17 September 2010By Ojo Sani Yekini
The internal bickering of All
Nigeria
People's Party, ANPP, like any
other political parties should be source of serious
concern to any well meaning political watchers of
events in the country. As the 2011 General Elections
get closer, political gladiators are marshalling
various unwholesome political strategies to outsmart
one another in order to get the upper hand. Although
none of the four
major political parties namely
PDP, ANPP, ACN and CPC is free of internal squabbles,
it is however worrisome that the ANPP, which posses
hope and alternative means of alleviating Nigeria's
motley problems is allowing itself to be infested by
the personal greed of some self serving politicians
that are bereft of political ideas and ideals.
It is condemnable as it is unfortunate that the
immediate past national Chairman of the party, Chief
Edwin Ume Ezeoke sowed political discord, animosity
and avoidable internal political bickering among the
ranks and files of the party, mainly due to his
vaulting ambition and high level of greed and avarice
before he left the office. It could be remembered that
Ezeoke was on September 2, 2006 ushered in as the
national Chairman of the party amidst protests and
wrangling because most members of his party were in
doubt of his performance and patriotism for the party
in view of his earlier defection from the ruling
party, PDP.
Ezeoke's four years sojourn in ANPP as its national
chairman was highly rancorous, mitigated by his
pervasive approach to issues. As a former PDP man who
defected to ANPP, the immediate past chairman saw no
reason why he must not leave the position with crises
and mischief. This is the genesis of the party's
inability to hold its national convention to elect the
out gone chairman's predecessor and other party
executives, leading to the three times postponement
under the garb of flimsy reasons. Ezeoke is however
not alone in the desperate attempt to destroy one of
the vibrant opposition party, ANPP for pure
selfishness.
The Governor of Borno State, Senator
Ali
Modu Sheriff is also an arrow
head of the political crises that have enveloped the
All Nigeria People's Party. Sheriff, after seven years
of unimpressive administration in his poverty stricken
state also sees no reason why he could not waste his
tax payers' money to sponsor and instigate the ongoing
crises in ANPP. He was allegedly behind the recent
meeting of the disgraced Ume Ezeoke faction of the
ANPP where he 'footed the bill of some of the
attendants' that allowed their unconscious conscience
to be cheaply sold.
Today, Gov. Ali Modu Sheriff is battling hard with
his people for misrepresenting their viewpoint at the
northern governor's zoning meeting. At that meeting,
Sheriff, out of his selfish interest, unilaterally
supported anti - zoning in complete disregard to what
his people desire. Political watchers of Sheriff's
self centeredness are not surprised of this when it is
recalled that in 2007, the same Sheriff spent huge sum
of money from his state treasury to campaign for
Obasanjo wishful third term bid. He never sees any
thing good for his people where his greed and interest
is involved. He wants to install his blood brother,
Malla Sheriff as the next governor of his state, his
wife as Senator and he still want to go to the senate
in the next political dispensation as if the country
was founded for his family. How he hopes to achieve
this self serving ambition in spite of the large
obstacles against him in the state and his party is
yet to be seen.
According to the online
National Daily newspaper in a report titled, "Modu
Sheriff in N8 billion Housing Contract mess", one
Sadiq
Abubakar from Maiduguri revealed
that "the word on the lips of many in
Borno
State is that the Governor of the
State, Alhaji Sheriff has been awarding major
contracts worth billions of naira to family members
and cronies only since 2003. National Daily also
learnt that most of the contract works carried out by
these privileged few are of low standard or has short
life span due to poor or low quality despite the huge
amounts collected." "This sad development has made
some people in the state to pour all manner of blames
on the governor's family, accusing them of being in
full control of the state treasury and resources while
the citizenry wallow in abject poverty."
The report further disclosed
that "the latest in the series of poorly awarded
contracts is the multi-billion naira 1000
Housing Estate Construction
Project located along Jos Road at Jimtilo suburb of
the Maiduguri Metropolis which is being sponsored
solely by the
Borno State Government [BOSG].
