If you say it is mind boggling, you wouldn’t have scratched even the surface of it, and if you’d say it is unwritten and unheard of, you’d still not be far off. APC (change), in an effort to transform to APC (progress), is fast missing its way, losing its mind, and breaking its lovers’ hearts. The ordinary party faithfuls, and the common man that bought into the change agenda, are watching how the APC is undoing itself, and unravelling into a single purpose vehicle; an SPV that came together for the sole purpose of bringing into fruition, PMB’s ambition of becoming President. That has been achieved, and it seems it is gasping for breath for survival, and continuity. It is behaving like a party with no morals, no principles, and no principals, who can whip everyone in line, take charge, and bring everyone to play by the book that binds them together.
Need I tell you I’m a ‘founding member’ of the APC? Right through the merger talks to date. In a previous article titled, ‘What the APC owes us’, I had reminded the leadership of our party, that, “The leadership of our party owes it to us, to put their personal interests and individual differences aside, and put party and country first. No one should corner the party and make it his/ her cash cow. It belongs to us all, and without us all, it is nothing. Our leadership must arrive at what is workable, viable and sellable; while reckoning with our realities, sensitivities, and economic conditions, at the same time avoiding previous gaping mistakes. Our party leadership owes us nothing short of victory in 2023, no matter whose Ox is gored”. Unfortunately, it is becoming clearer by the day, that the APC may find it difficult to pay us what it owes us. Sadly, victory in the 2023 elections is looking bleak, and the fortunes of the party come 2023 are indeed seeming gloomy.
APC is the government of the day, and the murkier its waters get, the more precarious and turbulent governance becomes. As at today, governance is at a standstill. Prices of the most crucial items and commodities are on a free rise and free fall. Electricity is suffering one of its darkest times today. Diesel is at an astronomical 650 to 700 naira per litre. Aviation fuel is scarce, and airfares are doubling. From contaminated petrol, to unholy fuel queues, which have seen a few days of respite; we are facing another build up of fuel queues yet again. The judiciary is being accused of judicial rascality, and they are in turn barking at executive banality. Civil servants are having trains stop in their tracks in the middle of nowhere because there’s no diesel in them. The fatality of it all is no one will be punished or sacked! APC is verily in disarray, and so much for governance too. The whole system is looking like a person trying to wear his trousers from over his head. You need not wonder how that pans out. If care is not taken, this power tussle for the leadership of the APC will wipe out the gains of the administration along with it.
The intrigues, the power play, the selfishness, the plots and counter coups — you’d be told, “that is the beauty of democracy”! What has been cooking and burning out in the APC ‘kitchen cabinet’ has come all out in the open. Nothing remains a secret anymore as the public is awash with our dirty linen. What remains to be seen now, is if there is room for decorum and ‘amends’. Not so sure about decorum, but surely, politicians are the masters of making ‘amends’. Are they all prepared to wreck the party and escort Baba to Daura come May 2023, or are they civil and progressive enough to sheath their ambitions and selfish ends, and forge what is good for the party, and best for the country? Are they collectively our leaders, or are they just a bunch of pretentious rulers? Is there an APC after Baba?
Our hearts are not only broken, but shattered by the events that have unfolded in the APC house. We are grossly disappointed and embarrassed. My friend that sees me as an unrepentant APC loyalist called me 3 times as the drama ensued, and I couldn’t answer the first 2 calls. I could hear his mocking laughter everytime I misses a call, even though when we spoke, he was more commiserative than invective. It was short and precise, as he sent me his ‘RIP’ messages. There are millions of us who towed this APC line and believed in it. We still do. But events are not encouraging to put it lightly. If PMB is APC, then it means PMB has to come out and put things in order himself. And the only way is the OBJ way of 2007, when his 3rd term died. If he doesn’t, he would as well be breaking the hearts of those 12 million people that followed him to the APC, and they would definitely be on the look out for another moses, if he fails them.
Tahir is Talban Bauchi.
