Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
In Taraba State, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the main opposition party in the state, All Progressives Congress (APC) may likely experience major shakeups that could redefine their respective fortunes, if they fail to address the massive irregularities that characterised their recent party primaries.
The PDP held her primaries first and was widely condemned for alleged imposition of candidates for most elective positions; it was trailed by confusion from the party leaders and also unraveled what some referred to as a grand conspiracy by a section of the state to exert dominance over others.
A political analyst, Kelvin Obida, said the leader of the party in the state, Governor Darius Ishaku has shown serious lack of coordination in his obvious confusion in picking a successor and candidates for other various political positions in the state, leading to the unprecedented confusion surrounding the party’s primaries.
“The problem is very simple. As the leader of the party in the state, the governor seemed to be totally confused. First of all, he actually does not know and understand the people of the state; so it is understandably difficult for him to understand their political leanings.
“Ordinarily, one would have expected that after running the state for over seven years, he will have a blueprint for who fits which position way ahead of the primaries. That has always been the culture so far as the PDP in Taraba State is concerned.
“As a matter of fact, most people will know who is programmed for which position and may not even bother to buy the forms. This is not like the candidates are imposed on the people but the preferred candidates are projected through deliberate party arrangement that is obvious to everyone.
“Unfortunately, that was not the case this time. The governor gave everybody hope that they were his candidate. I really don’t understand what he was playing at. At the end of the day, most of the people who lost out now feel betrayed. That is not good for the party at all”, he said.
Perhaps, the grandest of all the confusion was with the gubernatorial primaries of the party. Based on the zoning arrangement of the party that has been in place since 1999 and has seen successful transition of governorship seats across the three geopolitical zones in the state, power was supposed to rotate back to the Northern Zone where it all started.
Consequently, about five aspirants from the zone bought forms and we’re cleared to contest at the primaries. These include the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Professor Joseph Albasu Kunini, former PDP Chairman in the state, Mr Victor Bala Kona, former Accountant General of the state, Mr Aminu Ayuba Kotolo, Dr Hilkia Mafindi and Professor Jerome Nyame. Two aspirants from the Southern Zone, where the present governor comes from also bought the forms and were screened and cleared for public knowledge.
While stakeholders were even engaging the other two aspirants from the Southern zone to step down for those in the Northern Zone, the state Chairman of the party, Col. Kefas Agbu(rtd) was introduced to the race barely 72 hours to the primaries as the anointed candidate of the kingmaker in the state. Agbu is from the Southern zone same as the governor who is currently running the eighth year of the zone.
Cries by Northern Taraba Elders forum and other groups as well as individuals across the state for the state governor, Darius Ishaku, the leadership of the PDP and other stakeholders to respect the zoning arrangement fell on deaf ears. The arrangement was jettisoned. Promises were broken and trust betrayed.
Some of the aspirants were ‘persuaded’ to step down for the anointed candidate while others withdrew from the race in anger. Some simply shunned the exercise that they already considered a mere charade.
The state governor, Darius Ishaku was stunned by a section of delegates who were angry at his stance to not only deny them a level playing field, but to impose a candidate from the same zone on the people. In the end, the power of incumbency held sway and Col Kefas Agbu has become the flag bearer of the PDP in the state.
There will be room for appeals, negotiations and special arrangements though for a way forward. Analysts believe there would be reconciliation moves and how these work will determine the future of the party as there is more than just political office at stake.
A PDP chieftain who spoke to our correspondent in confidence said the move by the leadership of the party and the state governor to shortchange the Northern zone out of the governorship slot is to establish dominance over the two other zones in the state.
“It will be very difficult to come to an understanding if this travesty is allowed to stand. Cast your mind back to 2013 down to 2015 in the political calculations that led to the emergence of Governor Darius Ishaku. He is a beneficiary of the same arrangement he has jettisoned now. We fought tooth and claw to insist that power shifted to the South even when the acting governor then was from the North. As a Northern elder, we all worked with other stakeholders from the Central zone to bring him on board. Now he wants to show us that they are smarter than the rest of the people and want to impose themselves perpetually on us.
“As it stands now, we would rather go with any other political party that gives their ticket to a Northern candidate. If they lose the entire Northern Zone and most of Central zone, I don’t see how the party will win in 2023. I hope they understand the fix they are in at the moment and correct it before it is too late. The PDP has ruled the state seamlessly for over 20 years, they may just break that tread if they are not very careful”.
Meanwhile, the primaries or lack thereof of primaries in the APC in the state is a very interesting development for political observers.
The APC in the state has distanced itself from the zoning arrangement, insisting it was a PDP’s internal arrangement. Consequently, the contest was open for all irrespective of zone. A total of seven aspirants across the state were screened and cleared to contest for the party’s gubernatorial ticket.
The aspirants include former Senate Deputy Minority leader, Emmanuel Bwacha, former Minister of Power, Alhaji Salleh Maman, Professor Abdullahi Yahaya, Chief David Kente, Senator Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf, and Dr Anthony Manzo. Kente Yahaya has contested for the governorship seat of the state previously on the platform of the party but failed to clinch the ticket.
However, the election committee that was sent from the party’s national secretariat to conduct the gubernatorial primaries in the state announced Senator Emmanuel Bwacha as the winner of the primaries, hours after the Chairman of the committee declared that there was no election and the committee was still engaging the stakeholders to decide on the best mode of primaries.
The six other aspirants reacted immediately and jointly distanced themselves from the position of the committee as it made the announcement at the Danbaba Suntai Airport Jalingo on their way back to Abuja barely 12 hours it announed the previous night that there was no primaries.
The aggrieved aspirants positioned that if the national secretariat of the party fail to correct what they called an anomaly, the forum of aspirants would take decisive actions.
The same scenario played out for the national and state Assemblies primaries with confusion trailing the results that are being paraded as every aspirant claims to have won even when it was clear that the primaries never held.
For many political observers, most of the aggrieved aspirants would either leave for other political parties with their teaming supporters, stripping the party of muscle to win at the general elections, or remain indifferent to the build up to the general elections, also leaving the candidate with little support.
So far, Professor Yahaya has resigned his membership of the party and picked the form to contest for the governorship ticket of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), even as speculations are rife that most of the aspirants for various positions would be leaving for other political parties in the days ahead.
Winner of the primaries, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha has already extended an olive branch to the aggrieved aspirants and called on them to join hands with him for the ultimate good of the party and the state in general even as he promised to carry everyone along. How the party members and those concerned would receive this remains to be seen.
Typically, when party members have grievances arising from primaries and other internal party affairs, mechanisms are quickly put in place to resolve the issues. Most times, the mechanisms work well and normalcy returns.
Whether the leading political parties in the state would effectively tackle their internal issues to avoid a major political tsunami in the state will be seen in the coming days. For now, what seems most apparent is a looming implosion within the leading political parties in the state that may create a paradigm shift in the political equations beyond the imagination of many obsrvers.