Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, has named Umar Abdullahi Ganduje, the former governor of Kano State as its new national Chiarman.
Ganduje would have been just another appointment was he not coming to the post on the back of an uninspiring stint ad governor of Kano State which featured an embarrassing scandal that continues to be dredged up each time his name is mentioned.
The All Progressives Congress appears to have a particularly short shrift for public opinion or optics.
Many ranking members or the party reek of one scandal or another. President Tinubu himself came to office in a storm of drug running allegations.
The party’s appetite for the ugly is enormous as the short shrift it gives to public opinion is inexhaustible.
In 2019, while he was governor of Kano State, Ganduje was caught on tape stuffing dollars into the pocket of his white flowing robes popularly known as babariga and the babariga bank moniker was born. Since then, wherever Ganduje has gone, the scandal has gone with him. The furor that had greeted his choice as chairman is an indication of that.
Nigeria is experiencing a crisis of confidence at the moment. Confidence in public offices and in public office holders is at an all-time low.
Many blame corruption for the crisis of confidence which has become one of the greatest impediments to national development in Nigeria today.
Since he relinquished power in May 2023, Ganduje has been fighting battles all around.
Yusuf Kabir,his successor as governor of Kano State appears desperate to erase all his imprints from the state.
In less than three months in office, there have been state sanctioned demolition exercises targeting structures built by the Ganduje administration.
At the national level the former APC leadership cascaded into chaos and controversy as soon as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was sworn in.
Long rumoured to be at odds with Abdullahi Adamu the former chairman of the party, the vacancy Ganduje now occupies was created when Adamu and the national secretary, Iyiola Omisore, were forced to resign.
Ganduje would be hoping as much as the APC faithful, to give Nigeria’s ruling party a new beginning and a fresh opportunity. But it is doubtful that he has the tools to do that.
Apart from the mess he has made in Kano with Kwankwaso and Kabir,he will walk into a mess at the helm of affairs of the APC.
In 2015, against mammoth odds, the All Progressives Congress beat the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the country’s highest office. It was a historic victory because, for the first time since Nigeria, an incumbent failed to retain power.
The PDP heavily contested the 2023 elections and have since disputed the results of the polls. But even as it continues to labor at the tribunal to recover its mandate which it believes was stolen in the February 2023 polls, there is an overwhelming feeling among Nigerians that the party is wasting its time having long-lost relevance as a party that can bring change.
As for the APC whose leadership circus Ganduje is the latest clown to participate in, it appears that nothing good can come out of Nazareth.
The party has long-lost its currency as the party that can bring change to Nigeria. It is why the fact that it always convulses with leadership challenges is generating a lot of excitement.
The appointment of Ganduje continues the APC poor relations with public relations itself. It does not appear to care what Nigerians think about it.
By the time it does, it may be too late. Many Nigerians do not think Tinubu won the February elections. They expect the presidential election court to find that he did not.
But they also think that the APC, being capable of anything at all, will do all it can to manipulate the court.
Whatever happens, as long as Ganduje is Chairman,the APC would have a problem of perception among Nigerians.
Dealing with that may even prove more difficult than the party’s internal squabbles.
Kene Obiezu
keneobiezu@gmail.com
