Since 1999, for many citizens of Kogi State, stasis has been a
constant denominator in most actions of all its past leaders in
government. From Governor Audu Abubakar to Ibrahim Idris and now, Idris
Wada, nothing seems to have changed. The leadership of the state have
been clouded by allegations of corruption and poor performance.
The November governorship election therefore presents a fresh
opportunity and high possibility for the revival of the fortunes of the
state provided a set of quality leadership is introduced into Kogi
politics.
Luckily, for Kogi citizens, the problem and pains of having an Audu
Abubakar as their next governor seems delightfully settled. This is so
because the present political power tussle in the Kogi APC makes it very
unlikely that an Audu Abubakar will emerge victorious against the
wishes of many party heavy weights that are assumed to have already
taken their case to the ears of President Muhammadu Buhari, a no
nonsense man on corruption.
Presently, the expectation is that President Buhari will neither be
too deaf nor blind to the long list of Audu Abubakar’s alleged past
atrocities. Already, the red signals from the National leadership of APC
are pointing towards Audu Abubakar’s direction in line with President
Buhari’s recent declaration to the world that his fight against
corruption is not a respecter of political affiliation.
On the other side of the political divide, is the incommodious
intention of the incumbent governor, Idris Wada to seek a second tenure
under the PDP. The reality on ground reveals that Wada’s desperation for
a second term in office has already given rise to a revolt within the
PDP as witnessed by the cancellation of the conducted state PDP ward
congress which he was accused of manipulating and most recently, the
imposition of his ‘men’ in the rescheduled election under the watchful
eyes of Olisa Metuh – the National Publicity secretary of the PDP.
Within the PDP party and in general, the Kogi electorate, Governor
Idris Wada seems to have lost on both fronts. Recently, he has come
under intense criticism from majority of Kogi citizens due to his
compromised credibility and underperformance rating in governance. All
these negative attributes have combined to be huge minus for his
aspiration and the desires of Kogi people. Even though Wada and his
inner circle have made various efforts to project him as a viable
candidate in the elections, unfortunately, scandals being churned out on
him appear endless and attempts by his lean supporters in the PDP to
protect him from criticisms have not been successful because the
voices of his critics appear to have grown too loud to be subdued and
the facts in their hands on Wada’s inappropriateness cum mismanagement
are enough to send even a strong politician to the gulag or political
oblivion.
To many analysts, Wada has not succeeded in providing appropriate
leadership in both government and his party. Specifically, at the party
level, under Wada the PDP has been fractured. In fact, since the
elections of 2011which ushered him into office, a lot of PDP members
have left the party because they felt aggrieved by his imposition on
them and many more are still questioning whether they should leave the
party if Wada gets the PDP ticket for the November poll. Indeed, if this
happens, it will be a very deep dilemma for the PDP. As such, with
Wada, it has become obvious that PDP has a very scary prospect in the
forthcoming governorship election. Furthermore, the ousting of major PDP
members from their seats at the National Assembly in the last 2015
general elections has been the lowest point and stark moment of failure
for the PDP under Wada. Again, at the state level, in many respects,
Governor Wada has failed and his inability to sustain the confidence of
the
Kogi people has also become a major problem for his leadership of the
state. Thus, Wada’s continued stay in office will be akin to keeping a
Captain that is taking its passengers to a crash destination. This is
where many focused analysts believe that the eyes of the national
leadership of PDP must be opened to the retrogressive purported decision
of making Wada its candidate in the November election, otherwise, the
party will be doomed.
Contrastingly, in the past few months, Wada’s priority in the state
has been on his political survival through the use of the state PDP
structure and enforcers to manipulate the upcoming primaries rather than
focusing on the implementation of projects that will reverse his
unpopularity in the state. At the party level he seems to have made
considerable inroad by installing his cronies in various party
leadership positions. However, with a bad record card of governance
under the PDP, the ready question herein is of what worth will another
PDP governorship ticket be in hands Wada? For many sympathizers of the
Kogi PDP, removing Wada on the contenders list is the most credible
option because the governorship contest in Kogi State is beyond just
producing a candidate from a party but more about projecting the
candidate of choice.
A quick recall of history shows that in the past three years, Idris
Wada has made headlines in the media for all the negative reasons and
there is no indication that his continued occupancy of the highest
political position in Kogi State will restore normalcy, hope and
appropriate life for Kogi citizens. Any other choice aside asking Wada
to step down will spell doom for the PDP because it will be a
mountainous task to convince the majority of Kogi voters that PDP means
well for them with Wada on the ballot. Simply put, politics of party
destruction leaves the individual with no platform and the PDP cannot
afford to hang on to any form of mediocrity that will give room to
chances of losing such an important election. Wada has shown that he
neither understands politics properly nor does he have capacity for
proper governance. So where lies his potentials for good governance? A
PDP governorship ticket to Idris Wada will further split the party and
guarantee a bleak future as it will have a very long grim journey to
comeback as a viable political party after a highly predictable
electoral loss.
For the greater good of the Kogi people, the best advice for the PDP
is to pressure Wada to relinquish power and allow someone else that is
competent and popular to take over in order to rebuild a united and
peaceful party. This may even provide a very good soft landing for
Governor Idris Wada as he will still be accorded a leadership status in
the party and by extension in the state. In all, the selection of a
next Kogi State governor will depend more on voters’ choice than party
sentiments and impunity. Nevertheless, the final decider remains God.
‘Any other choice aside asking Wada to step down will spell
doom for the PDP because it will be a mountainous task to convince the
majority of Kogi voters that PDP means well for them with Wada on the
ballot’
**Thomas wrote from Kabba, Kogi State.
http://thenationonlineng.net/kogi-wada-a-significant-risk-for-pdp/http://thenationonlineng.net/kogi-wada-a-significant-risk-for-pdp/
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