In 2019, the ruling APC in Zamfara State lost its clout and crumbled like a pack of cards in a rather, instructive election. This was in the light of its then, leadership's deliberate choice and decision to nail decency, fairness and democratic norms to the stake. The second runner-up, the PDP, took away everything and left the giant APC in the state licking a fatal wound.
But, then, it is not the first time the PDP ruled in the state. It did under the then leadership of Governor Mahmud Aliyu Shnikafi; although in a very different way. That time, it was possible due to the Governor's defection to that Party not by the ballot. Significantly, the then PDP Governor lost his bid to retain power which further stamped the total authority of the APC in the political terrain of Zamfara State
However, the entry of Dr Bello Mohammed into that Party gave it a stimulus, a lease of life and recognision which made it record a very significant clout, relevance and subsequent success in the 2019 General elections; an achievement that God decided to make an example to those who harbour Politics with bitterness . Anyone who followed the build-up and denouement of the 2019 campaigns and electoral processes knows that Matawalle was the soul of the PDP then and its triuphant hero to the throne.
However, because of its evident selfish disposition and composition, all those who brag of being its founders, elders or leaders have derelicted in their responsibility and, still, left it in the hands of the Governor alone to keep it running and alive. In principle and by its constitution, with a Governor or not, a Party must be seen to be "owned" by every card carrying member who are meant to regularly contribute to the purse of the Party for its programmes and upkeep. However, those who are seen as influential or money bags in that party in the state, only as a tool or a ladder up to power and have nothing to do with it after elections are over. Hence, if Governor Matawalle gave the Party a bus, for instance, no one fuels the bus until Governor Matawalle fuels it. That's how it remained for two and half years.
Dr Bello Mohammed finally bursted the lie when he quit. In doing so, he left with the soul of the PDP. Now, the sleeping "owners" of the PDP are threatened with nakedness and are beginning to stagger from sudden awakening from their sleep. Struggling to keep its crumbling structure for shelter, the Party bigwigs, after several months of wilderness, have organised a Congress that was to produce its new set of leaders in the state. But on the assigned day, the event, went awry due to a trail of dissatisfaction before, during and after the event as we learnt later. Some disgruntled and fragmented segments of the Party went berserk and scared the kitchen Cabinet of the Party away to an obscure point where they announced to the World later, of a new leadership said to have been elected for the Party.
However, in order to bury their shame and find a scapegoat for its likely impending internal conflicts, the party accused His Excellency of masterminding their crisis. However, as God would have it, the incident was later owned up by aggrieved members of the Party as publicly announced by an erstwhile State Executive member of the Party. Although its leader, a sitting Deputy Governor, said the era of new opposition has just begun in the state, it is evident that the brand of opposition springing up from that Party is rather desperate, agitated and wont to self destruction.
It is evident that the PDP in Zamfara State is building its own ditch of political woes. The recent wild and uncharitable accusation of His Excellency Dr Bello Mohammed is a wrong move and a totally poor strategy. It has the capacity of swinging their pendulum to the extreme end where it will hook. Politics is a game, yes, but a game of intellectual strategy and not a dictate of sentimentality or the urge to succumb to wild impulse.
With the kind of Congress that produced the new leadership of the PDP this week, and the kind of lame Executive it has produced, we are certain the Party is not ready for democracy; but that is none of our business. Our business is that the Party should mind its own business and leave Dr Bello Mohammed out ot of its slide onto a political quagmire.
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