The Jega-led INEC, for reasons best known to him, de-registered the PRP alongside other political parties, in spite of its rich history and strong ideological leaning. The party’s national leader Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa fought for the reinstatement of the party and won. Despite winning his case, Jega, out of utter disregard for court order, refused to reinstate the party even with a subsisting contempt of court served on him. It was Professor Yakubu’s led INEC that finally reinstated the party after Jega’s exit.
With the reinstatement of the party, the subsisting condition was that the party conduct its national convention not later than four years from the date of its reinstatement. In 2018, for the first time Falalu Bello was featured, in which, he was alongside other NEC members appointed at the National Delegate Conference of the Party, to, at the interim, reorganize the party and make arrangement for the National Convention to hold not later than 31st December 2019.
Since the coming of Falalu-Bello’s led administration, the party has had no peace. He was uncooperative, authoritarian and rendered himself inaccessible to the patriotic elements of the party. Like Nero, he fiddles, as the Party burns. Any attempt by concerned members to make him see reason was brushed aside with astonishing derision.
The worst case scenario, was the role played by Falalu Bello in the last General Elections to ensure that the party did not see the light of day. The manner in which the party’s flag bearers were shabbily treated, while their hopes dashed, was to say the least conspiratorial.
Take the case of Senator Shehu Sani. When he declared for the Party, we were both elated to have a serving senator, a dogged fighter and a progressive leftist within our midst. No party could be less enthusiastic, after all, the human rights crusader was and is still PRP’s but for obvious circumstances was elected under the APC. However, our joy was short-lived. Falalu Bello’s led NEC and their minions at the state levels placed obstacles after obstacles on the way of Senator Shehu Sani, frustrating his every move and conspiring to pull him down. It became apparent that they were working, not for the party, but against the party’s interests.
Senator Shehu Sani’s entry into the party boosted our ranking and swelled the number of our followers. PRP sudden rise to political reckoning could not be far away from the entry of this political asset, whose charisma drew support from the grassroots. Out of sheer envy and political harangue, they halted the movement frustrating all efforts to consolidate on his entry.
What followed is better imagined. To frustrate his bid for the senatorial ticket of the party, he was made to cough out millions as compensation to one of his minions who suddenly filled one of the senatorial forms in the zone that Senator Shehu Sani was to contest, claiming the ticket. Not deterred, the senator handsomely compensated him, before he withdrew. Supporting evidence are still with us and we will produce them at the appropriate time.
Not done, the senator’s nomination form was kept lying in the state office for months, despite knowing the gross implications of not submitting the form to INEC on time. It was only on the eve of the closing date that the form, alongside other flag bearers were submitted. This act nearly costs the senator his ticket but for his wide connections and sympathetic hands. Other candidates were not so lucky. Many of our candidates were disqualified as their forms could not be processed due to late submission.
On the announcement of results of the senatorial elections, when most of us were nursing our wounds and grieving for the loss of the only PRP candidate in the hallowed chamber, the Falalu Bello’s minions, were in a state of hilarious excitement and in fact went to the extent of throwing a party to celebrate their “victory” right inside the Party’s state secretariat. They closed the secretariat many weeks to the election and go undergrown to avoid lending any assistance to candidates in order to frustrate their bids only to open it after the elections had been concluded and results announced.
More, so During the governorship election in Kaduna State, they went and smuggled a notorious fraudster, with pending cases of fraud under investigation by anti-corruption bodies as governorship candidate thereby destroying the chances of the party of clinching the exalted seat. The question is, why they didn’t conduct a thorough screening before hurriedly presenting him. The answer is not far from the truth that it was deliberate and they planted him to spite the party.
Another case was that of presidential ticket in which the party failed to produce a presidential candidate due to the gross incompetence and or deliberate betrayal of the party’s interests by the national body. This act of undermining the party is seen from the fact that many respected party members declared their interests for the ticket but where shunned by Falalu Bello. Prof A.M. Aliyu even threatened to take legal actions against his exclusion but was prevailed upon by the party’s national leader Mal Balarabe Musa. Dr Mrs Hellin Godswill was also frustrated and shown the exit despite obtaining the presidential nomination form. Likewise the charismatic Dr Tafawa Balewa.
Besides, in order to create confusion within the party’s hierarchy Falalu Bello resorted to divide-and-rule as seen by the division and confusions in the various levels of the party with parallel executives. He saw to the dismantling of the party’s structure agreed at the National Delegate Conference, in piecemeal, to suit his authoritarian style of leadership. Many states executive were thrown into confusion by his undue interference with their internal operations. He created his own parallel executive in many states leading to litigations and court cases. For instance, in Kaduna state, despite an interlocutory injunction restraining him from conducting any emergency election, pending determination by court, , he still went ahead and conduct the election ushering in a parallel executive in the state. In Kano and many other states, the situation is the same.
The crimes of Falalu Bello against the party are voluminous and cannot be contained in a mere write-up. These are just a tip of the iceberg, but what is of paramount importance is that the objective upon which he was appointed has been defeated by him.
First and foremost, he has failed to reorganize the party and has instead, disorganized it. He has also failed to conduct the national convention, which was the primary reason for his appointment and his tenure has since elapsed. Continuing to claim any right to the seat is itself and act of illegality.
Others include the Failure to call for NEC meeting of 49 member as approved by the NDC; Appointments, elections, and issuance of new membership cards were never handled in any legal and formal manner since the assumption of office by the interim chairman; Signing and issuance of NDC communique without the knowledge of the NDC’s chairman, which in itself was an act of impersonation; Increasing the fees for election Nomination and Expression of Interest forms for 2019 General Elections contrary to what the NDC approved which made it so impossible for many prospective candidates to stand election on the platform of the party; Failure to recognize the NEC as constituted by the National Delegate Conference; Printing a new membership card other than the one approved by the party; Attempt to change the constitution of the party in general, and the socialist ideology of the party in particular without regards to due process; Illegal removal of some state chairmen, example; Oyo, Adamawa, Kogi, Kano, Kaduna, etc.; reappointing the same persons whose resignation letters are in public domain back to their same positions without involving or following due process.; Appointing parallel state chairman in some states e.g. Kaduna State; Printing a new membership card other than the one approved by the party and many others.
If these and many other acts of illegality, impropriety and lack of consultation are not enough reason to remove Falalu Bello should we wait until he cremates the party?
Lest I forget, Falalu Bello should realize by now that PRP is a party for the oppressed and not the oppressors and neither is it an academic ground for flaunting intimidating credentials nor his private business he could run as he wishes dishing orders to whosoever he cares. His so-called committees like the SWOT analysis committee and recently the Policy Advisory Committee, have further confirmed his lack of grip of the tenets and realities of politics. A political party is not a business organization nor is it a governmental institution to smuggle such models as solutions afflicting the party.
PRP is a party of people with revolutionary ideas and not boardroom executives who see things from the prism of capital, labour and private property. Succinctly put “to the bureaucrat, the world is a mere object to be manipulated by him.” Marx
…. Bashi Bello
