“The drum is silenced in mid-throb the flute is flung away; and ears strain to master the malediction of the thunder”
Odia Ofeimum
The journey of the Sokoto State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the square of success was not only tortuous but long-winded as there were traps and landmines all over the highway, however, God in His infinite wisdom and accuracy Has destined Ahmed Aliyu to be the Executive Governor of Sokoto state to the utmost chagrin and consternation of the opposition party and its people.
Whenever / look at the political journey of Sokoto’s Ahmed Aliyu all / see is a vigorous history replete with footprints and signposts emblazoned with the beautiful patterns and designs of destiny. Destiny in the eyes of all peoples who share a belief in the revealed scriptures of varied religious persuasions affirm it as an integral part of our existence on this earth.
As humankind, what we do, how we do it and how it turns out and what we become now, tomorrow and forever revolves around the fulcrum of our destiny. It’s interesting to note that, no mortal can divert the course or flowchart of destiny as it’s determined by our Creator Himself and not by any man. In years to come, Ahmed Aliyu’s political odyssey should serve as a taillight for upcoming politicians as his phenomenal rise from the position of a finance clerk to the position of a finance officer and finally to the of a commissioner clearly illustrated the unstoppability and undeniability of destiny.
As a testament to his towering destiny,the Aliyu Wamakko administration invested him as the commissioner of youth and social welfare where his penchant for improving the social status of the youths, the disabled and the people in general distinctively glowed throughout the span of that administration. Thousands ofyouths were gainfully engaged in skills acquisition program which remarkably went extra miles in making such youths self-reliant drawing from the skills they acquired , the starter packs and the stipends extended to them. It warms the heart to realise that majority of those trained are still gainfully engaged on their own with a retinue of apprentices,and the chain keeps on extending. Now that Ahmed Aliyu is here as the governor, we are confident that another powerful wave of skills acquisition and engaging the youths in employment-generating programmes will soon be unveiled.
The same Aliyu Wamakko administration appointed him as the commissioner of health where remarkably laudable initiatives and programmes were rolled out with appreciable results. When he assumed office as the governor, his first port of unscheduled midnight visit was the Specialist Hospital in the metropolis, perhaps as a follow-up to his commissionership days.
Ahmed Aliyu deputised for Aminu Waziri for more than seven years when he suddenly resigned to squarely face his aspiration for the position of the governor ./t would be recalled that Ahmed Aliyu did not defect alongside his then principal when he moved to the PDE he stayed in the APC with his benefactor Aliyu Wamakko.
To all discerning minds, it appeared unmistakably clear that Ahmed Aliyu was set to politically clash and fiercely battle his former principal in the race for the governorship of the state in the 2079 elections.
Destiny smiled on him when he won the APC primary election for the gubernatorial race, to the chagrin of many of his foes and political detractors who felt that he was unjustly favoured by the leader of the party.
When the chips were down and the 2079 elections were conducted, intrigues and underhand dealings played strategic roles in returning the PDP as the winner with a negligible margin of 342 votes after the infamous inconclusive election which prompted the coining of the infamous “an kawo Kebbe” phrase to illustrate the messy and putrid politics that took place there to dubiously install the winner.
After the declaration of the results and the formal inauguration of the then new government to the dismay and displeasure of all people of good conscience , the battle shifted to the Tribunal. The APC had formidable grounds to wrestle power from the PDP, however,many forces and vested interests worked in tandem with the government to circumvent the palpable triumph of the APC, the litigation dragged on and terminated at the Supreme Court with PDP carrying the day.
The almost general estimation and the jaundiced wish of the PDP people was that,the political dynasty ofAliyu Wamakko should be demystified and obliterated. They laboured tirelessly to upturn the election of Senator Wamakko himself so that his political worth would be hugely reduced and if possible rendered saltless. However,destiny did not betray Wamakko as up to now he’s a Senator of the federal republic of Nigeria and the benefactor of today’s Sokoto APC governor Ahmed Aliyu.
