By Dr Buba Hassan Michika

If there is one thing I dislike about politics, Nigerian politics especially, is the fact that lies, mischief and blackmail is the order of the day for most politicians, even with those who seem to have more credence and integrity than the others.

And this instance is not better highlighted than the recently leaked audio tape of an APC reconciliation meeting of Yola South where it was reported that the aggrieved APC members could hardly wait for the meeting to start when they started making unguarded utterances against President Muhammadu Buhari.

Another spread lie about the meeting was that, Bindow had convened the stakeholders’ meeting on the chances of APC in 2023 in Adamawa State, especially as it bordered on his governorship ambition.

The truth was, the meeting was conveyed by aggrieved members of the party over the recent primaries and Bindow attended as the vice-chairman of the APC North East reconciliation committee to reconcile the warring factions, which he met separately.

I wish to state that, I am never a fan of former Adamawa State Governor, Senator Muhammad Umar Jibrilla Bindow, but say what you want about the man, he has done well for the state and is certainly loyal to President Buhari and the APC.

I know this because I have monitored Adamawa politics closely for a long time and I have sat with people in every political platform across the state since 2003. There hasn’t been a meeting of CPC and then later APC which I am not privy of in the last 15 years.

Like it was rightly captured by senior APC stalwart and elder of the party Alhaji Adamu Sani Yola in an interview with the press, the leaked audio is nothing but the makings of some malicious and mischievous elements within the party.

The APC chieftain stated that, the malicious elements in the party had thought that the relationship between Senator Bindow and the presidency will go sour after 2019 and to their shock and disappointment, Bindow’s relationship with the govt and the party has continued to wax stronger by the day.

“Therefore, instead of coming together in the party to face the ruling opposition in the state, they resorted to using all kinds of evil and mischievous machination to destroy Bindow’s political reputation, which unfortunately for them has continued to grow”.

“What is especially annoying is the fact that, these people who claim to love President Buhari and the APC more than all of us are actually people who in the past never believed in the President or his political ideology and they were never there when President Buhari needed them the most”.

Senator Bindow was among the first 12 Senators to decamped from the PDP, when Nuhu Ribadu, Buba Marwa and their cohorts were running to the PDP and working against President Buhari - Bindow stood with Buhari and worked for his party, the APC.

“I will give you instances, in 2014, Buba Marwa, who was once a guber candidate for the CPC, dumped the CPC and worked for former President Goodluck Jonathan against President Buhari at the polls in 2015”.

“Nuhu Ribadu dumped the APC to contest the governorship election under the PDP because he didn’t believe in President Buhari’s chances and ideals, an election he lost overwhelmingly to Senator Bindow”.

“In same 2015, Senator Aisha Binani contested the Senate under the PDM, which she lost to AbdulAziz Nyako and her husband also contested for the guber poll under the same party and he lost too”.

“Therefore, you don’t need a soothsayer to tell you who is loyal to the APC and President Buhari and who is not between Bindow and the likes of Ribadu and Marwa. It’s clear and history has made us all understood that”.

“If you take away Senator Binani or AbdulAziz Nyako no single one of them can win an election in their wards not even their local governments, and history has made us also understood that too. They are nothing but irrelevant politicians living on other people’s glory”.

“These are serial election losers, and opposing Bindow, these people couldn’t even win their wards in 2015 not even their local governments and they betrayed President Buhari when it mattered the most and what he stood for and today they are the same set of people trying to create problem between Senator Bindow and the president”.

“The sad thing for these Adamawa political inconsequential men, is that they want to be Bindow and they haven’t. They wanted the Senate and Bindow was a Senator, they wanted the governorship seat and Bindow was a governor, they simple want to have his political relevance, which they will never get “.

“Another interesting thing about the political blunder of these people was that, in 2019, they worked against President Buhari in Adamawa state because they felt if President Buhari has won in the state, Senator Bindow will take the credit and that is a sad thing for them”.

“Any leader who wants Adamawa for political glory will always align with Senator Bindow as it is clear for many years, that the only politician loved and adored by the people in Adamawa state is Senator Muhammad Umar Jibrilla Bindow”, he concluded.

I truly hope someone, somewhere will advise the party and the president about doing what’s right in Adamawa state because it’s an established fact that, all these political wigs put together are not half as popular as Senator Bindow is in the state. I truly hope they don’t ruin the party with their continuous lies, mischief and malice. A word is enough for the wise.

Dr Michika writes in from Yola can be reached on babuhassanesq@yahoo.com

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