The title of this piece may sound somehow until one takes a few minutes to read a detailed account of how Gideon Saba’s candidacy puts the once bright chances of the APC in serious jeopardy as we inch closer to the 2023 polls. Five months ago, Gideon and his accomplices – the TIC Chairman and the SSG almost turned communities against each other in the Edu Local Government area of the state as a result of their irresponsible and selfish ambition to a point that it took the efforts of some concerned groups and individuals to quench the fire of their recklessness and senselessness targeted at polarising Edu communities, concerned people had to issue various press statements and stage protests against their divisive tendency within and outside the local government.
The trio of Gideon Saba, Labasa Prof Jubril in leaked audio fanned embers of disunity and discord within communities in the local government by planning a coup against the townships of Tsaragi, Shonga, and Lafiagi Emirates among others. Talks in the said leaked audio were insensitive, nonsensical, and treacherous to the extent that one could only wonder if the actors involved legitimate sons of Edu LG. Several individuals had since warned the stakeholders especially the Governor of the state of these agents of disunity who do not care about what becomes of the party and the community other than their interests and but the Governor seemed not to have realized it and that’s why his attention is being called now before it is too late, although we do not want to subscribe to a notion in some quarters that the Kwara number citizen is fearful of the TIC Chairman who often issues threats of exposing the secrets he knows.
The leaked audio tape damaged the ruling party to some extent as several APC stalwarts, including the now Edu assembly flag bearer for the NNPP, Suleiman Bele left the party out of fear of the common and wide popular belief of our people, that the TIC Chairman and Gideon have the spiritual and supernatural to always make the Governor dance to their tunes because Labasa himself is always boasting to Senior Special Adviser on spiritual (juju) matters to the Governor. Labasa also affirmed that there’s nothing he wants that he won’t get as far as the Government of AA is concerned, only God knows why he is so confident! This is why some stalwarts of the party left apparently for the fear of his juju.
Naturally fetish and fiendish, Labasa and his co-travellers if left unchecked now would cause irredeemable damage to the fabrics of the APC under the guise of being SSA spiritual matters to the leader of the party and the Governor and they will always have their ways as against the wishes of the teeming and genuine members of the party.
Another sin of the trio is that they clandestinely orchestrated and truncated the Edu/Moro/Patigi House of Representatives Primaries which was left inconclusive and to be concluded on the second day, but just to the chagrin of everyone and in conjunction with other agents deceived the delegates that the election had been conducted and concluded before they got to the venue without official communication from the INEC and the party. The litigations that followed that ugly development are up till date as the embattled winner of that primary is an alleged criminal who has since after the conduct of the election been spending 90% of his days visiting police headquarters, Federal Investigative Bureau, ICPC among other anti-criminal agencies for various alleged criminal offenses ranging from University Certificate Forgery, Medical Certificate Forgery, Diversion of Federal Government Anchor Borrowers Facilities and fraudulent collection of NYSC ‘allawee’ for 12 months among other allegations yet to be taken up against him.
Everyone in the local government is already agreeing that the spiritual claims made by these three selfish clowns against the Governor are not farther from the truth, especially with the ongoing nomination process for the replacement of the Edu Commissionership slot, these guys have vowed that there’s no way the Governor will make a nomination of someone who’s not their candidate, it remains to be seen if the Governor would dance to their tunes!
It was rumored that a Road unionis from Tsaragi Town was almost nominated but just before one night fall, these guys heard that someone from the township area of the LG was to be nominated, they issued a threat and how the event took the other way around in today’s history. Later, a female was also brought to the fore, they also kicked against it saying that the lady does not have any relevance and can not gather up to 5 persons from the community for the Governor. Just last Monday, they once again got wind of the nomination and imminent announcement of a vibrant and well-known youth from the township, they equally kicked against it to push for an unpopular person who the majority of the party men are still struggling to know. Just to further advance their imaginary ‘Batakinti’ (Village) Agenda, it is also widely alleged that money has changed hands with the said unpopular candidate they are now rooting for. One wonders for how long they would use their juju to control the Governor, especially on matters that are between the three of them and the whole of Edu and Nupe land. The events surrounding the Edu nominations of Commissioner from Edu LG and how the Governor has continued to cow to their threats are giving the observers every corroboration to believe the claims of having the remote control of the number one citizen.
The time to put Saba Gideon and Aliyu Labasa in their rightful places is now. Having succeeded in imposing their preferred candidate, Ahmed Saba whom they must have known has a baggage of questionable academic credentials on the good people of Edu/Moro/Patigi Federal Constituency which is responsible for the current quagmire the party finds itself in the Federal Constituency, the overrated dou thinks they are indispensable and as such can dictate the tune of events in Edu LGA as they have been asserting all around. It is politically unacceptable to have Gideon Saba and Ahmed Saba who belong to the same political camp have to themselves the State House of Assembly ticket and House of Representatives ticket respectively to the exclusion of other camps who are equally important to the party’s victory in the general elections.
The principal concern of the sincere and loyal APC stalwarts is that the election of the Governor may at the end of the day be jeopardized in Edu if urgent measures are not put in place to checkmate the excesses of Labasa and his spiritual and supernatural gang, they have continued to romance and promote an opposition candidate, they are open to selling out with the way and manner they continue to display arrogance, promotion of communal crises, among others.
Their fear of this vibrant and popular youth being considered as Edu commissioner nominee is understandable, they want a puppet that they can control like they claim to be controlling the Governor! They are jittery about the famous youth who despite not presently being a political office holder still pulls the crowd even more, a former commissioner for Agric, present TIC, and SSG!
It is the wish of many from the township and village environs who are passionate and concerned about the re-election of the Governor that the Governor has a rethink and proof that the trio has not cast any spell on him, they have also been pleading with the people to overlook the arrogance and uncouth manners of Gideon and his likes and vote massively for a Governor who has given a notable facelift to our region amid scarce resources.
It is instructive to note that when Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq was to appoint the educated illiterate and crassly irresponsible Mohammed Aliyu Labasa who is a strong ally of Gideon as TIC Chairman of Edu, concerned indigenes of Edu LGA had expressed their reservations over what the considered political suicide by the governor should he go ahead tand appoint Labasa whose appointment has done more harm than good to the unity of the party in the local government.
In the next episode of this piece, I’ll delve into the details of the steady communication the black sheep of Edu and Nupe land had with the PDP Guber Candidate which would also confirm that they mean more harm than good for the Governor and his administration!
Alh. Ahmed BabaNdako for Edu APC Stakeholders.
Oladipo Atinuke Sherifat popularly known as arikeokin 100, she is an Award winning Writer, On Air Personality, Community Developer, an enthusiast in writing journalistic beats, and editorial.
At the same time she volunteered in developing the community radio at KwaraPoly Radio.
She holds a Diploma in Mass Communication from a reputable higher institution in Nigeria and is currently a correspondent at Satcom Media.