THE TARABA APC GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARIES REMAIN SACROSANCT
As the saying goes, “a ripped Mango attracts the highest stones”, so it is with Senator Emmanuel Bwacha’s Campaign for the Governorship of Taraba State.
Whether on the Radios, Newspapers or the social media, the knocks keep raining in and they come in every ferocious form, from the bizarre to the sublime.
Yes, bizarre because while most ordinary supporters and members of the ruling PDP are apprehensive over the emergence of a viable alternative to the out-going highly denigrated PDP regime, the desperate critics and enchanters of the mischievous Jalingo Federal High Court ruling are indeed APC members.
This appears to illustrate the famous judgement of King Solomon who had to separate two ladies by threatening to kill the surviving child in order to determine the actual mother of the child.
The desperadoes are not only threatening, they are shouting “death to the party” in a manner that clearly suggest that without them the party cannot strive.
To be sure, this is the very nature of our politics that has pinned us down permanently to the starting blocks and it is defined by rancor, insurrection and selfish pride.
Yes; everyone wants to win at the same time and anything short of this, must bring down the roof. It had been our cross for more than a decade now, and it is still the infamous path some people want to follow regardless of its consequences.
What are the issues if we may ask? Like every other State in the country, Taraba State had successfully held its party primaries for the nomination of candidates into various political offices. Of course, there were issues as they were in other States. While the dust has since settled down and wounds healing in other States, all we continue to hear in Taraba State is a funeral dirge. And this is being orchestrated by people who insist on throwing away the baby with the bath water, because they don’t care whether the party wins or not.
It is clearly not about Taraba but of themselves governing Taraba at all cost. Every day, Tarabans are subjected to one harrowing or horrifying story or the other and they are stories of gloom, doom and despair perpetrated by rumor mongers, liars, speculators and nay-sayers. While our opponents have since been gripped by the fear of losing elections to a more formidable APC candidate, some party men seem to be comfortable with playing the spoilers role by continually confusing and despairing the people.
They seem to be feeding fat on the vulnerability of the ordinary party members by exploiting their emotions and fears. While the party should be preparing for campaign, some people have turned themselves into the opposition and busy misleading the public, with tales of primary re-runs from secured court rulings. No doubt, this is a sad and unfortunate repeat of history. It is unnecessary to waste precious space and time replying some press conferences and sponsored news items but it is important for party members to be reminded about the workings of our party.
Party primaries are conducted by the National Working Committees, the highest organ of the party through special committee established for that purpose. To ensure fairness and justice, the party also sets up Appeal Committees to ventilate all issues arising from the primaries. All these steps were done in respect of Taraba State.
The two committees had presented their reports to the National Secretariat of the party and winners were announced, together with supporting reports from INEC and the Security Agencies. While it is the right of any aggrieved person to seek redress in court, if they feel dissatisfied with the turn of events, it is not enough to disparage the entire party and expose it to ridicule of the public.
A political party is a voluntary association with its rules and regulations. It is not owned by individuals or groups of privileged persons. It is not even a function of whether you spent donkey years and have now assumed ownership, it is what you are bringing to the table to enable the party to win election instead of wallowing in defeat all the time. As long as the party has not won elections, all these chest thumping means nothing to the party and its members.
As a legally constituted party, APC has the right to conduct its affairs the way it deem fits and in accordance with established laws. Party supremacy demands that every member must accept the outcome of its activities instead of the constant and primitive resort to legal shortcuts just to undermine the authority of the party.
It could be recalled that during the 2018 Primary Elections, some aspirants did not deploy a single agent to the various units for primaries, only to show up at Galaxy Hotel Jalingo the next day to join other aspirants claiming that primaries were not held. But the primaries election results still stood. These same group of aspirants who hardly prepare themselves for the exercise are the same people raising banners and placards crying foul play on an election conducted by our National Secretariat.
Anytime such situation arises the party in the state becomes the first victim as few disgruntled members rain insults, abuses and condemnation on the State Executive Committee who have little or nothing at all to do on the primaries.
Among these alarmists, are those who claimed to have nurtured the party over the years and must be recognized as owners and accorded the right of first refusal in any party benefits.
This is a fallacy. No matter how many years one has been in the party, the privileges are the same as the latest joiners, and so there is no such thing as “first come, first serve” in a political party, as some people have been stressing as a basis for their agitation. Like a football club, a party has a right to recruit new members who could bring good fortunes and ensure victory for the party. One can fool themselves continuously by stressing that they are the owners of this party but more than half of members of the National Working Committees are decampees from the PDP and vice versa.
So, those exhibiting this arrogance are actually wasting their time and playing into the hands of those who understand their antics. The APC is a Nigerian Political Party and it is not owned by anybody.r
Besides, any litigation against party activities is a challenge and cannot attract any good fortune from the party. The sacrifice of party membership is to accept its programs and activities.
As we await, the end of the mischievous menace created by the controversial ruling of the Jalingo Federal High Court, it is pertinent for all APC members to remain focused and understand that the only trajectory is the campaign towards elections and not the hallucinatory claim of fresh primaries.
All those pleading the Zamfara experience are doing so to create fear, divide the people and weaken our party in the favour of the opposition. It is the antics of the people who neither wish our State well nor want the suffering of our people to end through the election of an APC government in Taraba State.
AARON ARTIMAS
Director, Media and Publicity
BGCC
