It took the two contending parties, APC and PDP, about forty hours after the announcement of the Sokoto state governorship election results to find their voices. After the shock, frenzy, backslapping, hues and cries, it was the PDP that broke the bedlam.
At a press conference, PDP state Chairman, Honourable Muhammad Bello Aliyu Goronyo, traced the root cause of the party defeat to unprecedented misuse of security apparatus to arrest, harass and intimidate its members towards undermining their freedom of mobilizing and voting for their preferred party.
He also alleged that innocent citizens were killed
by the APC in the state and its teaming members are being subjected to harrowing treatment deliberately by the leadership of the APC.
Responding, the All Progressive Congress, APC, told the PDP in Sokoto state, not to look far but blame itself for suffering a round defeat in the governorship and state assembly elections held penultimate Saturday.
Addressing newsmen at the party secretariat, Sokoto State APC Chairman, Honourable Isa Sadiq Achida said the multiple failures of the ruling PDP in Sokoto was behind their political defeat.
According to Acida, “while we understand the frustrations of the PDP as a result of their rejection by the people of Sokoto State, we would like to observe that they are the architects of their failure.
“This is because their non performance in the sectors of education, health, water supply and rural development, are unprecedented in the history of Sokoto State.
”Indeed, the destruction of the local governments administration and the virtual collapse of the entire State Government Civil Service system, are only a few, of the reasons, that brought about their downfall.
“As I speak to you today, a greater percentage of the Sokoto State Civil Servants are yet to receive their February salary, just as the monthly impress for Ministry in the State has become history for long.”
A PDP stalwart, Faruku Shuni, informed LEADERSHIP Sunday that, post mortem analysis of their defeat at the election from their situation room centered on their choice of candidate.
He said, “though the deed has been done, it has heavily dawn on us that, the unilateral and unchallenged ‘imposition’ of our governorship candidate, was our major albatross at the poll.
“To keen followers of politics in Sokoto, the sudden emergence of Malam Sa’idu Umar Ubandoma, with no electoral weight aside being an appointee as commissioner and secretary to the state government was, a major factor that led to the defeats of the party in the state.
“It is after the loss that we now realize that we did virtually nothing to adequately treat and heal the wounds and moreso, covered a lot of grounds on the sudden emergence of Malam Ubandoma as our party flagbearer.
“Imagine the governor supporting his former SSG who has no political experience, at the expense of his deputy, Manir Dan’Iya, who commands massive grassroots support? Too bad, too late for us.
“The deputy governor, Manir Dan’Iya, was the party followers’ choice candidate. Upon the governor’s sole decision to pick Ubandoma ahead of the party popular candidate, the opposition APC, went into jubilation, over the wrong choice but, the governor could not see the handwriting on the wall.”
Recall that Malam Sa’idu Umar, ran on the ticket of PDP with Sagir Bafarawa, the son of former Governor Dalhatu Attahiru Bafarawa as the deputy governor candidate. Observers however see the former governor as an old horse with less grip on the hold of the state politics.
Buttressing the friction within the PDP fold, Faruku Shuni disclosed that, the situation degenerated to a state where the deputy governor and his aides became the butt of joke from the Ubandoma camp, after clinching the governorship ticket.
“There was a large concern within the PDP fold which started like a rumour but grew into a subject of interest when followers of Malam Sa’idu Umar were calling out the deputy governor on social media platforms, asking when he would move to opposition APC,” he alleges.
Rather than healing the self-inflicted open sore on the ‘imposition’ of Ubandoma, the sore was left to fester when loyalists of Manir Dan’Iya, were outrightly sidelined in the composition of the state presidential and governorship campaign committees.
Realizing that the rug had been pull under his feet, Manir Dan’Iya, who was handed the political suicide ticket to confront Senator Aliyu Wamakko for the Sokoto North senatorial seat, recoiled into his shell. He never printed a campaign poster nor hoisted a billboard. He passively participated in the party campaigns.
When he could not stomach the maltreatment on his godson any longer, renowned philanthropist and grassroots mobilizer, Alhaji Ummaru Kwabo, led the exodus of his foot soldier out of PDP. Ummaru Kwabo alignment with the APC, marshalled by Senator Aliyu Wamakko, ultimately dismantled Tambuwal’s political project.
The conjecture whether Dan’Iya snubbed his godfather or play-along, by staying back in PDP and slug it out with Senator Aliyu Wamakko in the inconclusive senatorial contest where he polled 103,134 votes against Wamakko’s 114,866 votes, in a matter of days will come into the open.
However, a political analyst, Dr Suleiman Tsafe, posited that, the appointment of Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, as the Director General of Atiku Presidential Campaign Committee, was a major factor that contributed to the defeat of PDP in Sokoto state.
He said, “the moment Tambuwal was appointed as the DG campaign, I knew it will be difficult for the party to win the state. Since his appointment as the DG, he hardly had time to spend in the state to coordinate affairs of the party towards the election.
“You can trace the history of campaign DG to the 2015 general elections when Rotimi Amaechi, the then governor of Rivers State was the DG of Buhari campaign, he lost his state to APC.
“In 2019, Bukola Saraki, was the campaign DG of Atiku presidential team and at the end he lost his state to the opposition again.
“Look at this year, both Sokoto and Plateau State governors who were the campaign DG of PDP and APC lost their states as well.
“I believe it’s a major factor as the position of DG will not give room for the leader to do the needful as it relates to the politics of the state which should have been a major priority.”
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