Re: 2015 as PDP sets to capture Sokoto state

By Sahabi Garba

One Faruk Umar purportedly from Kofar Rini in Sokoto wrote an article with the above caption which appeared on page 69 of the leadership Newspaper of Saturday August 16th 2014: This is not a technical rejoinder, but it is expected that the general readership would have an enlarged view of what PDP represents in Sokoto State today.

It is morally correct if I carry Faruk Umar along in history when Governor Wamakko formally joined the PDP and become its flag bearer for the 2007 gubernatorial election. Before Wamakko entry into PDP, the party was as good as Comatose, with all its members scattered about as they had nothing to hold onto. Whether Faruk and his sponsors like it or not, Governor Wamakko breathed life into the PDP and nurtured it to a resounding success so much so that at a point in time, throughout Nigeria Sokoto PDP is the only chapter that had 100% control of all elective offices.

Again, it is undeniable that when Governor Wamakko defected to the APC, the PDP collapsed like a pack of cards. As I write this, the PDP is still mired in intra-party squabbles. It would do well to remind Faruk Umar that an aggrieved section of the PDP has since filed a suit at a competent court challenging the conduct of the recent party congresses and by extension the present executives.

How could a party that is embroiled in court litigations be found to be sound and worthy of winning elections?It is falsehood to hold that Wamakko’s defection suffered a setback when Mukhtari Shagari stayed behind in the PDP. It is obvious that when the Governor was in the PDP, he was its existence and its hope. The people of Sokoto State have not heard anything about ArzikaTambuwal and his co-travellers until when Wamakko left the PDP.

Where was ArzikaTambuwal when the PDP was being built by Governor Wamakko, what has ArzikaTambuwal contributed to the PDP towards its successes?? Was he not the same person who was stoned by old PDP members at Giginya Hotel when he was Obasanjo’s Minister for undermining them?It is sad that their only triumpeting sounds is that, they founded the PDP. Well, they founded the PDP but they could not nurture it and Wamakko had to salvage the party and reposition it successfully, then left due to lack of party discipline.

I tell you Faruk Umar that, Ladan Shuni has no morals and was very wrong to have accused Wamakko of fuctionalizing the PDP as he (Ladan Shuni) was a beneficiary of various inclusions into the party affairs. Of course, he benefitted from many grants of contracts even though he belonged to the old PDP. I repeat that, Ladan Shuni has so moral grounds upon which to castigate Wamakko. Ask him how many of such contracts he has collected monies and left undone?

PDP as it stands now is never a threat to the APC in Sokoto State, what the PDP parades is a bunch of Abuja – based politicians who are detached from their people. The PDP is a devided house, as we approach party primaries it is very clear that the party would further disintegrate as the various gubernatorial aspirants may work against themselves and one another at the end of the day.

The greatest undoing of the PDP is the absence of grassroots support and the self-centredness of its top echelon, these Wamakko domesticated and broutht under control while he was in the party. Now that he is not there, there are cracks everywhere and the centre is about to cave in, so how could such a party lost in the wilderness win election?Of course, the good people of SokotoState know what they are about; they have tested the good spirit of Governor Wamakko and as such, the 2015 elections would definitely have the seal of Governor Wamakko. By the grace of God, Governor Wamakko is taking Sokoto State to the next level with his array of accelerated development strategies. If Wamakko’s simplicity, generosity, compassion, accessibility, humility and grassaroots acceptance are formidable political winning points, then the APC would always carry the day. It is not about political parties now, it is about personalities in the parties, this puts PDP in the political cold room.

What this is merely saying is that Wamakko as a true son of the soil has captured Sokoto State for Centuries to come and unserious persons in the PDP, can not wrestle this from him, this is a fact Sokoto “SAI ALU” is the recurring slogan that one hears around.

Sahabi Garba resides at 35 Sultan Abubakar Road, Sokoto.