Taraba South Senatorial District is in a frantic search of a consensus candidate that would effectively wrestle with the Acting Governor, Garba Umar, for the ruling PDP governorship ticket. Senior Correspondent, Fanen Ihyongo, explores the scenario in the ongoing race in a state that is being run by two governors – one in acting capacity and the other as a ceremonial figure.
If Governor Danbaba Suntai was in charge of the reins of power, this scenario would not have been playing out in Taraba State. But when he got involved in an air crash in October 2012, the political configuration began to change. The governor hails from Central Senatorial zone and is willing to relinquish power to the south. He took over on May 29, 2007 from Jolly Nyame who hails from the north and ruled for 10 years.
Although Taraba does not practice rotational politics, Suntai was said to have argued that the fairest thing to do was to help the southern zone produce governor when he bows out next year after serving his two terms.
But after he was hit by the blow of fate, his deputy, Garba Umar, who is from the north of the state, has reportedly consolidated his hold on power and is kicking against power shift. Umar has declared his intent and his posters are already out.
Faced with this phenomenal challenge, Taraba South is in a frenzied search of a consensus candidate that will likely face Umar at the PDP primaries.
The essence, according to insiders, is to build a formidable moral and financial support for any aspirant who emerges as the zone’s consensus candidate. That would also help delegates to concentrate their votes on the said candidate. But that seems to be a hard nut to crack. Over 10 well-known sons of the zone are rumbling for the preeminent office and it has been pretty difficult picking just one man out of the crowded contenders, especially as they have to make the choice by themselves.
Initially, it was thought that former Defence Minister, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, would anoint a candidate but he turned down the task. Sources say he asked them to go and slug it out by themselves. Danjuma, an elder statesman from Taraba South, has not hidden his opinion that power should shift to the south. However, he is said to have considered all the aspirants as his sons.
When the aspirants converged in Abuja last week, it was like trying to fetch water in a basket. None of them appeared to be ready to back down for another. Reading from their faces, it was discernible that each of them seemed determined that if he was not the chosen one then there would be no consensus. It is obvious some of them have scores with one or two others to settle. The situation is counting seriously against them but to the advantage of an enchanted Umar.
Damian Dodo, Joel Danlami Ikenya, Emmanuel Bwacha, Agbu Kefas, David Sabo Kente, Efraim Kifasi and Darius Shaku are among the array of aspirants who are coveting for a consensus candidate from Taraba South but are being selfish going about it.
Behind them is former Governor Jolly Nyame who has now changed his mind to support power shift. Nyame became governor at the creation of Taraba State from 1991 to 1992. He did another eight years from 1999 to 2007. He initially wanted to handover to a fellow northerner until providence compelled him to pick a successor (Suntai) from the Central zone. Of late, he reconciled his long-standing feud with Suntai and is wishing to assist him get a successor from the south.
The southern geopolitical zone, with five local government councils: Ibi, Wukari, Donga, Takum, Ussa and a Special Development Area known as Yangtu, has only played second fiddle during Nyame’s reign. The incumbent governor, now serving as a ceremonial figure, picked all his deputies from the north. Suntai’s first deputy, Sani Abubakar Danladi, is a kinsman of the acting governor from Karim-Lamido Local Government Area. It was Danladi’s impeachment that paved the way for Umar to come to the limelight.
When Umar came on board, he was thought of as a neophyte without a political machinery on ground. But as time went on, he systematically exerted ascendancy over Suntai loyalists. Umar started by embracing Suntai’s foes, then he infiltrated his boss’ camp unimpeded, wooing many to his side. He has tested many waters and passed the experiment of his potentiality in emphatic fashion against a dismal Suntai group. One of such tests is the fact that a candidate he sponsored, Daniel Tsokwa, won the Takum House of Assembly bye-election to occupy the vacuum left by the late Speaker Haruna Tsokwa. This was against the wish of Suntai’s loyalists who sponsored a different candidate.
Minister Darius Ishaku, a gubernatorial aspirant from the south, was in Takum to support Yakubu S Yakubu against Umar’s candidate. Unknown to him, Darius was working with Tsokwa who worked behind the scene to ensure Umar’s candidate won.
Umar is gradually polarising the south by embracing those who are not obsessed with the clamour for power shift to the zone. For instance, Tsokwa and former minister, Mrs. Salome Jankada, are among those who do not feel that power must shift to the south. Thus, they have embraced Umar’s candidacy. Sources said the acting governor will also pick his deputy from the south to polarise the people of the zone and it is alleged that the speaker is his choice. Kente’s supporters said the speaker may accept the offer if he is jettisoning his ambition to run for the House of Representatives.
Umar refused to revert back to his constitutional position as the deputy governor when Suntai returned from his medical trip abroad last year. The governor purportedly dissolved his cabinet (Commissioners and Special Advisers) but Umar ordered them to return to their duty posts. He and the late speaker, Haruna Tsokwa, proclaimed the governor as unfit to take charge despite a letter he transmitted to the House of Assembly informing lawmakers of his readiness to resume duty.
Suntai sued the Assembly over the matter, but the acting governor and the speaker, Josiah Sabo Kente, have continued to ignore court injunctions reportedly restraining them from screening and swearing in new officials.
To assert himself for power next year, Umar has rejigged the composition of his Special Advisers. He appointed 24 new Special Advisers and 24 Special Assistants. In the new composition, Umar scrapped some offices and created new ones. There are growing questions as to whether it is legitimate for him to make such changes when his boss, Danbaba Suntai, is back in Government House.
Although Umar has always pledged 100 percent loyalty to his boss, that the government he is running is the Suntai administration, his latest appointments is a sign of a man who feels he is fully in charge as the executive governor.
Some political elites have advised Umar that his 2015 governorship project is a risky venture not worthy of getting on, but Umar has insisted on taking the gamble. This makes all the aspirants from Taraba south to plot against him and they have not hidden their disapproval of his scheme to run for the governorship. Umar’s sin, they alleged, is that he has betrayed his boss who brought him from obscurity to be his deputy a few days before he was involved in the plane crash.
For now, the southern zone has not gotten a consensus candidate yet. Their earlier meeting was a stalemate. To reach consensus, the aspirants must resolve their internal squabbles. The ‘consensus’ candidate must also be the choice of the entire zone. If they fail to get such a candidate, the crowded contenders would have to test their popularity.
Already, some of them are threatening to run against Umar under the opposition APC should Umar hijack the ruling party’s ticket.
Meanwhile, reports say Suntai is getting stronger by the day. He is also banking on his court case to take charge. If he does, he can pick up his bedraggled loyalists and groom a successor from the south, a development that may neutralise the influence of the acting governor.
But Umar is not leaving any stone unturned. He is allegedly thrilled that choosing a consensus candidate from Taraba south so far seems to be an exercise in futility.
