Tom Garba, Yola
Intrigues, mischief, blackmailing, and internal crisis are some of the characteristics of a ruling party in Nigeria. This is what has become of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in recent times. The party is constantly facing a multidimensional crisis and getting a good party man to stabilise it is becoming an impossible and a herculean task.
The leader the ruling APC needs at the moment is a politician with party affinity, a man who has a good understanding of party politics, who is a good lobbyist, a diplomatic and principled politician who knows the intrigues in the game of politics. Someone who cannot be bought over by moneybag politicians. A God fearing man who is selfless in nature.
And the way out of the current APC leadership conundrum is for President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to, as a matter of urgency, jettison all the wheeler dealers and fair-weather politicians who are just interested in what they will only gain and their personal interest. Tinubu should rather get the party and Nigerians a man who thinks creatively to solve the myriad of challenges starring the party in the face; a man who is a honest Nigerian and knows about party politics; a man who is a gentleman, an absorber, and a relaxer of party internal crisis.
Barrister Boss Mustapha Gidahyel, CFR, the immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), is man with a track record of performance. Boss, by track record, cannot dance to the tune of perfidy and shenanigans of politicians who are self-centred to break down the party system because of their primordial sentiments.
For Boss Mustapha to have successfully ended his tenure as SGF with former President Muhammadu Buhari is enough conviction that he possesses radiant colours of leadership styles that can lead APC well to maintain balance and have stability to a great extent. It shows Boss can handle the party’s crisis situation. He has seen it all as an SGF. He went through it all as a man who handled the daily routines of the Presidency, overseeing other ministries and parastatals
The kind of internal crisis currently bedeviling the APC can only be successfully dealt with by proper handling of issues concerning every state with the uttermost sense of fairness. Carrying every stakeholder along, and all party members treated equally at all levels. It is not brute force required in pitch battles between party members or when interests among members are clashing. This is where Boss has the mastery, wit and wisdom to handle such issues. Boss, a seasoned politician, fit this bill of taking the APC to a haven of rest devoid of undue and unnecessary party squabbles.
What has befallen Senator Abdullahi Adamu to forcefully resign is his inability to carry every member along. His arrogant attitude as a poor listener has landed him in his present political fate. It is a disgrace for him, having been governor of Nassarawa State for eight years and serving his zone as a Senator for eight years, but failing to delivered APC in the state; it’s a serious sign that he has used up his political lifeline and President Tinubu do not find him useful again. He’s rather now a weak politician sliding down the expiration abyss. It is unfortunate to say that before the party primaries, APC merchants have used the party under Adamu’s watch to exploit politicians who were aspiring to be leaders in various positions. This has brought a backlash of hatred against him with no one seeming to like him anymore in the party.
For Boss Mustapha to have successfully ended his tenure as SGF with former President Muhammadu Buhari is enough conviction that he possesses radiant colours of leadership styles that can lead APC well to maintain balance and have stability to a great extent. It shows Boss can handle the party’s crisis situation. He has seen it all as an SGF. He went through it all as a man who handled the daily routines of the Presidency, overseeing other ministries and parastatals.
No wonder, notable Nigerians applauded him well during a Thanksgiving service organised by his mother church in Yola (LCCN). They even made a call that Nigerians will still need his services. This is to say that Tinubu needs to be wise in getting the next APC National Chairman, considering the hullabaloo the party has experienced from Adams Oshiomole to Abdullahi Adamu.
Boss is a big shot party man, an elder statesman and a nationalist that has the requisite experience of party politics. Dating back to history, he has been a faithful party man from 1992 while in SDP and 1999, when democracy returned, upto 2015 when APC became a formation of many political parties through a merger initiated by Tinubu’s ACN.
His politics revolves within a circle of political party of his choice . Over the years he has been a man with a strong fraternity to the party politics of the APC. He is one Nigerian who defines his brand of politics within the context of political party affinity. Once he discovers himself in one, he lives by its principles and ideologies. This is where the All progressives Congress is even lucky to have found him a good party man and very crucial part of the party’s camaraderie with his unblinking loyalty. Tinubu and any other party man can go to sleep with Boss Mustapha presiding over the affairs of the party.
The APC at the national level needs him now to balance and stabilise its leadership and even the entire party structure. They need a man of his character and ability to, as a matter of urgency, correct the many glaring defects. Knowing this man from the cradle of his political life to date, one can comfortably say that he can be the last man standing for the party, come rain, come sun shine, in fostering unity in the party. Giving him the party’s driver’s seat will bring a lot good things to the ruling party. He won’t sell out his conscience, but do everything to build an APC for the betterment of the Nigerian people. He has invested more than enough in the party that he can’t cheapen it for whatever reason.
The body language of Boss Mustapha, his composure, and his political temperament is a sign that he can go to any length for the APC to remain a national ruling party that will last for many decades. Boss is no doubt a discovery of wisdom, one of the Adamawa sons that is immensely vast in party politics, that will add value to the political life of Nigeria because of his firm belief in APC.
He is truly a party man despite what people consider a weakness because of his calculated silence in delving into national issues. I see that as a virtue of greatness that he will use to calm down and stabilize any uproar within and outside the party that could possibly consume the party.
Mr. Boss Mustapha remains the best loyal party man of APC, the last man that can ever stand for the party in the interest of all party men. A party man at all times, that believes in serving the APC to birth good leaders for the nation.
The APC at the national level needs him now to balance and stabilise its leadership and even the entire party structure. They need a man of his character and ability to, as a matter of urgency, correct the many glaring defects. Knowing this man from the cradle of his political life to date, one can comfortably say that he can be the last man standing for the party, come rain, come sun shine, in fostering unity in the party. Giving him the party’s driver’s seat will bring a lot good things to the ruling party. He won’t sell out his conscience, but do everything to build an APC for the betterment of the Nigerian people. He has invested more than enough in the party that he can’t cheapen it for whatever reason
It will be a plus for the party if critical stakeholders are yearning for change in the party system and in serious need to have a national leader that will manage the party to success. Boss Mustapha, the silent achiever, is a workaholic in nature when it comes to party politics.
Mr President think outside the box to bring a man that will save the party from future calamity and destruction. At the end, it is you that will face the national embarrassment if good people are not called to serve in this capacity.
I see Boss Mustapha the best man to solve the hard equations of APC’s current reality of internal crisis.
. Tom Garba is both a Journalist and Peace and Reconciliation expert. He earned a Master’s Degree in Peace and Conflict resolution from the Modibbo Adama University Yola.He writes from Yola-Adamawa State, and can be reached through:
tomgarba5@gmail.com
08172570959
