AmanaOnline

I had deliberately refrained from commenting on the needless court case between Jamilu Waziri and his excellency Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri because it was before the courts, and I was simply waiting for Mr. Waziri to exhaust his appeals in the courts. Now the course is clear for all those who want to have their say on the matter. The Supreme Court gave its verdict on November 25th, 2022, swatting aside unceremoniously the small matter of contrived distraction to Fintiri’s casual stride into his second term, God willing. The matter is permanently, judicially closed. But I know my people – the court of public opinion will soon start “sitting” to pass ‘judgements’ on the judicial system; cast aspersions on all the judges and justices who sat on the case from the trial court to the Supreme Court. The Cyberspace is now our alternative universe and alternative reality.

The verdict of the Supreme Court, in my opinion, has put paid to the ambitions of nomadic, diaspora and wannabe politicians in taking over parties nurtured by home-based politicians, by simply sauntering into a party and picking the ticket of their preferred office. To this specie of politicians, building a party is a no – no, but reaping the benefits of what others have struggled to build is a right. The verdict has also demystified the much vaunted “Abuja connection” by politicians whose stock-in-trade is name dropping and intimidating people into believing they can cause a tsunami or even move mountains by mere pronouncements.

Politics should have certain values and code of practice, no matter how dirty some of us believe it is, as it is said there is honour even among thieves. The deliberate weakening of party supremacy has eroded any modicum of value-system that existed in party politics. In the days of yore, one must register for a political party of his choice, pay his dues, and then prove his bonafides as a potential leader before going through the selection process for any elective office. The reverse is the case these days. A potential contestant identifies the office he wants to contest for before identifying the platform he wants to use to actualise his ambition. Party executives will be falling head over heels in recruiting such a personage into their fold. The interest of the party and its long-suffering members be damned. To such members party loyalty or hierarchy can go to the blazes.

I sympathise with Jamilu Waziri for going through the legal rigmarole from the trial court up to the Supreme court and coming out of the ordeal empty handed. But he went into the contest thinking the deck will be stacked in his favour based on some primordial sentiments – see no tears for Jamilu. Besides if my memory serves me right, he abandoned the state and the party immediately after the party’s 2018 primaries where governor Fintiri defeated him and other candidates. He was ensconced in his Abuja comfort zone while others were busy nurturing the party. When governor Fintiri left the parliament in 2015, he dedicated the next four years to building the PDP into a winning machine. His time and resources were deployed to ensure that a party that was orphaned by its defeat in the 2015 elections in the state had a farther – and a caring one at that. The Supreme court verdict should serve as a wake-up call to parties to put their houses in order by instilling a “sense of belonging and loyalty” in its members.

The Fintiri campaign train has already taken off without waiting for the nay sayers. As can be seen from the turnouts all the local governments that the campaign train has berthed, the people are just waiting for the election day to express their gratitude to the governor who harkened to their calls for attention. We have seen the reception of the PDP faithful and Fintiri supporters who came out en masse to listen to the governor’s message going forward. They have seen and acknowledged the tremendous difference he made in their socio-economic lives in the past three and a half years of his stewardship.

For the first time in recent memory, the government is walking the talk in addressing the infrastructural deficits of the rural folks; for the first time as far as most people will remember the government is taking the livestock sector seriously by investing heavily in cattle market development and upgrade to provide a conducive atmosphere for buying and selling of animals. Also, for the first time in recent memory the government is treating livestock as a business that will generate revenue for both those engaged in the business and the government. Hitherto, this sector has completely being neglected and left to the whims of carpetbaggers, who are now all out trying to truncate the government’s efforts in organising the sector for the benefit of all.

This verdict by the Supreme Court is a verdict on not just Fintiri but on the arrested development of our rural areas. It is a verdict that effectively frees our rural folks from the suffocating grip of our rentier politicians. It has also laid bare the shallowness and ineffectiveness of ethno-religious politics. I hold two types of politicians in low esteem – those who trade in religion and ethnicity to catapult their political trajectories and those who allow others to do the heavy lifting in building a political party only for them to stroll in and take the ultimate prize without breaking a sweat. This verdict has shown the futility of such archaic politics. Competence, service delivery and integrity should be the major selling points of any would-be leader and not his “associates” or where he comes from.

The courts have spoken and so will the people do.