Home / News / Local / Aggrieved APC members threaten to scuttle party’s victory in Borno Central bye-election

Aggrieved APC members threaten to scuttle party’s victory in Borno Central bye-election

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State
Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State

ABDULLAH ISAH, Maiduguri

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Borno State may suffer defeat in Saturday’s Borno Central bye-election due to what many blame on perceived neglect by Governor Kashim Shettima on the people of the state.

This is also as the electorate especially members of the APC have threatened to vote against the party`s candidate in the scheduled bye-election, as a result of an alleged deal between the APC candidate to swap positions come 2019 general elections.

Some APC members allege that Shettima has been running a’ family and friends’ government, as ‘he only awards contracts to himself, friend and relations, neglecting the party members.’

Mallam Garba Ibrahim, who admitted he is a member of the party, however, said he and others will vote in what he described as “Borno Tafi Jammiya” (meaning Borno is greater than any party) just to stop the alleged planned swapping of positions between Governor Shettima  and the APC candidate in question.

He said that though he has been a member of the party from its APP days in 1999, he ‘will not elect the party`s candidate and will rather work to ensure the party’s failure in the bye election just to scuttle Governor Shettima’s plans.

Another APC member, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris claimed that since the inception of democracy in 1999 the business community has been supplying rice and sugar during Ramadan period (fasting) but during the last Ramadan, Shettima went outside to procure sugar and rice from marketers in Kano.

A political analyst, Comrade Abdurrahaman Hussein, observed that the bye election is not just a fight between one party and another but between the royal family, Governor Shettima and the business class, as such the election is going to be stiff.

“If you observe, the fight inside the APC is with the aggrieved members and not with the party’s candidate. The person who actually started the slogan of Borno Tafi Jamiyya was a former SEMA boss in the state Ahaji Grema Terab, so you can see the extent of the rivalry even within the party”.

“People are also of the opinion that the royal family has the traditional institution and that they should not snatch the political power from them, as according to them they should not have traditional institution and have the Senatorial seat and Governor, hence they need to stem the plan”, he stated.

About Global Patriot Staff

Check Also

Paving the way to a green economy in Nigeria By Victor I. Fagorite and Ifeoma Malo

A green economy is an economy that aims to reduce environmental risks and ecological scarcities …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *