Kaduna APC’s Dubious Reconciliation Offer, Coming Too Late To Save The Party
The Oasis Reporters
July 19, 2018
Gov. Nasir El-Rufai (top left) is alleged to have ordered the property agency to demolish Sen. Suleiman Hunkuyi’s house due to their bitter political rivalry. Now, he seems to want reconciliation.
When there was still time and time was not far spent, our people raised their voices against the dangerous path the dictatorship in Sir Kashim Ibrahim House was journeying on. But because they were wrapped in a thick blanket of absolute power and impunity, they were too inebriated with that intoxicant which power is to harken to any wise council.
The dictatorship rather adopted a belligerent policy of name calling, intimidation, physical harassment and blackmail. This strategy yielded more opponents for the dictatorship. It is obvious that we have come full circle and it does appear that the realities of the time are beginning to manifest. Information is beginning to filter through that the regime is belatedly embarking on a reconciliation effort intended to woo back disenchanted members but the question now arises:
Who is going to reconcile who?
Is there anything worthy of a reconciliation effort?
The party went on long into the night and dawn is not far off because the roosters are beginning to announce the breaking of a new day. We are aware too that a rickety reconciliation team membered by some political none starters from Southern Kaduna has been assigned the arduous task of scavenging from the backyards of our members who because of disenchantment with the style of leadership had either abandoned ship or were verging on doing so. These characters are sure going to hit a concrete wall. I am cognizant of the fact that the times have not been harder and the requirement to put bread on the table is above anything else.
To our members going through these hard times which as it were was caused by the same contraption masquerading as our leaders, collect all that is offered you but hold your ground.
You may be given promises of employment or contracts but you have heard this before and the term is almost ending without something to show.
If they could not deliver on their earlier promises, why would any sane mind believe that they can deliver now?
I have reasonably been briefed that the focus of this dubious reconciliation effort are members of the Reformed All Progressive Congress in the Southern part of the State. Our members will certainly not be quick to forgetting that the dictatorship deliberately and on purpose excluded them from all the elections that were said to have taken place in Kaduna State. Of course we in the R-APC conducted our own parallel elections including the Congresses but none of these was recognized by the APC National leadership acting at the instance of the dictatorship. Believing that there has been this grand design to frustrate us out of the APC our leadership at the highest level began to discuss among themselves leading to the formation of the R-APC.
Now that the sun is about setting for the doomed APC, there is desperation everywhere particularly in Kaduna State to the extent the regime is wooing back some individuals it forgot it had earlier suspended from the State chapter of the Party. Had the dictatorship seen any wisdom in the Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu reconciliation committee set up much earlier by the President in the wake of the insane demolition of 2 properties belonging to very important stakeholders of the Party in Kaduna, perhaps we would not have passed through this dirt road. As things now stand, the dice is already cast and we are patiently waiting for this dubious regime to expire its tenure so that the people of Kaduna State can chart a new course.
The frustration is so palpable that you can feel it in almost every corner of town. What else will the people feel about a government they voted to power, only for that same government to turn around treating the people with such contempt? We are inching towards the time when these same characters come around seeking your votes while promising to build heaven here on earth. Laugh them off with ignominy and align yourselves with politicians of repute and those with the understanding that democracy belongs to the people and who therefore will let the people play in their own game without any manipulation by those who are only temporarily in power.
I recall advising a friend who had deployed much of his personal wealth to give life to this regime in Kaduna but who was abandoned only to be called up much later and assigned to some dirty job to take heart and try to recoup his losses while it lasted. As far as we are concerned this regime is gone and its history is being chronicled. Those concerned with the chronicling must not spare the hashes of words in describing how thoroughly dictatorial and depraved this government has been.
It is important to undertake this task because history is a storehouse in which lessons for the future could be exhumed. By the way, only sane people read history but to the demented, it means nothing which is why some characters will wake up on a good day pouring invectives on our forebears accusing them of not doing much for our dear nation. Such include the character who will recommend that whoever was not happy with his style of leadership should journey to the summit of Kufena Hill in Zaria and take a dive. These loose cannons include them that pull down people’s dwellings including those of ” The Wretched of the Earth ,” without feeling any quilt.
The present regime in Kaduna State still holds an ace in just one area to the extent that it controls the resources accruing to the State but even at that, it is doomed because our people have rejected it. They will deploy the huge financial resources at their disposal to lure the gullible to their side. My honest advice is if they offer you money please collect as much as is on offer but stand for what your conscience demands of you. Reconciliation or any effort resembling it this late in the day is coming too late to save it.
Written by Col. Gora Dauda (rtd)
R-APC Chairman in Kaduna State, North West Nigeria.
