CORRECTING SAMUEL NWASONIKE’S LENGTHY DIATRIBE - PDP GOVERNORS' FORUM

The Peoples' Democratic Party Governors’ Forum (PDP-GF) under the Chairmanship of H.E. Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed (CON), the Governor of Bauchi State, on behalf of all member-Governors, has for the umpteenth time listened to and properly analysed a viral clip of a live coverage by TVC of Samuel Nwanosike, a member of the PDP in Rivers State and former Chairman of Ikwerre LG Council, wherein he allegedly stated that Governor Bala Muhammed has made it clear that he intends to run for presidency in 2027. 

2. He equally alleged that Governor Mohammed wants Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State to be his vice-presidential candidate and that Gov. Muhammed’s plan is to combine resources from Rivers State and other states to try and challenge the current President, Bola Tinubu, in the next presidential election.

3. Ordinarily, the Forum would never indulge in the profanity of glorifying such diatribes, but to correct the erroneous impression that will be implanted in the minds of unsuspecting indigenes and residents of Rivers State, the sub-nationals and the general public in general, we resolve to state as follows;

  

i. The Governor of Bauchi State, H.E. Senator Bala A. Mohammed CON, has since his emergence by the grace of the Almighty God, as Chairman of this Forum, guided and unified the Forum's members with purposefulness affirming it as an effective organ of the party, PDP.

ii. The watchword of the Forum has been the unity of its members with its focus of playing party politics in a multi-party system, anchored on delivering dividends of democracy via good governance to the governed with integrity on either side at all times, against the vagaries of abuse of power. In this light, Gov. Mohammed personally sees politics as a call to service, not a profession, having humbly grown with the mindset that by tomorrow, we shall leave the spaces and positions we see ourselves occupying now, mindful of accountability to our Creator and the State. As such, the permutations of Samuel Nwanosike in a daylight broadcast on television is only precariously balanced since he chose to be a bark dog for his employer, more so as he is pained by the expiration of a 3-year term in office without an extension as earlier promised by his sculptors.

iii. We advise him (Samuel Nwanosike) to keep a healthy relationship with the youths in his local constituency and be dissuaded from myopic polarisations traced to a fizzling political crisis he has engulfed himself in whereas his Governor, Sir Siminalyi Fubara, only stands for peace.

His words as reported, "His Bauchi counterpart (Bala Mohammed) has made it clear that he wants to contest the 2027 election against President Tinubu. He is doing all in his power to lure the governor of Rivers Sim Fubara to run with him as running mate so they can use Rivers resources and maybe some other states' resources to come together to see if they can unseat Tinubu but Nigeria has passed that stage. We have found in Tinubu a man of competence and capacity" remain incongruent and puerile knowing the hypocrisy in them and a feigned loyalty to the president. Only time will tell.

iv. The PDP is now an opposition known for its centrist policies and advocacy for social justice and economic development. Having provided an umbrella for us all, it is beholden of us to allow others breathe and grow in this line of public service, without burning down the Party to ashes to achieve personal gains of staying in power forever.

v. Many party men and women have benefitted from, transformed into mentors and have been celebrated as statesmen creating a tradition of values which must be respected. Based on this principle, Gov. Mohammed owes no word of apology and will join no issues with political jobbers whose callous insensitivities and arrogance could only bury the future of their constituencies and the country at large, if not checked.

 

Looking at our exalted statesmen, their influences on national politics were driven by communality, not self-centred drifting. Inclusivity in any political party as well as the PDP, where we admit we belong, has always been powered by reconciliation and discipline, not chauvinism.

vi. Taking a view of the political landscape, we politely draw that Nigerian politics is highly competitive and often marked by intense rivalries, but not a self-driven transactional patriotism. And quoting the words of former US president, Theodore Roosevelt, "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else."

vii. The Forum is at liberty to advise all PDP members that as long as the PDP is not one man's enterprise, no matter the commutations for public appointments by a person or group of persons, the common good of our people in the spirit of reconciliation, discipline and truth shall remain the only anchor of the trustworthy leadership our Party faithful expect from us.

viii. Gov. Bala Mohammed will not belong to any clique, or cast of dramatists who would flagrantly plot day by day to thwart the powers of a governor to serve his state and people, contemptuously bend the constitution to propagate their self-ambitions above impactful development the people deserve. He has lived by the principle of "live and let live" and by his position in life, will always engage reason and reconciliation rather than burn down a city to ashes just to thrust down the people's throats what has been described as "seclusive agreements of questionable concerns".

ix. The Forum under his leadership will be convergent rather than divergent. It is an oath he swore to, and will always keep, to enhance the vision of the Party's founding fathers making better what we inherited. It is our turn to make our sacrifices, sincerely creating room for growth and fresh ideas; not heating up the polity, bloating in imaginable thrones, and/or dramatising in garbs of an emperor.

Let's all be guided.

Dr. Emmanuel Agbo,  FNMS MFR, 

Director-General.