Odigie-Oyegun
With the approaching 2019 general elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC), which lost out in the race for the governorship seat in Taraba State in 2015, is preparing to take a successful shot.
As observed by The Guardian and other watchers of political events as they unfold in the state, the APC is no doubt, leaving no stone unturned in the quest to take control of the top seat in the coming elections.
Recent events in the state’s political scene have seen the opposition APC, not only rebranding itself but also strengthening its fabric of unity for the platform to go into the election as a strong entity that can provide solutions to the problems confronting the state.
The determination of the APC was lucidly demonstrated when many influential politicians from the state recently converged at the Jalingo country home of Senator Abubakar Tutare, to fashion out ways to wrest power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the next elections. The group, which converged under the banner of Integrity Group, was made up of top politicians who have served at both the state and federal levels in various capacities.
Among such politicians who have resolved to ensure change in Taraba in 2019, were the former Minister of Labour, Senator Joel Ikenya, the National President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Bobboi Kaigama, former Deputy-Governor, Alhaji Uba Maigari, former governorship candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressive change (CPC), Ahmed Yusuf, Nigerian Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, Alhaji Hassan Jika Ardo, Senator Abubakar Tutare, the Senior Special Adviser to the Speaker of the House of Representatives on Legislative Matters, Barrister Ibrahim Tukur El-Sudi.
Others are the former PDP governorship aspirant, Alhaji Mohammed Tumba Ibrahim, former Head of Service, Augustine Banzin, former Secretary to the State Government, Garvey Yaweh, Senator Ibrahim Goje, to mention just a few.
In their various submissions, the APC political kingpins collectively agreed to put aside all forms of sentiments that have in the past shattered the dreams of the party, and work tirelessly round the clock to stop the PDP from gaining assess to the seat of power once again.
Addressing the group, its chairman, Alhaji Uba Maigari, stressed the need for all the members to put aside their individual differencees and work towards ensuring victory for the party in the state and at the national level.
Maigari who noted that the group is not a faction of the APC, was of the view that the caliber of persons in its fold have resolved to tread all legitimate paths to ensure change in the state in 2019 adding, “These people you are seeing are people of the same interest determined to ensure change in the state in the forthcoming general election.”
While affirming their unflinching support to the leadership of President Mohammadu Buhari, the desire of the party to wrest power from the PDP, as disclosed by Maigari, was necessitated by the failure of the present leadership of the state and the PDP to herald the much needed dividends of democracy to the state.
He admonished APC faithful and the people of Taraba State, not to be intimidated by forces within the government but to stand solidly behind APC, which he said is made up of all the known politicians in the state.
Maigari also assured the people that there is no discrimination in the APC as “both the founders and the joiners are equal,” adding “nobody has the right or the slightest privilege to deny anyone membership of the party.”
According to him, “APC belongs to all Nigerians and no amount of brigandage or grandstanding can frighten us away from the party. The integrity group is neither a faction nor a rebellion against the state executive of the party but rather a patriotic struggle to ensure fairness and equity in the overall interest of all APC.”
While expressing optimism that the party would triumph in the next polls, he said the major objective of the group is to “organize the party and place it in the position to win the state and salvage our people from untold suffering in the hands of the PDP administration in the state.”
Speaking in the same vein, the TUC leader, Kaigama, wanted the group to be sincere in all its dealings, as that is the surest way to victory stressing, “we need to be sincere to ourselves in order to achieve our dream of ensuring change in our dear state. We should not allow ourselves to be deceived with religion or ethnicity because hunger and health does not know religion and tribe.”
On his own part, Ikenya believed that the APC has all the needed structure in terms of human and material resources, to sail through to the Jalingo Government House in 2019.He appealed to all intending aspirants for the various elective positions, to rally around candidates that would emerge victorious in the party’s primary election as that, according to him, would put an end to the reign of the PDP in the state.
All the speakers did not only speak in one accord but also have the same vision and mission for APC, which if judiciously followed, would no doubt lead to a highly competitive election in the state between the two major political parties.
However the ruling PDP is not taking the threats from the opposition seriously as it believed that the APC was only playing to the gallery and exhibiting a political strength that it does not possess.
The ruling party said rather than being moved by the “empty threats” from the APC, the electorate in Taraba would still give the PDP another opportunity to rule the state during the 2019 elections.
According to the Spokesman of the PDP in Taraba, Alhaji Inuwa Bakari, the ruling party had, by sheer delivery of dividends of democracy to the people, has secured the confidence of the electorate.
He said, “The volume of developmental projects so far put on ground by the incumbent governor, Arc. Darius Dickson Ishaku, are enough to give our party victory in the 2019 elections. We can point to things that we have done and the people of the state are impressed by the performance of the governor that victory is certain for us in the next polls.”
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