Two recent incidents have gingered INDIGO to urgently call for restraint on the part of the Adamawa State Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The first is the misunderstanding that was recently made public between the State PDP Chairman, Barrister A. T. Shehu, and a Board of Trustee (BOT) Member of the party, Senator Grace Folashade Bent.
This worrisome issue unfortunately became a media affair. It has not been resolved and, now, there is this new audio that has gone viral revealing the exchange of harsh words between the same State PDP Chairman and Reverend Habila M. Istifanus, the Executive Chairman, Ganye Local Government Council. In the audio, Barrister A. T. Shehu can be heard threatening the Ganye Local Government Chairman with petition to EFCC and ICPC and repeatedly calling on Rev. Habila M. Istifanus to run and meet the governor, and he’ll repeat what he told the Local Government Chairman before the governor. The audio is more revealing; it seems Barrister A. T. Shehu has an ax to grind with the governor and only used Reverend Habila M. Istifanus as a smokescreen; a cover.
The State PDP is currently not in peace, neither is it witnessing any progress. Rather, it is engulfed in crises of monumental dimensions. There are defections leading to decimation of some leading members of the party in the state. There is also the issue of dichotomy between PDP and rPDP.
Instead of seeking ways and means of reconciling the divided members of the party and cooling the raging fire, the Chairman himself seems to be the chief undertaker, picking quarrels and fuelling crises to kill and bury the party. By engaging in divisive tendencies, he is not helping matters but driving the party into more troubles in the state. There is therefore need for restraint.
The A. T. Shehu-Grace Bent imbroglio has not been resolved and the issue is creating tension, divisions and factions within the PDP. To now threaten a Local Government Chairman and add another crisis on top of crisis is tantamount to silently squeezing life out of the PDP in Adamawa State. The danger signals are already on ground. Senator Grace Bent once represented Adamawa South Senatorial District in the Red Chamber..
She still has a large followership in the southern part of the state. As politics thrives on people and votes, she should be embraced for the singular fact that she has supporters who stand by her. To demonize and antagonize her when the election year is fast approaching is not a strategic move; rather, it is a dysfunctional step.
Similarly, picking a quarrel with Rev. Habila M. Istifanus at this critical time is suicidal. The reverend gentleman is a party stalwart not only in Ganye Local Government Area but also in southern Adamawa and the entire state at large. It will therefore hurt the PDP grievously if topmost party members like Senator Grace Bent and Reverend Habila Istifanus become endangered species, hunted and haunted out of the PDP as is the current trend in the state. For now, the party has lost former Governor Bala James Ngilari, Senator Ishaku Abbo and Hon. Ahmed Fons Nwangubi. It is painful enough. To add Senator Grace Bent and Rev. Habila Istifanus to the long list of losses will be unthinkable and unbearable.
Adamawa State PDP stakeholders should begin to take interest in developments affecting the party, especially those that could spell doom for the party in the state. Now is the time for unity, not division; it is time to build, not destroy; it is time to embrace, not shun. A stitch in time saves nine. A word is enough for the wise.
INDIGO, JANUARY 26-FEBRUARY 5, 2021
