Yusuf Ozi-UsmanFormer governor of Kano state, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau is, obviously, one of the few Nigerian politicians that, before now, presented himself as a cool-headed, principled and ideological driven politicians, especially, from the Northern part of the country.
As a matter of fact, Shekarau earned the respect of many Nigerians across different ethnic and regional divides after the Presidential television debate which held as a prelude to the 2011 Presidential election. During the debate, he maintained a clear-head as to what he would do differently from the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Goodluck Jonathan, to bring rapid development to Nigeria.
In deed, more than 70 percent of Nigerians who listened to the debate, in which General Muhammadu Buhari and Malam Nuhu Ribadu were part of, agreed that Shekarau was more confident with clear vision than the other two by the words of mouth.
He contested that election on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), which now fused into All Progressives Congress (APC). He was seen as almost the near equivalence of General Muhammadu Buhari if not in anything, at least, in the tenacity of purpose: in holding on to his beliefs even if it was only him that was standing.
Many of his admirers, including yours sincerely, were surprised to see the same Shekarau genoflecting before the power-that-be in PDP, a party whose Presidential candidate he lampooned for lack of performance in 2011, simply for a pot of porridge.
His defection from the opposition to the PDP came not merely as a blow to what appeared to be his original posture of stickler to refine political principles, but it also foreclosed the hope of many Nigerians trusting politicians of whatever denomination.
What has come out clearly to the political watchers, from his present hobnobbing with the same Presidency he took to the cleaners in the 2011 presidential debate is that, his purse had now gone leaner and he needs to refilled it, and to him, the politics of ideology, the politics of clear-headedness, the politics of sticking to one’s guns and be identified within the confines of certain idea and ideals can go to blazes.
Of course, there are always excuses which human being, like Shekarau, would give to cover up things that are obviously out of reality; things that fail to mark the person out differently from the crowd, which Shekarau has actually jumped into. I mean, the fact cannot be missed, of the man who initially built a false image of a populist (in the mould of late Malam Aminu Kano) that now happily joined the group of mad crowd of hungry, gluttonous and executive plate-in-hand politicians.
From the way things are now, to Shekarau, who now dine and wine with Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo and by extension, President Jonathan and the PDP, the minimum amount of decency, not even the truth, has lost the steam.