As destiny would have it, Ahmed Aliyu moved on with equanimity after the Supreme Court judgment that nailed the coffin of his electoral success after the 2079 election. The PDP wanted him to remain irrelevant and perhaps politically crippled, however, destiny worked in his favour when he was appointed the Executive Secretary of the Police Trust Fund. His detractors including his ex-principal were jittery and expectedlyjealous that he had moved on to land a juicy position in Abuja.
Aliyu Wamakko remained relevant in the political permutations of the country as he maintained his unflagging in his manner of assisting all manner ofpeople particularly the needy as his Gawon-Nama residence remains a Mecca of some sort with endless stream of people trooping there daily for all kinds of social and political engagements.
Ahmed Aliyu was not bogged down by the 2079judgment, he remained politically visible while still serving as the ES of the Police Trust Fund, when the time was ripe for the gubernatorial primary election of the APC, he resigned and indicated interest to again try his luck. Destiny again smiled at him when he emerged victorious at the primary stage.
His success again rattled and unsettled his former principal and the PDP family, they went to work doing everything in their capacity to water down the political clout ofAliyu Wamakko and Ahmed Aliyu. All brands of campaigns of calumny including resort to religious sentiments and recourse to the use of anti-corruption agencies were used in order to destroy Ahmed Aliyu’s political fortunes. However, destiny is nobody’s errand boy and therefore didn ‘t kowtow to the flowchart of his detractors.
In their evil machinations to scuttle his aspiration, they collaborated with Abuja forces and caused some turbulence in the leadership of the APC at the state level, there was rumpus in the APC with convoluted Court litigations which at the end favoured the Wamakko faction. All that transpired in the party involving the conundrum surrounding the APC leadership is now consigned to the dusbin of history since destiny bluntly refused to dance to the tunes of the PDP people including the fairytale of their ‘delete all’ dream.
When the 2023 elections approached with campaigns in earnest, the PDP top hierarchy and its footsoilders were frenzied with all manner of insinuations and postulations encroaching into the territory of our Creator by swearing to the high heavens that Ahmed Aliyu will never be governor ! At the end of everything, Ahmed Aliyu emerged triumphant as a child of destiny. Despite the reverberating win, the PDP people became wild and weird as they continued to hallucinate and swear that he will be issued with the certificate of return, destiny again beat them hands-down as the certificate of return was duly issued to him by /NEC.
When the certificate of return was handed over to him, they were again bamboozled and were made to believe that he will never be sworn-in as governor. Just where are we today?
The same PDP and its people who were all over the place bragging that they had money,they had government, they had people and they had every capacity at their beck and call to win the gubernatorial election, shamelessly relocated to the Tribunal whimpering and imploring the justices to seize power from Ahmed Aliyu and hand over to them.
It should be enabled on record that the courts are meant to service the requests of the weak, the powerless and the downtrodden… how has the PDP that was bombastically bragging of money, power, people and capacity, now turned to a whimpering, helpless and delusional party?
Now that the Tribunal, the Court ofAppeal and even the Supreme Court have toed the line of destiny by affirming Ahmed Aliyu’s gargantuan win, what will happen to the irritants on social media with their malodorous refrain “Mallam is coming?”
The good people of Sokoto state have begun to see the light with the landmark achievements recorded by this administration in the traditional first 700 days in office, and in subsequent months, and would love to see an undisturbed continuation of such achievements. Allah ya taimaka,ya yi jagora domin ci gabanjihar mu a kowane bangare, amin.
We look forward to more fruitful engagements and groundbreaking achievements by the Ahmadun-Alu administration as we ponder over what India’s Mahatma Ghandi once said, “there are two days in the year that we cannot do anything, yesterday and tomorrow, and champions are made from something they have deep inside of them —a desire, a dream, a vision.
Binji contributes this piece from the Cabinet Office, Sokoto.
