doors to be shut in their face because of suspicion that they favoured Atiku Abubakar. Abdullahi Igbo, coordinator for Atiku in the state gave their names as Hudu Azara and Usman Akiri.
Hudu Azara spoke to Weekly Trust on phone, corroborated the allegations of Igbo. He alleged that he was given a delegate form by the party, but after he filled the document and returned it, he was told that Government House was already considering a different person. “At the end of the day, they handpicked another person, Zakari Yakubu. Azara added that from that day, he left the PDP, saying: “I am 51 now. I can not subject myself to such manipulations. I had to leave even though I am a founding member. PDP is not a religion.”
Former PDP chairman in Keana Local Government Area, Musa Dahiru described Governor Doma as “a war commander.” Dahiru said Doma ordered them to take this way, and they followed. He was working to win the war for his commander-in-chief. He said, however, that the April general elections are a different ball game where “if the one-man, one-vote slogan” will count, Doma and Jonathan will meet the wrath of the voters who will express their feelings through thumbprints.
But Senator Walid Jibrin, who spoke to Weekly Trust denied all allegations, saying they do not apply at all. “Tell me, is it possible in this present day Nigeria, and at an open place like Eagle Square, for anybody who was not forced, to submit his ballot paper for another person to thumbprint for him? Even the allegation of bribery does not apply. It was not the gubernatorial election, so why would he be bribing anybody?”
Apart from the threat over the outcome of the presidential primaries, analysts also believe that another obstacle the governors may face in the coming election is that of PDP members which were displaced from the state and the National Assembly during the primaries.
Leading figures, such as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Prof Jibril Aminu, who sought the party’s return ticket and Nigeria’s High Commissioner to South Africa retired Brig. Gen Buba Marwa who wanted its governorship ticket, were forced to drop out of the contest at the last minute to avoid humiliating defeat. From all indications, Nyako will have the lost primaries, including Atiku, to contend with in the polls but those who defected having seen the sign of defeat will also gang up with the rest of the aggrieved against him. According to informed sources, arrangement to field an alternative to wrestle power from the retired naval officer has since begun. Such mobilisations are ongoing in all the states, across the zone. Like one of the young Kaduna protesters, Saleh, said of the “erring” governors: “Their goose is cooked and they are in hot water.
Share
THE Governors
The defeat of the former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar by President Goodluck Jonathan during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Primary Thursday, January 13 has left a sour taste in many mouths across the north. Jonathan beat the former vice president by a landslide, polling 2,763 votes against 803 for Atiku. Although some observers had predicted that Atiku might lost at the primary to the incumbent citing several factors, especially the power of incumbency, no one thought Atiku’s loss would be greeted by such disquiet. Atiku’s loss at the primaries, where he even lost his home state, was not only humiliating to him but also it was the humbling of the Northern geopolitical zone which had not only dictated the political dynamics of the country but also dominated it for several decades.
Atiku’s emergence
Atiku emerged after several weeks of painstaking selection process by the Adamu Ciroma-led committee which was mandated by the four Northern PDP presidential aspirants of General Ibrahim Babangida, Governor Bukola Saraki and General Aliyu Mohamed Gusau to help them decide on a consensus candidate in order to approach the PDP primary election with a common front in defence of the party’s zoning arrangement, under which the North is supposed to produce the president until 2015.
Discordant tunes had trailed the emergence of the consensus candidate, with the anti-zoning elements in the North disowning the arrangement. Analysts were not surprised by the controversy over the consensus issue. The North and its elders had been divided over whether or not power should return to the zone after the completion of Yar’adua/Goodluck ticket in 2011. The zoning issue also spited the zone’s elite, producing two political associations, the Northern Elders’ Political Forum and Northern Political Summit Group with each fighting for and against the formula. The pro- zoning group led by Alhaji Adamu Ciroma are Alhaji M.D. Yusuf and former Senate President, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, former Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, former Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Agriculture and Action Congress Chieftain, Professor Ango Abdullahi, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Retired Air Vice Marshal Hamza Abdullahi among others, while the anti-zoning working for the jettisoning of the power sharing arrangement are former PDP Chairman Chief Solomon Lar, Special Adviser to the President, Special Duties, Senator Isaiah Balat, Professor Jerry Gana, former Governor of Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu and former presidential candidate, Chief Barnabas Gemade among others.
Governors as beautiful brides
As the pro- and anti-zoning elements slug it out, the governors of the 19 states that made up the zone became the beautiful brides each camp reaches out to for support. At the Kaduna meeting of the Northern Governors Forum in July last year, The Northern Elders’ Political Forum led by the former Inspector General of Police, Alhaji M.D Yusuf, and another group led by Senator Isaiah Balat and Chief Solomon Lar argued for and against abandoning the zoning formula.
