Is CPC Pushing Its Luck Too Far?

ISA ALIYU DURBUNDE

Unless General Muhammadu Buhari moves fast enough to rid the CPC of spokes in the wheel, the party faces the danger of losing many supporters and valuable members. Is General Buhari under a spell to continue to show utter indifference to the activities of the same national leaders of the party that led the CPC to fiasco in the 2011 general election? A former Buhari loyalist, Chief Mike Ahamba, identified a clique within the national leadership of the party as being responsible for the internal crisis facing the CPC. Disappointed by General Buhari’s seeming lack of courage to contain this group, Ahamba eventually left the party because of the harmful influence this clique is exerting on the party.
Unfortunately, apart from making passionate appeals to Ahamba to return through newspaper adverts, General Buhari didn’t take any serious action to address the issues raised him. Chief Mike Ahamba had the option of working for the PDP to make money for his legal services, yet he stood by General Buhari because of personal conviction and not because of monetary rewards for his legal services. Despite this loyalty and firm belief in Buhari’s cause, Mr. Ahamba was messed up by this same clique.
The strategy of this clique is to frustrate anybody out of the party once they believe he can exert influence on General Buhari to do the right thing. Which wise political party will frustrate active and popular members in its fold? The current national leaders of the party were elected on the basis of General Buhari’s appeal to the people to put them into office. Without Buhari’s endorsement, they wouldn’t have been in office through free and fair elections. And they know this reality deep down.
According to the author of the ‘48 Laws of Power,’ Robert Green, a leader should not allow himself to be hijacked by a clique or build a fortress around himself that shuts him out from the valuable friends and ideas of others. Once they cage a leader, this kind of clique can manipulate the leader and bend him to their wishes. Sadly, General Buhari has fallen into the trap of this clique, which is determined to frustrate any member with significant political following to enable them to enjoy too much undemocratic power.
Another danger is that members of this clique won’t let Buhari listen to anyone else but themselves because of their own hidden agenda. How can General Buhari surround himself with arm-chair democrats like Buhari Galadima who cannot win any election in their own right? They are largely blamed for misleading General Buhari in 2003, 2007 and 2011, which led to the mismanagement of the party’s enormous goodwill. When you trust people too much, it can be exploited by others who may see it as a weakness.
Rhetoric and good intention alone cannot win election. A political party must be able to identify grassroots politicians who can mobilize their political capital behind its success. In the CPC, however, the reverse is the case. The party’s policy is relentlessly focused on destroying members with grassroots support and backing those who cannot deliver the votes. Which calculating political party would displace Mohammed Abacha and Lado Dan Marke in Kano and katsina states respectively and expect to win the governorship election in 2011?
It is a remote possibility to expect Masari to defeat Lado Dan Marke or Col. Ja’afaru Isa displacing Mohammed Abacha in any free and fair contest. Yet the CPC national leaders defied reason and political reality by imposing Masari and Ja’afaru Isa. This miscalculation led to the PDP defeating the CPC in Katsina and Kano states.
Which realistic political party would organize gubernatorial primaries and then refuse to recognize the outcome because the party’s officially endorsed aspirants were defeated? Is that consistent with democratic principles or justice? Should the CPC leaders be found wanting in terms of justice and respect of the freedom of choice by the voters?
Do the CPC leaders realize that rigging has broad applications? If you refuse to recognize a winner who was legitimately elected and replaced him with your own favoured aspirant who lost the primaries, that is the worst form of rigging. Morally, therefore, can the CPC accus the PDP of rigging when it perpetrated the same evil against legitimately elected candidates?
The CPC can only grow into a strong opposition party if it respects democratic principles. Freedom of choice is the heart of democracy and once you take it away, democracy dies! The CPC leaders lack any justification of accusing the PDP of undemocratic conduct when it denied its supporters from electing aspirants of their choice at the primaries. Imposition and substitution of candidates by the CPC national leaders were mainly responsible for the voter revolt the party suffered at the 2011 gubernatorial elections.
Leadership