by Gimba Kakanda

Let me start with a reference
to the political brotherhood
that binds us, and for which
we struggle, day in, day out,
these past days, to defeat a
marked monster. We’ve no
disagreement, whatsoever, in
our understanding of the
Jonathan-led government as a
tragically failed one. This
realisation is what has
instigated our agitations for its
replacement. I loved the
passion exuded in doing so,
it’s motivating, despite the
frightening chaos.
I, also, understand that a
thinking head is necessary to
have a sound body. This is the
basis of our alliance, a quest
for another head, and this, for
me, isn’t because it’s Buhari.
Any other morally advantaged
aspirant presented on a
structurally, yes not
ideologically, defined platform
would’ve earned my solidarity.

But, my friends, many things
escaped our critical eyes in
these five years of
maladministration, in our
obsession with the head
alone. We practice a version of
federalism for a reason, and in
this arrangement it’s not
possible to blame the head for
the failures of the component
units, the federating units, the
state governments, which also
have measures of fiscal
autonomy, to at least play
their roles highlighted in the
residual list and, to a certain
extent, the concurrent list
elaborated in the constitution.
I’ve seen some outstanding
Governors who, even while in
PDP and under a non-
performing President, built
impressive public service
records. Kano’s Governor
Kwankwaso was one!

This awareness is the reason I
dissent with you, my friends, who advocate voting only candidates on APC platforms. Constitutionally, there are limits to a President Buhari’s interference with the administration of a state, except he’s expected to organise another constitutional reforms jamboree to have our administrative system reverted to a perfect unitary arrangement. Absurd as this is, it’s the logic of many of you, dear friends, in the dining hall of the opposition party.

A recent encounter with a friend of Kebbi State descent further justified my stance that this country needs strong and morally advantaged leaders, and while APC’s existence is to offer us a diversity of options, we should be wary of frauds perpetrated in the name of opposing the ruling party. As pointed out in an earlier piece, the only virtue some APC aspirants have is having the image of Buhari on their campaign
posters.

With an untypical quietism, my friend informed me that APC’s governorship candidate in Kebbi State is the infamous Abubakar Atiku Bagudu. If you don’t know this billion dollar criminal, who may easily go down in history as one of
Nigeria’s luckiest tools of corruption, one proud of his achievements in the looting of this country, then a return to history book or a review of the Oputa Panel to understand his
role in Abacha’s government shouldn’t be a tough task.

Having worked at global financial institutions, Bagudu mastered the art of money- laundering and was thus the palm oil with which Nigeria’s yams were eaten – apology to the late novelist Chinua Achebe, for his proverb and President Goodluck Jonathan, for a shared logic. That Bagudu even made it to the Nigerian chamber, to the upper legislative chamber, highlights the depth of gullibility that possesses the Nigerian electorate!

Yet you say that change is voting every clown fielded by the APC? At all levels of government? Across the 36 states of the federation?
Regardless of their antecedents and
personalities? Well, I’ve no trouble with this exhibition of parochial viewpoints and dangerous partisanship, knowing that, one, you won’t be with me at the polling unit
and, two, you’re not capable of bullying me to lend my voice to any cause I consider deficient. We’re desperate, but not every aspirant on APC platform is Buhari, and neither
should APC, to which most of us are sympathetic, be embraced with our critical minds deactivated!
One factor that also brings to
fore your hypocrisy, my friends, is in your defence of former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. The
same people who once castigated Nuhu Ribadu’s alliance with Bola Tinubu, including an important friend of mine, are the hypocrite now loudly defending Muhammadu
Buhari’s romance with that most influential political entrepreneur in the southwest.

I do not fault such alliances, knowing quite well that our version of third-world democracy isn’t being levered on defined ideology.
What I do fault, however, is our overblown sense of selective patriotism—our projection that a man is a criminal only when he’s not in our team. Such crèche
partisanship is disturbing and, of course, petty!

I respect people’s choices as much as I never apologize for holding on to mine, even when confronted by combative dissenters. All I’m saying is, it doesn’t cost a lot to be reasonably and intelligently coherent in our participations in public discourse. This week, I “excavated” a ton of anti- Tinubu op-eds written by a social critic friend who now promotes Tinubu as the best political phenomenon in
Nigeria since the independence! A supposed public intellectual shouldn’t be seen promoting facile causes just to appeal to the
sentiments of the “vast majority!”
We shouldn’t write to appeal
to the sentiments of anyone or
a group, but to exhibit and
highlight our differences and
perceptions in this market of
ideas. Be sure you’re doing the
wrong thing if the world always endorses your viewpoints, patronizing even your most obnoxious outbursts. And while I’m
unabashedly sympathetic to the APC, I’ll remain on the porch, critical of its deficiencies. May God save us
from us!

Connect with Gimba Kakanda
on Twitter via @gimbakakanda
Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only.

Source: ynaija.com/friends-dining-hall-apc/

All we want is GMB/PYO for the Nigeria of our dreams

Sai Buhari !!!

APC is evil.
APC is fraud 101
APC don't hav any plans for Nigeria order than to take power by all means and share the oil wealth among themselves.

Vote wisely
Don't be gullible
Vote GEJ/Sambo for Fresher Air till 2019.

Summary please