Decamping Perhaps In Search Of Nectar In The Politics Of Southern Kaduna

By Gora Albehu Dauda

“Insects do not visit flowers just for the fun of it”
A wise saying

This short essay puts it straight to our faces as Southern Kaduna people that we are always too ready and happy collecting far less than we actually deserve. This is exactly why we have been taken for granted politically and otherwise. The policy of rotation means nothing to tbe power brokers in the politics of Kaduna State. Currently, we have a situation in which the decampees will be left to gleaning from the left over after the great party. If that turns out to be the outcome, the decampees eill not be deserving of even a tear

The political landscape in Kaduna State but in Southern Kaduna in particular witnessed a tectonic shift recently that some are finding difficult to come to terms with. The landscape of politics has never been constant for it is very much victim of the gravitational pull exerted by the moon on low laying water bodies resulting in low or high tide. Decamping from one political platform to another is not a new phenomenon, for a fact, it is as old as politics in Nigeria.

If it is not working for you in one political platform, it could in another which is why people are always on the move. Some of the excuses advanced for flirting politically in many a case may not have anything to do with the ideology or philosophy of the political party but the search for the nectar in the flowers called politics or what some folks call stomach infrastructure. Politically, Southern Kaduna has not fared too well as we have always followed from behind and in many a case far behind. From the onset, our people have always operated from.a disadvantaged position. The reader must not gloss over the the fact that the discriminatory policies of the Emirate regime while it lasted is at the core of this imbalance. Through the period of indirect rule especially during headcounts or censuses, figures of the population of Christians and followers of traditional religion did not reflect their a tusl numbers. Such false figures were carried through to indepence. This largely made Southern Kaduna a disadvantaged area politically.

Put simply, Southern Kaduna as a part of the Middle Belt became victim of the policies of the governments of the Northern region on purpose which was to sideline that part of the State on a near permanent basis. . We have always been treated as minoroties even to date. As things currently stand, Southern Kaduna constitutes only 1/3 of the State and this has followed through in almost every aspect of governance. The only time Southern Kaduna had political kvalue was during PDP’s 16 years in power. With the rise of the impish forner dictator El Ruffy to power as governor, he had no hesitation declaring the area as enemy territory for the flimsy reason they did not vote for APC. Since the APC came to power, the whole of Southern Kaduna has had a raw deal. What then are the options for our people to extricate themselves from this political quicksand?

One strategy of the oppressor has been to squeez the victim so hard to a the point of capitulation. With the recent decamping of as many as 21 individuals including current office holders from other political platforms to the APC, the objectives of the oppressor has been realized. It would have been better in my humble opinion to remain in the trenches to fight it out against those elements in power. Democracy as a system of government providers for opposition to serve as a check against the excesses of the governing party.

Democracy in Nigeria is largely only in name otherwise how will democrats look at themselves in the mirrow after the fiasco called Local council elections of 2024 which ended up as a turbaning exercise? If Nigerians including the political elite are comfortable with what happened in the so-called local council (selection) and eventual turbanning exercise which followed it surely means that this country has a long way to go inorder to qualify as a democracy. With such a precedent having been set, it is left only to conjecture how the conduct and outcome of future exercises will be judged.

The crux of this short essay for us as passionate
Southern Kaduna people as far as the decamping exercise is concerned is if the exercise will end up servng the collective interest of our people, so be it. If however it ends up serving onlythe interest of stomach infrastructure as usually has been the case in the past then it will remain a complete beyrayal of our people. I am left to wondering what value the decampees are taking with them to the APC. The people of Southern Kaduna had political valie during the PDP years on account of tje fact that some of ours were part of the founding fathers. I need no priest to preach a sermon to the effect that this political calculation will end up a miscalculation. Whichever way it turns, we wait to see. To God Be The Glory.