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Open Letter to Mr President-Muhammadu Buhari, APC and APC LEADERSHIP.
AUDU ANGLING FOR LUGARD HOUSE AGAIN?
“Over ninety percent of people in the senate have cases with the EFCC…I have contested four different elections since 2007”, were the unrepentant words of Abubakar Audu in an insensitive reaction to the legitimate and genuine concerns of Kogi people that his image and reputation are not on all fours with those of the All Progressives Congress or the saintly President Muhammadu Buhari to qualify him for election on APC ticket.
Audu is a man of blunt speech and coarse manners who does not hide his feelings or perception of issues. From this careless utterance we can surmise that this man does not and cannot see any difference between now and those days gone by when business was as usual. Unfortunately for Audu, these are unusual times when only unusual measures are adequate enough to address the nation’s sundry problems, chief of which is corruption.
Audu was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for allegedly embezzling about N11billion while he served as governor of the state from 1999 to 2003. While the trial continues, Audu allegedly assaulted an operative of the EFCC right there in court over a very trivial matter! This is not the character of a man who is ready to show remorse for his evil deeds.
Audu is an emperor aspiring to the office of governor as provided for in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but he is actually seeking to spread his imperial toga over the entire state and, time permitting, the entire country.
For Audu to have relished the fact that he has been contesting elections without let despite his EFCC indictment and the litany of corruption cases pending against him means he is insensitive to the times we are in. CHANGE, to Audu, is no more than what the bird brain of Mama Pee would conceive it to be. Audu’sunderstanding of change goes no further than mere nomenclature. To him, change simply means reshuffling of personnel rather than a shift in paradigm or substance.
He is still at a loss to understand that Nigerians voted for change of content as well as form and that they are poised to protect and enforce the change they have earned at the peril of their very lives even to the ends of the country. Auduappears to have been too far away from reality to appreciate the mood of the nation on this issue.
Many watchers who are genuinely concerned for the future of Kogi State have been very vociferous on the lack of wisdom in the selection of Audu to fly the flag of APC in the coming governorship election in the state. They rightly perceive Audu as a man too many poles apart from the saintly image of President Buhariand therefore loudly wonder why Buhari should remain aloof while destroyers are ready with bulldozers to demolish the Nigeria House all have labored to build.
A few Nigerians have a poser for our president, Muhammadu Buhari. How can a president that really cares anything about the welfare of his subjects keep mum while a rogue aspires to once again rip them off? This is one insult too many for Nigerians or Kogians to endure. It takes more than flesh and blood can tolerate to be bossed around by a scoundrel like Auduwhose corruption stinks to high heavens. Buhari’s image is on the line and he owes it a duty to Nigerians and to his family in particular to tell us if we must go back to business as usual. We are compelled to ask Mr. President in the words of Jesus’ interrogators: “are you the expected messiah or are we to expect another?” if Audu gets away with his manipulated mandate.
A blogger, JJOmojuwa, bemoaned the fate of Kogi State which, according to him, “has suffered too much from poor governance”, andhopes “for the sake of Kogi people…PDP offers a better candidate.” Kayode Ogundamisitweeted: “Kogi democracy is inching to deep blue sea” with the emergence of Audu.
Having achieved power at the centre, APC does not appear to have a firm grasp of what to do with it. The Party’s constitution makes much ado about “clean record” as a pre-requisite for any elective or selective office on the party’s platform. If words have meaning, Audu’sselection to fly APC’s flag in the November 21 governorship election in Kogi State makes mockery of the whole concept of zero tolerance for corruption.
With Audu in the saddle, Buhari’s war on corruption is a lost campaign because all governors in the country, especially the APC ones, are expected to concert efforts with the power at the centre to vanquish the hydra-headed monster. Audu is a corrupt leader come into his own should the APC stand aloof while he wangles his way through to Government House again even as his trial with the EFCC inures. Where are Audu’s clean records that qualified him to contest election on APC platform in the first place? Are we being hoodwinked into believing that only PDP is corrupt? Kogians are still asking.
In the last senatorial election, one Sam Aro was disqualified on the grounds that he was alleged to have been involved in some corrupt practices. Without an indictment, Aro was promptly disqualified. But here we are with Auduwielding APC ticket even while standing trial for misappropriating a whopping N11billion!
In other climes Audu would be required to first clear himself of the weighty allegations leveled against him before he would deign to seek any public office again. His first days in office are still being questioned but he is out again for the same office without first answering the questions still begging for answers on his past handling of this same office he is angling for.
Audu has simply been awarded a ticket for immunity against the EFCC for as long as he is governor. Is this the change we fought to enthrone? As one commentator lamented over Audu’s emergence, a pall has been cast over APC’s perception as a party of people ofintegrity because “the essence of screening is to ensure that only credible candidates emerge as APC flag bearer”. Unfortunately however, what transpired before and at the APC primary was a charade, which merely succeeded in clearing the coast for the PDP to swim to unearned victory on November 21.
Bode Ogunmola, PDP publicity secretary, actually jubilated on the emergence of Audu, declaring the election a no-contest affair as Audu’s flying of APC flag would make the election a walk over for the PDP, even rejoicing at APC’s “biggest blunder” in presenting Audufor an election at all.
The undeserved election of Audu is a litmus test for Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade because this is the very first election APC government under Buhari is going to conduct. To lose to the opposition PDP in Kogi State due to APC’sincongruous party administration would be testamentary to a confused government at the centre. Will APC flunk this one all-important test? History is in the making.
If APC is sincere in its avowed hatred for corruption, how come it is fielding the very vestige of corruption in Kogi State? A candidate with such “immaculate” credentials as Audushould properly go for president rather than governor! The APC ought to be very wary of people who have joined the party with stolen wealth and are out to display their ill-gotten money in Buhari’s administration.
As an APC leader, Audu was tactfully eliminating all the prospective contenders for governor while he busied planting his stooges and surrogates in the party. By sharp contrast, APC is led at the national level by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Chief John Odigie-Oyegunwhile the likes of Buhari, Kwankwaso, Atiku et cetera were free to seek elective office. What ever happened to this orderly arrangement that measures with civilized and democratic norms and which the whole wide world has come to embrace these days?
But in Kogi State Audu is at once leader and candidate of APC. A commentator spoke the fears of Kogi people this way: “if Prince Abubakar Audu is all APC has to field as candidate for governorship of Kogi State, I am afraid change is out of the reach of Kogipeople.”
Audu’s first coming may have been an unexpected natural disaster but his second coming is man-made because the choice is ours to make as a people. He is not coming to rule as a democratic governor but as an emperor with an iron fist for the sole purpose of settling old and new scores. A vindictive personality like Audu is hardly deserved by Kogi people at this crucial period in the history of the state when the desire for economic growth supersedes all other considerations.
Sadly however, the All Progressives Congressseems to be progressing only in error. The goodwill of Nigerians and those of Kogi people cannot continue to be taken for a ride. Fielding a disabled general as Audu drives horses and coaches through the whole concept of anti-corruption, and APC had better put its house in order, NOW!
…Eneojo Salihu – Lokoja
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