Nigeria’s Unsung Heroes - Part 5

The political landscape in Nigeria with the attendant collapse of value system had been a sorry state of documentation. Successive military interventions predominant in activity of dictatorships and arbitrariness are believed to be the source of the missing links but obviously not without visible absurdity, sensitive connivance and the opportunistic compliance of the political class. The political class in Nigeria had it most instances participated actively in the sponsor of the overthrow of legitimate governments and prop-up obsessions for justifiable military interventions though an aberration, they themselves, the political class, had portrayed attitudes worse than an aberration-surviving on pettiness and trivialities, adoption of an increasingly irresistible mastery in the manipulation of the electoral rigging machine, curiously substituting democracy with lootocracy where open theft of public funds is the art and deliberately convicting self-incriminating violations in the constitution to jerk-up their luxuriating egos. They often dance naked to the ogling vanity of any leader whether the leader is for God or for mammon, for the country or against the country, for good or for evil, for better or for worse. It is not uncommon to see seasoned politicians in Nigeria in a working collaborative penitentiary flashing their breast, though men, like the promiscuituous teenage girl flapping at the rendezvous subdue of the leader which most of a time is tormented by obscure activity. Like the typical errand urchins, wrapped in self-slavery of conscience they are ready to do the dirtiest of jobs even against their will and the common will of the nation. They glibly speak from both sides of the mouth at roadblocks and are ready to abandon basic gesture for circumstances. They often times say what they do not mean and mean what they did not say. If supposed political actors can so be raped with a passing ease, one can guess the effects on democracy and the people that cherished participatory governance-a rape on democracy and the conscience of the people!.

But Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa is different in this spate of obnoxious routine and famous for sticking to principles in ideological belief, the belief of moderation by a ding-dong alertness. As a defunct Governor of Kaduna State under the platform of People’s Redemption Party (P.R.P) with Alhaji Abubakar Rimi as Governor of Kano winning under the banner of P.R.P., the party under Malam Aminu Kano as it’s national leader had effected massive transformations and highlight achievements in infrastructural developments, securing modest approach in governance and offering attributes that had earnestly pervaded the current political experiences. What happened during the aspiring days of Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa of Kaduna State and Alhaji Abubakar Rimi of Kano in the era (the Second Republic) where there is widespread pilfering and gross irresponsibility was forcibly contempt at purposeful change. The duo had briefly illuminated the concept and virtues of perceptive leadership that is yet to be cherished and adopted twenty-two years after the demise of the Republic. When the fourth Republic emerged, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa contested as Presidential candidate under the P.R.P. as one of the newly registered party he met a resistance not because he is bad but because the system is bad - a system infested with deception by conmen-in-politics and supported by the arrant vulnerabilities of the citizens of the country. Even when he was impeached as the civilian Governor of Kaduna State during the Second Republic, it is as a result of contempt that left Alhaji Balarabe Musa on the path of honour. He left for home with his honour intact, without amassing public funds to his advantage. He is one past Governor that had nothing to show for his earlier position except self-less service to humanity. Alhaji Balarabe Musa had upheld the vision of Malam Aminu Kano without any sign of adulteration. His symbol is fighting oppression at local, communal, regional, national and international levels. His concept of politics as exemplified by his struggle is freedom and liberty of the people. Hate him or love him, he is a rallying point for future liberalization of politics and political emancipation in Nigeria. As the current chairman of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties ( CNPP) he had portrayed a promising potentiality of progressive change and changing dynamics in a search for parting ways with dictatorship. Buying lessons from Malam Aminu Kano’s Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) approach during the first Republic, Alhaji Balarabe Musa is showingly passing a message for moderation and moderate approach. Those of us that had documented the late Premier’s political life can vividly capture Sir Ahmadu Bello’s assertion that himself and opposition leaders viz, Malam Aminu Kano of NEPU and Chief Joseph Tarka of the UMBF (United Middle Belt Forum) had never differed on the fundamental issues of unity a nd progress of the North but only in ideological inclinations. Accordingly, Alhaji Balarabe Musa never said he is not a Northerner but he is against a "parasitic and retrogressive North", neither did he say he is not a Nigerian but he is against a Nigeria under a dictatorial leadership. He is for Africa of a new renaissance in the increasingly competitive world. He is for justice, equity and rule of law. He is for true democracy and real ideals of democratic participation. He is for responsible leadership and securing the citizen’s rights through mobilization of citizens. He is for progressive change anchored on equal participation and participatory democracy. But Alhaji Balarabe Musa’s message and struggle is a hard-knell in a country like Nigeria where materialistic contentions had over-ridden the quest for authenticating genuineness of true nationalism and patriotism. He remained an isolated case for ushering in a change in the new paradigm of civilized actions in future pol itics of Nigeria. The story of Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa is a story of another day. Let us give him the impetus to carry the struggle for the liberation of Nigeria and the human race to the highest heights.

- Mamza is a political columnist with the Leadership Newspapers and writes from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Continued......