By Aminu Mohammed
One fine evening, I decided to watch Channels Television after going on sabbatical for a very long time. Like a dream, I saw a clip from Sokoto state where some “political adventurers” were daring the APC Family that they would soon open an office in the state as they have the backing of Abuja.
In short, they want to create a faction.
The question that came to my mind was, have these people studied the political history of Sokoto state at all?
Then, my mind went back to Harold Robbins collections. Two of his books were titled, The Adventurers and The Dream Merchants. In fact, that is just the summary of who they are and the summation of this write up.
Adventure is an unusual and exciting or daring experience or trial when one ventures into or engaged in a dangerous voyage. It is a risky expedition whether it is mountain climbing, skydiving, power seeking or persuarance of wealth .
An adventurer is someone who seeks, wealth or social rank by unscrupulous or questionable means.
The political history of the APC in Sokoto has always been that of a happy family irrespective of dissidents who once awhile test their political will and crash.
Before the 2023 general elections, the name Ibrahim Lamido was synonymous to nothing. He was just Ibrahim Lamido just like any ordinary indigene in Sokoto. However, before the 2023 general elections, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko drafted him into the APC fold and on a platter of gold gave him the Sokoto East Senatorial District ticket where he was elected. Lamido just like Senator Abubakar Gada and Hon Abdullahi Salame grew wings after tasting power in less than a year in office and has now decided to rob shoulders with his mentor. Why would a child who is yet to learn how to crawl be eager to walk?
If history is anything to learn from, Senator Lamido has failed woefully because you do not bite the finger you use in licking honey and expect to enjoy the sweetness of that delicacy.
Lamido as an adventurer has dared where those powerful than him have failed.
He should ask both Gada and Salame how not to fight Wamakko politically. It took Wamakko over four decades to solidify his political empire and a neophyte like Lamido who has been contracted to distract the APC ADMINISTRATION in Sokoto is a mere dream merchant. A merchant is a buyer and seller of commodities. What commodity is Lamido buying for him to sell in Sokoto?
As a student of history, let me take Lamido down memory lane maybe he will come to his real senses and wait for his time.
You cannot come into politics just yesterday and think you can outsmart those who washed you, bathed you, dressed you and made you who you are today and begin to sound the drums of disintegration.
In 1979 when late Mohammed Shehu Kangiwa was sworn in as the first executive governor of Sokoto state I was in secondary school but with an ear to the ground like Albani of the famous James Hardly Chase collection, An ear to the ground.
Although, Kangiwa died midway into his tenure but before the November 1981 tragedy that killed him, there were two powerful commissioners in his cabinet who were always at loggerheads with late Dr. Garba Nadama who was Kangiwa’s deputy. One was in charge of water and electricity while the other was in charge of budget and economic planning. They frustrated Nadama and even blocked him severally from seeing his boss. When Kangiwa died, Nadama was sworn in as governor and those two commissioners were left panicking. However, Nadama was advised not to sack them so they were left with their shame.
Malam Yahaya Abdulkarim’s tenure was not spared as Bafarawa who was the then ruling party’s chairman was too ambitious to become the next governor which pitched him with governor Yahaya and the NRC administration under Malam Yahaya was sacked by the military in November 1993 barely 18 months in office that was when Abacha took over.
In 1999, Alhaji Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa and Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko were elected as governor and deputy respectively and just like administrations before them, their tenure was not hitch free.
However, Wamakko succeeded in taking over the ANPP from Bafarawa and Bafarawa floated the Democratic Peoples Party ( DPP) . Eventually however, Obasanjo who was the president of Nigeria in 2006 drafted Wamakko into the PDP shortly before the 2007 general elections and Wamakko became the first PDP governor in Sokoto after the PDP tried in 1999 and 2003 and failed.
Senator Abubakar Gada who outsmarted the PDP in 2007 by conniving with the party’s secretary to remove the real candidate the party fielded and replace him with his name thought he had grown wings to fight Wamakko and in 2011 he undertook a risky voyage as an adventurer to unseat Wamakko deceiving his gullible followers that he had the backing of president Jonathan and his wife. He dared and was overpowered by Wamakko despite boasting of Patience Goodluck Jonathan.
Before the 2023 elections, some dissidents in the APC under the misguidance of former House of Reps member, Hon. Abdullahi Salame also took another deadly voyage by trying to test their political might on Wamakko and despite the support from the then PDP governor in Sokoto state, Àminu Waziri Tambuwal and former minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, Salame and his co.travellers failed.
Why is Lamido embarking on a deadly journey he knows would not be fruitful in the end? Who is deceiving him and his plebian followers who know the consequences of failure?
Hon. Sani Yakubu appears to be the spokesperson of the adventurers and like his leader, Sani Yakubu was also brought into politics by Wamakko. He served as a member of the Sokoto state House of Assembly three times and when he dared former governor Àminu Waziri Tambuwal, he was kicked out of the house and Wamakko again got him a lucrative job in Abuja as an aide to former police affairs minister, Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi. Last year, Wamakko got him into the House of Reps and today he has become a renegade.
Another leading dissident, Hon. Ambarura was made a permanent secretary by Wamakko when he was a governor and when Ambarura retired from the civil service, Wamakko made him a commissioner before drafting him into the State House of Assembly where he served as the majority leader from 2019 to 2023 and was upgraded to a House of Reps member.
Although, Ambarura claimed there is no faction in the APC in Sokoto state, then what cause are they fighting for?
There are conspiracy theories surrounding the Adventures of these Political Dream Merchants but all the theories revolve around Greed for Power.
While one theory claims that their sponsors are from the hierarchy of the Senate, another says their paymasters are in the Villa.
Whichever theory one takes, those sponsoring them are also politicians who will face the electorate in 2027 and would not sacrifice their own elections for Lamido to triumph.
We know politicians who came to the Senate through the backdoor because they lost elections but paid for their victory in court. For someone who knew he did not win the 2023 election but got the backing of the judiciary, how would he abandon his 2027 project for Lamido to achieve his dream?
Senator Ibrahim Lamido should go back to the drawing board and plan well before he is consumed by greed and foolishness of Abuja Politicians.
It would not be out of place for Lamido to target 2031 but 2027 is a no go area for any adventurer who will end up as a dream merchant.
Like the kitchen cabinet of Obasanjo said in 2003, there is No Vacancy at Lodge Road in 2027
Aminu Mohammed is the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto state on Print Media
