The recent and renewed cases of suicide bombings and
other terror attacks in the state capital and other parts of Bornu state is not
only meant to sabotage President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment and the
successes he recorded so far in fighting the terrorists, but another grand
mischief by desperate APC politicians in the state that have lost the support
and confidence of the electorates ahead of the 2019 elections.
Pundits believe
that “if an atmosphere of insecurity is created in the state ahead of 2019 like
it was done in the past and in view of the fact that most of the APC elected
politicians, including the governor, have lost public sympathy, support and are
now very unpopular and hardly entertain or accept to attend any gathering
without the intimidating presence of huge security personnel and a further
backup with members of the state run Civilian JTF to prevent the rampant
attacks on them by angry citizens which has now become the order of the day, it
will then be easy for the state government to convince INEC and other security
agencies to centralise most if not all of the 2019 elections to be conducted in
the state capital and at the IDP Camps like it was done in 2015. If that is
done successfully, the pundits averred, the current APC representatives in the
state including the person that will succeed the incumbent governor despite
their individual dismal performance will be ‘re-elected’ on a platter of gold
and against the wishes of the electorates’’.
Even though Governor Shettima has no more worries for any
struggle for second term, which many observers believe was the reason why he
has of recent transformed to a dictator and has become largely dictatorial and
impatient, the governor certainly wants to maintain a political empire
controlled by him even after he finishes his eight – year mandate. The
calculation of the governor, according to close insiders, is that if his
reported ambition to be Vice President either now or during his party’s primary
election to choose candidates for the 2019 elections does not go in his favour,
he will contest the senatorial seat. But the shrewd Shettima, having tested his
declining popularity particularly at his constituency of many years which is
the MMC and their level of political enlightenment, had recently and in
preparation for 2019, changed his constituency and senatorial zone to Northern
Borno. With what many believe was a pre-planned resumption of suicide bombings
and if the federal government did not take decisive steps to apprehend and
punish those that are sabotaging its sincere efforts, Northern Borno local
governments may likely cast their votes again in 2019 under the watch of BOSG
officials at the IDP Camps in Maiduguri. If that is done, it will be a sure and
guaranteed victory for Mr. Shettima’s second political option to be at the red
chamber which is the reason why he shifted from MMC to Northern Borno.
As the political strategy of the Borno APC under the
leadership of Mr. Kashim Shettima ahead of 2019 is being exposed, casualties of
suicide bombings and other terror attacks that are highly questionable in
nature is expected to increase if the security agencies did not check the
impunity, desperation and excesses of mainly the APC politicians and some hired
thugs that are long being suspected to be the promoters and executors of terror
attacks in the name of Boko Haram. Already, virtually all those that were
recently arrested allegedly in connection with Boko Haram terror activities in
the state, including the influential leader of the state owned Civilian JTF,
Bah Lawan, two associates of Reps member, Kadiri Rahis, former vice chairman of
Kaga Local Government, one Mallam Abacha etc are all known to be very close to
the government and the governor. How they were reportedly cleared and
controversially released is also a story of its own in subsequent follow-up
stories. To many political watchers that offered their views to this reporter,
the last minute decision by the leader of the Civilian JTF, Bah Lawan, not to
follow the team of soldiers, Civilian JTF, oil exploration workers and some
University of Maiduguri staffers that were recently massacred by Boko Haram is
not a coincidence. He had, instead, tactically complained of headaches and
offered his car to follow the team. They believed that Bah Lawan, being a thug
that was widely associated with Boko Haram which was why he was recently
arrested, had prior knowledge of what was about to happen to his colleagues.