Since last year, this contract has continued to
generate lot of tension, rumour and controversies over
the manner and procedure various contracts and
supplies at the
housing estate have been awarded
and are being executed." The National Daily
gathered that even the State Ministry of Works and
Transport which awards road network and drainage
system contracts is not left out of the barrage of
criticism and suspicion trailing the government. "
In his
interview published in
the Peoples Daily Weekend of 18th
August 2010, the state CPC Chairman in Bornu, Comrade
Zanna Shettima alleged that Governor Ali Modu Sheriff
and his family are in total control of the state's
treasury. "Governor Sheriff's tenure is a record of
poor performance as the government failed to meet the
yearnings and aspirations of citizenry by providing
them with basic infrastructures. Although government
receives billions of Naira from the monthly statutory
federation allocation, there is nothing to show in the
areas of various human development projects. Hospitals
and school across the state are in deplorable
condition with insufficient and unqualified personnel.
Crimes have become the order of the day due to
government’s failure to provide jobs for the teeming
unemployed youths." Contracts for all these classified
projects are awarded under the guise of siphoning
public funds by the government. The real fact is that
the governor secretly awards the projects to local
contractors under an agreement they would later sell
them to his cronies. Consequently, same contracts
would be re-awarded to the duo at an exorbitant rate.
Actually, the situation in Borno is even worse as the
governor turns the entire affairs of the state into
personal estate, nobody can precisely tell you how
public funds are being spent; it is Sheriff, his
father or his wife who are the principal beneficiaries
of all juicy contracts. Another unfortunate and
selfish side of the episode is that in the event a
contractor succeeds in securing a project, he is
compelled to purchase all equipments required for the
execution of the project from a particular company."
In his
article titled, "A Governor and his illiterate people"
by Mohammed Ngala from Maiduguri and posted by the
Gamji website, Ngala wrote that "Governor
Ali Modu-Sheriff of Borno State had a disturbing
revelation for the world the other day: 95 per cent of
the citizens of Borno State cannot read nor write. If
this wild and irresponsible claim had been made by an
outsider, one would have expected the governor to use
all facilities available to him to protest on behalf
of his people. The governor would have been expected
to challenge this ignorant claim, request for
empirical evidence, interrogate the data and query its
methodology."
"But this group slander on Borno people was
committed by the governor himself. It is amazing that
a governor would heap gratuitous insults on his own
people, the people who supposedly voted him into
office, and the people he should cater for, defend and
protect. But anyone familiar with Governor Modu-Sheriff’s
brand of politics would not be surprised. For him and
his ilk, the people do not matter. In his
understanding, his people are not citizens, but mere
subjects. And because they are conceived as mere
subjects, they are to be insulted and despised, not
only within the confines of the state, but also before
the whole world. This is simply mind-boggling."
The rape of Bornu by Governor Ali Modu Sheriff does
not stop at all these. It was not quite long ago when
the lens of an online publisher, Sahara TV lively
captured the Boogie Governor Ali Modu Sheriff dancing
and spraying dollars in Dubai. An insight to Google
search will unravel this unfortunate scene of a leader
whose people are in dire need of social amenities. As
a result of the "I don't care attitude" of Ali Modu
Sheriff's administration, his state is one of the
worst hit of the cholera epidemics outbreak ravaging
the north. The resources which the governor ought to
have been used to make adequate response against the
cholera upsurge in his state was perhaps diverted to
personal pockets and the next thing is the resultant
death of some affected victims reported in the media.
This is highly unfortunate and ridiculous of a leader
who is supposed to be up and doing for his people in
term of need.
Finally, the ANPP must in no
circumstance allowed this type of self-serving leader
to hijack the running of the party affairs if the
party must make any meaningful impact on the
forthcoming elections in the country. The so called
faction of the immediate past Chairman that attended
an illegal meeting of the dissolved NEC on 2nd
September, the day he ought to have left the position,
should be resisted by the incorruptible and trusted
people of integrity in the party. Certainly, the type
of Governor Ali Modu Sheriff who raped his state by
neglecting his people for selfish goals should not be
allowed to have influence in the party because he has
become a cankerworm that is affecting the progress of
things, both in his state and the party. It is time
for the party members to realise that it is when they
work together that the work can get done.
Ojo Sani Yekini wrote from
Lagos,
ojoyekini@gmail.com
©
EsinIslam.Com
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