The three All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Governors Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano, Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe and Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno have made it clear they have nothing to do with the zoning arrangement, saying zoning is a PDP affair. Thousands of youths from the zone under the aegis of Coalition of Northern Youth Groups and Associations also staged a mass rally to forestall any attempt by the 19 Northern governors to trade off the zoning agreement. The co-ordinator of the coalition, Barrister Ibrahim Waya, told newsmen in Kaduna then that youth from the zone were worried about the stand against the zoning of the presidency after the south had taken its turn for eight years. He said: “This rally is to caution northern governors not to trade off subsisting agreement in exchange for their continuity in office.”
The betrayal
The appeal by the youth coalition and several months of intense lobbying not withstanding, some of the governors who earlier voted for the retention of the zoning formula retraced their steps. After what analysts described as high- wire politics and intrigues from Jonathan’s camp, the rank of pro-Jonathan’s governors swell with some openly drumming support for the president. However the NEPF kept the pressure on the governors to support the cause of the zone, especially with the emergence of the consensus candidate. Re-election carrots were said to have been dangled before the governors serving their first term, while incentives such as Senate seats and immunity from the anti-graft agencies were handed to those who have served their two terms. Recalcitrant ones were said to have been outrightly intimidated into submission. The governorship primary was the sure opportunity for Jonathan to boost his chances of clinching the party’s presidential ticket.
All the first-timers were returned amid protest by opponents. In addition, both the first and second timers were given free hands to anoint their own into all the seats from the state assembly up to the Senate. The gestures were reciprocated at the Eagle Square, Friday January 14, where delegates from all the states in the North, excerpt four voted overwhelmingly for Jonathan. The defeat, analysts say is significant in that Jonathan cleared every single state in the North East, thereby grabbing 100 percent in the area strategic to the former vice president with little resistance only in Bauchi.
In the North West which is the second largest voting block in the country after the South West, Jonathan won in three of the seven states, losing Kano, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi States. Jonathan also won all the North Central states except Babangida Aliyu’s Niger where former President Ibrahim Babangida, a staunch pro-zoning contender holds sway.
The protests
The consequence of what many described as the betrayal of the zone by their governors was unprecedented and spontaneous. The preceding morning of Saturday, January 15th, youths in their thousands troops into major streets in Katsina, the home state of late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua. Like wild fire, the protest spread to Jigawa, Adamawa, Benue and down to Kaduna, the home state of Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo.
In Kaduna the protest started with a threat by youths from across the 19 northern states which converge at the Arewa House, the office of late Northern Icon, Sir Ahamdu Bello, Sardauna Sokoto. They threatened to “deal” with all the governors in the region that “intimidated” delegates to vote against former Vice President Atiku Abubakar during the primaries.
They were brought together by the Arewa Citizens Action for Change (ACAC), Arewa Youth Development Foundation and the Arewa Students Forum. Making their stand on the issue known, the National Secretary of ACAC, Comrade Sani M. Darma blamed the governors of the region for the inability of Alhaji Atiku to clinch the party ticket. According to them, “ The primaries was a total charade, characterised by intimidation of delegates, fraudulent accreditation and deliberate increase of delegates slots in states strategically designed to garner votes for Goodluck Jonathan. The exercise is a complete sham and does not represent the aspiration of our people.’’
The youths who barricaded the ever busy WAFF Road for some time created tension in the state as passersby scampered for safety. The youth, who came on motorcycles, were chanting “Ba mu son PDP,’’ meaning they don’t want PDP. Speaking to Weekly Trust, one of the protesting youths, Adamu Mohammed said they decided to denounce the PDP following the way the party conducted the presidential primaries.
The socio-cultural organization of the region, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) also expressed reservation on the outcome of primaries. “ACF is not expected to celebrate over the outcome of PDP presidential primaries, considering the fact that the party did not heed ACF’s appeal that all political parties should copy what happened in 1999 and field their candidates from the northern part of the country in the interest of national harmony, stability and unity.
“The conduct of the Presidential primaries appeared transparent, what is not clear to ACF is whether the delegates had the freedom to vote according to the judgment and mandate of their individual constituencies,’’ the forum, through its National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani said. On the protest in the North over the presidential primaries, the Forum says, “They are protesting because the outcome does not reflect the aspiration of the people. And this may be because the delegates represented the governors instead of their people in the primaries.”