This suspicion grew loud among residents of Maiduguri when Bah Lawan’s car
turned out to be the only one among many that was spared during the attack. All
the other cars were either burnt down, taken away while their occupants were
brutally killed. Victims of the CJTF that sustained various degrees of
destruction due to gun shots during the attack were abandoned and left to their
faith at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) when this
reporter visited the hospital two weeks ago. A particular CJTF member, who was
shot in the head during the attack and the sum of only N130,000 was required to
remove the bullet eventually died because his family cannot afford the sum
while BOSG has abandoned such critical cases. What BOSG only did at the end of
the attack through the Deputy Governor, Usman Durkwa, was to visit the families
of the over twenty members of the CJTF that lost their lives during the attack
with N400,000 and one cow given to each of the families of the deceased CJTF
members. As a Sharia state and having sacrificed their lives for others in the
state, a respected Ulama, Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Abubakar Mahmud Gumi said the least the BOSG should do to such victims is to pay their Diya
which is above N20 million for each life lost and to fully pay for any medical
expenses that will arise in the cause of their treatment.
For now and until the 2019 final political onslaught
against the people of Borno is executed by the embattled BOSG, it remains to be
seen if the strategy of 2015 they adopted and won will work for Mr. Shettima
and the APC in the state this time around. What is for now clearly visible to
even a blind man on the street of Maiduguri and other LGAs across the state is
that the popularity of Kashim Shettima of yesterday is not the same with the
branded Shettima of today. Recent incidences in the state capital where the
governor had to be sneaked out by his security details to escape the anger of
rampaging youths while his official car was pelted with stones, the glasses
smashed at Gwange London Ciki area of Maiduguri, how he barely escaped being
molested during the last Eid-el-Fitr prayer at the Eid prayer ground and
several other incidences of this nature against the once popular governor is a
testimony that all is not well with the governor in the state and that the
electorates, if the next election is not manipulated for the same security
reasons that are being created now, are ready to elect best candidates not on
political party affiliation in 2019.
While recent survey in the state reveals
that President Buhari has remained the favourite of the electorates and that
majority – including powerful gladiators of other political parties like Sen.
Ali Modu Sheriff are in support of the President and are ready to cast their
votes for him in 2019 if his health condition permitted – it is not the same
for Governor Shettima in the state.
And as Mr. Shettima’s party at the state level allegedly
plots to win the 2019 election by all means, the governor at a recent gathering
– precisely before the Ramadan at the Government House – has left no one in
doubt that even if it requires sacrificing lives of innocent people in the name
of insecurity, the 2019 election for him and his cabal must be won. An audio recording during that ceremony where the governor
invited Ward members of Hausari, Maisandari, Fizan, Bolori 1 and Bolori 2 etc
for rice distribution was obtained. The governor in the said audio told the youths that they
will recruit additional youths in each of the Wards into CJTF for the primary
purpose of protecting and securing their votes. Apparently as a response and to
intimidate the growing opposition the Borno APC is getting, the governor was
quoted saying in the audio that for the purpose of the next election his
government will armed the CJTF and that if anybody misbehave they will deal
with any opposition and if need be they will be shot. Since the needed and
desperate second term and the benefits of the office has been achieved by him,
Mr. Shettima clearly said in the audio in Hausa language that “Ko yau kasuwa ta
tashi dankoli yaci riba”. The message is very clear to all. It was after the
governor had probably realised the implications of his dictatorial, reckless,
inciting, provocative and irresponsible statement that an order was given to
security personnel to delete contents of the said audio that had been recorded
by some press men and other attendees. But it was rather late because some of those
present had managed to secure it.
As the popularity of Kashim Shettima’s former boss and
political godfather, SAS continued to increase across the state despite the
recent loss by his PDP faction at the Supreme Court which was hugely celebrated
by the Borno APC, it is becoming clear by the day that SAS, ahead of 2019 and
in whatever political party, will stage a comeback to challenge Mr. Shettima
and his remnants. It is being predicted by political pundits that intra-party
rivalry within the Borno APC as 2019 approaches may eventually consume the
party. The politics of who will succeed the incumbent governor and the
indiscipline, rascality, and insubordination that characterize the conduct of
members of the Borno APC cabal may tear the party apart.
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