By Tony Adibe
A Senior Special Assistant to the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, Chief Oliver Okpala, has described a prominent Northern Nigeria politician, Alhaji Buba Galadima, as a “failed, rejected and frustrated political Lilliputian” without any base in Nigeria’s political space.
Chief Okpala was reacting to Galadima’s claim in a recent interview that the National Chairman of APC, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje has no electoral value. Recalling Galadima’s antecedence, Okpala, in a statement he issued to journalists, said: “His past political record of mercantilism, political duplicity and incompetence clearly shows he has no space of existence in the current political landscape in the country.”
Piqued by Galadima’s harsh criticism of his principal, Ganduje, Okpala lashed out at Galadima, accusing him of being known as a “politician with acute character deficit and treachery.”
Okpala wondered how Galadima could say that a man who has been two-time Governor of a “very powerful state like Kano” and presently, chairman of the “largest party in the black world,” the APC, lacks electoral value. According to Okpala, Galadima’s comment on Ganduje clearly portrayed him as a “mischievous personality, politically.”
He further said: “We know Galadima’s garrulous and weightless antecedents, and we are not surprised by this his baseless claims,” adding that Galadima was a well-known member of the Buhari Organisation but always “preferred to take skewed positions, which made all attempts of the organisation to win the election futile. Is that the kind of person who would determine who has electoral value?”
Okpala’s statement read inter alia: “Ganduje is well well-known, tested, and trusted, result-oriented technocrat and politician of high repute, who successfully led Kano for two uninterrupted terms.
“He is a man with infallible proof of performance across Kano and beyond. His developmental projects are still littered across Kano state, a testament of his unbroken connection with the people.
“Ganduje is a grassroots politician with results to show. Where are Galadima’s results? He is a barren, outdated politician who has outlived his usefulness. Galadima should know that the APC ship under the leadership of Dr. Ganduje is sailing smoothly, and the party has continued to wax stronger under him.
“The same cannot be said of Buba Galadima’s NNPP, which has continued to suffer serious lacerations due to an intractable and untreatable factionalization. Their attempt to hijack the party of Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has continued to assault them like an ant infested faggot. Galadima has been known to be a man of acute character deficit, and that was why his long-time Benefactor, General Buhari, sacked him.
“Galadima’s antecedents show clearly that he should not be taken seriously. But Ganduje is a calculative, strategic, and composed leader who knows his onions. He is not perturbed by the baseless claims of Galadima. He remains a political star in Nigeria’s political landscape.
“Ganduje is a not a political lilliputian like Galadima. He will not be distracted by the likes of Galadima, who has always destroyed many political projects he is part of. Ganduje’s well-known political clout and image have gone before him to create goodwill for the APC and President Tinubu.
“Therefore, a political lilliputian like Buba Galadima cannot speak for the teeming Nigerians, and particularly APC members who have clearly shown their acceptance of Dr. Ganduje.”