In Katsina State, dissatisfaction and anger continued to trail the conduct of the presidential primaries, posing a threat to the return of Governor Ibrahim Shema as the governor of the state. Anti-PDP text messages are being circulated even as religious leaders maintain their campaigns against the voting pattern of Katsina delegates in the mosques.
Although the fallout of the presidential primaries did not lead to protests in Plateau State, the general mood is that of disappointment. Alhaji Tijjani Musawa, a PDP chieftain who decamped to the Labour Party (LP) prior to the presidential primaries, said the Goodluck-Sambo campaign team have no cause to celebrate. He said the protest is only the beginning, paving the way for protest votes that will come from the North during the general elections.
A youth group known as the National Democratic Movement for Politics Without Bitterness in Nigeria on its part also flayed the way and manner the presidential primaries were conducted. Speaking with Weekly Trust, the president of the association, Comrade Sanusi Inuwa Mai Gado said the whole process of the conduct of the election was marred with irregularities.
Another youth group, the Arewa Citizen Action for Change (ACAC) also decried what it called the betrayal by state delegates including governors from the North during the PDP presidential primary. Speaking to Weekly Trust, Director, Media and Publicity of the group, Manshak Y. Harrison said the group is going to mobilize the youths to ensure that a credible candidate from the North is voted into the office of the presidency adding that what the governors and other delegates from the North did during the primary does not reflect the wishes of the average man in the region.
In Nasarawa State, there is widespread discontent among stakeholders of the PDP including some of the 64 delegates who participated in the presidential primaries in Abuja on January 13, in what is threatening protest votes both for Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma and President Goodluck Jonathan at the respective polls in April. Some of the delegates who pleaded anonymity said they voted against their wishes.
But speaking to Weekly Trust, some aides of the governors were unanimous that what happened at the Eagle Square was democracy in action, noting that the state delegates voted the way they did because they were against dividing Nigeria along tribal and religious lines.
They alleged that they were offered $7,000 by agents of Governor Doma, with threats to vote Jonathan or be victimized. They added that at the Eagle’s Square, venue of the primaries, Jonathan’s deputy coordinator in North-Central, Senator Walid Jibrin who hails from the state, collected and thumb-printed ballot papers on behalf of most delegates including the state party chairman, Yunana Iliya before protest among them stopped him.
This is just as other stakeholders alleged that delegates from the state were handpicked by Government House and imposed on the party. This allegation came particularly from Awe Local Government where two party men – one after the other, were given forms to fill as delegates, only for the doors to be shut in their face because of suspicion that they favoured Atiku Abubakar. Abdullahi Igbo, coordinator for Atiku in the state gave their names as Hudu Azara and Usman Akiri.
Hudu Azara spoke to Weekly Trust on phone, corroborated the allegations of Igbo. He alleged that he was given a delegate form by the party, but after he filled the document and returned it, he was told that Government House was already considering a different person. “At the end of the day, they handpicked another person, Zakari Yakubu. Azara added that from that day, he left the PDP, saying: “I am 51 now. I can not subject myself to such manipulations. I had to leave even though I am a founding member. PDP is not a religion.”
Former PDP chairman in Keana Local Government Area, Musa Dahiru described Governor Doma as “a war commander.” Dahiru said Doma ordered them to take this way, and they followed. He was working to win the war for his commander-in-chief. He said, however, that the April general elections are a different ball game where “if the one-man, one-vote slogan” will count, Doma and Jonathan will meet the wrath of the voters who will express their feelings through thumbprints.
But Senator Walid Jibrin, who spoke to Weekly Trust denied all allegations, saying they do not apply at all. “Tell me, is it possible in this present day Nigeria, and at an open place like Eagle Square, for anybody who was not forced, to submit his ballot paper for another person to thumbprint for him? Even the allegation of bribery does not apply. It was not the gubernatorial election, so why would he be bribing anybody?”
Apart from the threat over the outcome of the presidential primaries, analysts also believe that another obstacle the governors may face in the coming election is that of PDP members which were displaced from the state and the National Assembly during the primaries.
Leading figures, such as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Prof Jibril Aminu, who sought the party’s return ticket and Nigeria’s High Commissioner to South Africa retired Brig. Gen Buba Marwa who wanted its governorship ticket, were forced to drop out of the contest at the last minute to avoid humiliating defeat. From all indications, Nyako will have the lost primaries, including Atiku, to contend with in the polls but those who defected having seen the sign of defeat will also gang up with the rest of the aggrieved against him. According to informed sources, arrangement to field an alternative to wrestle power from the retired naval officer has since begun. Such mobilisations are ongoing in all the states, across the zone. Like one of the young Kaduna protesters, Saleh, said of the “erring” governors: “Their goose is cooked and they are in hot water.
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