APC: Refusing The Rush To Riposte

By Bala Ibrahim

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is busy making a mistake.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

In the last one week, my party, the APC, has been in the news for bad news. Yes, bad news, since the unfortunate incident that happened at Gombe, which resulted in the disruption of the North-East zonal meeting of the party, where an attempt was made to assault some principal officers of the party, in the presence of the National Chairman, Dr.Abdullahi Umar Ganduje. The opposition took advantage of the situation, to scornfully mock the ruling party, saying what happened is a signal to the fact that, like them, the APC is not immune to crisis. The social media was kept busy with all manner of scoffing, some even predicting the immediate collapse of the party and the government.

The dust was yet to settle, when another incident was exaggerated and negatively reported, by the same detractors. In something reminiscent to the twisted Gombe story, the social media hyped headlines like: Vice President Shettima snubs Party Chairman Ganduje, on arrival at Uyo Airport for Governor Umo Eno’s reception. Indeed Vice President Kashim Shetima met with Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, alongside Governor Umo and the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Barau Jibrin, at the Airport, and they exchanged pleasantries. But because of the desire of the detractors to market a mischief, the video was edited and mixed to misrepresent what happened. The clip that was released, was cut just before the Vice President got to the National Chairman. And the narrative was that Kashim Shetima has refused to recognize Dr. Ganduje. It’s a malicious narrative that did not reflect what happened.

The motive is simple: the Vice President is holding malice against the National Chairman because of what happened in Gombe, and Uyo Airport has provided an opportunity for him to make public his contempt. The edited video was widely publicized and intensively exaggerated for the benefit of the critics. They were jubilation and celebrating, saying, like them, the APC is not immune to crisis. But unknown to them, Napoleon Bonaparte, the French general and statesman, who rose to prominence during the French Revolution, had foreseen their situation, and warned: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is busy making a mistake”. So we took his advise, by refusing to interrupt them, and we may not interrupt them, because we don’t want them to correct their mistakes. That is the beauty of democracy and one of the advantages of playing a worthwhile role in order to mislead the opposition.

The ambition of those behind the shenanigans is to create a rift within the Presidency, by setting the supporters of the Vice President against those of the President and in the process, weaken the overall support base of the party. Indeed, under democracy, the aim of the opposition is to weaken the party or government in power, but that should be done in a manner that is legitimate and acceptably above board. Not through deceit and the concoction of stories or falsifications. Democrats say, without good opposition, governance and policy consensus would be a meaningless formality. But that is where the opposition is good. Bad opposition, similar to the one that is being practiced by some politicians in Nigeria today, would only pave way for politics with bitterness, and eventually lead the country to an ill-fated political destination, God forbid.

Those whose mission is to smear the names of respected politicians must know that all actions have consequences, and what goes around would eventually come around. This means, eventually, the repercussion of their actions will have to be dealt with ultimately. As they plan mischief against others, so shall mischief be planned against them, one day. Because the party and the Presidency are confident of the cordial relationship that exists between the President and the Vice President, and that which exists between them and the party leadership, they need not bother by the antics of the naysayers. Rushing to respond or riposte, would only amount to glorifying the denigrator, whose value in politics is diminishing daily. They are busy making mistakes, and we must not attempt to interrupt them.