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APRIL 23, 2007 VOL. 21. NO 2

Yobe’s Unresolvable Crisis

**Governor Ibrahim of Yobe State.**

Despite the seemingly unresolvable nature of the crisis rocking the Yobe State chapter of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), the party appears primed to retain its hold in the state
By Sani Mohammad, Maiduguri
The political crisis threatening the success of the ruling All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) in Yobe State appears unresolvable as the two contending forces, Senator Usman Albishir and Senator Mamman Ali, have continued to lock horns regarding who is the right gubernatorial candidate of the party.
With the deadlock arising from the unsuccessful meeting of the party’s stakeholders penultimate Wednesday, observers had concluded that the party has seemingly thrown away the baby with the bath water. This development, they say, may change the political history of the young state.
Two issues have been bandied in the gubernatorial contest of the State; first, the ANPP in Yobe seems not to be at home with Senator Ali. Many insist that the Senator may have been popular in his home constituency, but not in Yobe generally. For the party to succeed in last Saturday’s gubernatorial election therefore, they contend that someone with the overall sympathy of the electorate, especially within the ANPP family, ought to be fielded in the gubernatorial race.
Ali’s case, as someone observed, is even more worrisome when the matter is viewed within the series of petitions he allegedly wrote to the Economic and Financial crimes commission (EFCC) regarding Senator Albishir’s candidature. “Even if a petition is to be written on an ANPP candidate, at least that should not be the handiwork of a member of the ANPP. This is why we are all unhappy with Senator Mamman Ali,” Alhaji Musa Ibrahim, an ANPP stalwart from the party lamented.
Others have, indeed, submitted that Senator Ali emerged as a consensus candidate in the 2003 senatorial election on the same plank of consensus agreement, and wonder why he is now opposed to the arrangement. These and many other arguments may have subverted Ali’s chances in last week’s polls.
Indeed, while Ali was basking in the euphoria of the victory offered him by the EFFC report on Senator Albishri, the later is also smiling around Yobe State by the new court of Appeal judgment, which tend to stop INEC from blacklisting Albishir.
Of course, legal experts have argued that regardless of how factual the facts presented in the petitions against Albishir may appear, until a court of law finds them accurate and delivers judgment in favour of the EFCC, INEC has no right to disqualify him.
With this ruling by the Appeal Court, the ANPP national officials, according to Albishir, wrote to the INEC chairman demanding the reinstatement of his name as the ANPP gubernatorial flagbearer in the state. This, he said, did not yield any result, as based on the 488 candidates recently cleared to contest in the polls, Senator Albishir’s name was not included.
Today, as the picture stands, the Yobe ANPP has two gubernatorial candidates; one approved by INEC, the other by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
At the stakeholder’s meeting in Damaturu two Wednesdays ago, Albishir told the stakeholders that he was not going to shy away from the matter, considering the recent judgment by the Court of Appeal, and that anyone who wishes to challenge his decision to reclaim his mandate should go to Supreme Court to appeal.
The matter appeared even more dangerous to the party, given the kind of applause that greeted Albishir’s latest position. The question that then arose was: who would the ANPP supporters across the State vote for–Albishir or Ali?
This is a difficult task since Albishir had vowed to go on with his campaign as much as Ali would. In fact, Albishir told the gathering of stakeholders that, “I will go ahead and campaign and if the party wins, I will take the matter to the court”.
On this rather astonishing political contradiction, observers have established some defaults against the backdrop of the efforts made at resolving the crisis. While some have praised Albishir’s efforts to ensure victory for the ANPP during all elections, some of his teeming supporters appear to be totally against Senator Ali’s candidature and therefore are opposed to joint campaign between the two candidates.
For example, during the stakeholders meeting, Governor Bukar Abba Ibrahim, who is the leader of the party in the State, had asked these questions: “What is now the resolution of the party? Are we going round to campaign in favour of Senator Ali or not?”
These were the questions that brought the stakeholders meeting to an end as while some people spoke in favour of Ali, others insisted that he was on his own. But when it was time for Albishir to speak, he puts the record straight: “I will campaign only within my territory, and I expect Senator Ali to do same.”
Again, another question, regarding what happens when Albishir’s supporters see Ali’s name and picture in the ballot paper on the election day csme up. Would they be able to understand the party’s arrangement in fighting to safeguard the interest of the party, before that of the candidates as enunciated by Albishir?
Alhaji Mustapha Usman, a party stalwart, had noted that the ANPP supporters, especially those loyal to Albishir have not been well educated enough to understand why the struggle must shift from promoting the interest of an individual candidate to that of the party. “In fact, I won’t be surprised if at the end of the day, some supporters of Albishir establish protest votes during the election.” Usman said.
Indeed, the general expectation of most political observers is that the matter would first be deliberated upon at the caucus meeting before expanding it to the stakeholders. “At the caucus level, things would be handled with maturity and understanding, at least based on the vast political experiences of those involved,” Mallam Abdulkareen Usman, a Senator Ali strong supporter observed.
“But expanding it to stakeholders meeting in the first instance produced the rowdy session, which we all witnessed,” he said. Evidently, throughout the deliberation, all the speakers were applauded only by those who were their sympathisers. As a result, the central issue of amicable resolution of the crisis was relegated to the background.
But while the blame was heaped on the party leadership, Governor Ibrahim noted in his speech that the essence of convening a stakeholders’ meeting in the first instance, was to give everybody the opportunity to air his views; to create a platform where, as one big family, everybody can contribute in the realisation of the party’s objective in the State,
Instructively, while observers appear scared over this intra-party “wahalla”, the ANPP officials in the state appear unperturbed by the development. For example, while fielding questions from journalists soon after the stakeholders meeting, Albirshir noted that “ the ANPP in Yobe State is well rooted enough to suggest that even in this rather tough issue, it can not be threatened by any party”.
This seems true, considering the nature and the political trend currently manifesting. For instance, many people had expected that the PDP would cash in on this political crack within the ANPP by widening the cracks through an expanded programme of campaign, yet mum was the answer even in the face of high voltage campaigns presently going on across the country.
The State Chairman of the ANPP in Yobe State, Alhaji (Dr.) Lawan Mai Goroma, had told all those who cared to listen that the ANPP in the state was yet to come face-to-face with challenges posed by any opposition.
In a similar reaction, Governor Ibrahim lampooned the opposition, making it look as if they are completely insignificant in the political mathematics of the state.
His words: “I do not consider the present misunderstanding as a threat to the success of our party in the next election because there is nothing like opposition in Yobe State. The State has generally embraced ANPP, and it is yet to be convinced that there is another party that can address their problems.
“Which party, in your widest imagination, do you think can challenge ANPP in Yobe? Is it PDP that has no gubernatorial candidate, or the Action Congress that is yet to be delivered from its ruptured womb in the state,” Ibrahim boasted.