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| Dame Paulline Tallen |
The Absurd Sponsored Protest Against
Tallen
By Shabul Mazadu
September 14, 2018
A prominent
feature in Nigeria’s political drive is the attempt by a less popular aspirant
or candidate to bully his opponent into compromise, discouragement or quitting,
using political weapons such as sponsored protest, religion and ethnicity.
This
political dispensation, just as far back to pre-independence era as vividly
captured by the legendary Chief Obafemi Awolowo in his first address as
President of the Action Group (AG), to his party members on 28th April, 1951 at
Owo. He said, “Our enemies and detractors are already at work. They are seeking
to dwarf our stature in order to delude the public that they are taller than we
are. They are also seeking to divert us from our noble and constructive courses
into the barren land of petty strife and fruitless controversy.
“But it is
mean and cowardly, and an evidence of weakness and utter demerit, for any group
of people to attempt to commend themselves to the public by the negative
process of belittling and condemning others. Strong, courageous, resourceful
and self-confident people are never afraid of rivals or competitors.”
This is the
exact thing that came to play in Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State
on Thursday, 13th September, 2018, where a sponsored protest by cowards was
staged against Dame Pauline Tallen against her constitutional right of
contesting election for the Senate.
The faceless
cowards cashed on the ignorance and poverty of some youths and sponsored them
to stage a fruitless and futile protest saying they don’t want Senate, but
governorship of the state. This sponsorship fulfilled what Chief Obafemi
Awolowo said in 1951, “An ignorant and poverty-stricken people are the easiest
preys to political enslavement and economic exploitation.”
Tallen has
proven her mettle as the political Amazon in Plateau State, because whenever
she steps into a political contest, her opponents, mainly men, resort to
campaigns of calumny as they develop goose bumps out of fear.
In the
build-up to the 2011 general elections where, as then Deputy Governor, she
slugged it out with then Governor Jonah David Jang for the governorship of the
state, Jang’s supporters made so many false accusations against her such as,
she will cede Jos North to the Hausa community, and that she will Islamize the
state if given the mandate, thus building on the already existing religious
animosity in the state to bring her down.
In the
build-up to the 2015 general elections too, as she nursed the ambition to vie
for the senatorial seat of the Southern Senatorial Zone of Plateau on the
platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), her way was blocked by then
Governor Jonah Jang who ensured she did not return to the PDP.
Coming to
this political dispensation, the same game of scuttling her ambition is being
scripted by chicken-hearted politicians who dread her ambition. Let’s pick the
reasons given by the protesters for staging the protest to see their ignorance
and that of their sponsors who see politics as an end and not a means of
bringing happiness to many.
The
protesters said they don’t want the senatorial seat but the governorship of
Plateau State, and that Tallen is a spoiler.
First and
foremost, the protesters have admitted by their action that if Tallen is
allowed to contest for the Senate, she will win and Governor Simon Lalong will
lose the governorship seat. This shows she is more popular than him in the
Southern Zone. If not, what possible interpretation can one give to the
postulation of the protesters? The placards they carried read, “We want
governorship and not Senate.”
One
interesting fact there is that there is no agreement anywhere that left them
with the choice of selecting either the Senate or governor, and since there is
not, why the jittery and opting for the governorship?
The then
Governor of Plateau State, Jonah David Jang, was well accepted by the people of
the Northern Senatorial District; that was why despite coming from the same
district, local government and speaking the same dialect with his nephew, Gyang
NyamShom Pwajok, the people immensely voted for GNS to fill the vacuum created
by the death of Senator Gyang Dantong.
If Governor
Lalong is very popular in the Southern Zone, Tallen’s ambition wouldn’t be a
threat to him or anyone else. In fact, the issue of saying they want the
governorship and not the Senate would not have arisen. Awolowo said, “Strong,
courageous, resourceful and self-confident people are never afraid of rivals or
competitors.” The protesters were just puppets of weak, uncourageous,
un-resourceful and timid politicians.
Two, the
protesters and their sponsors are damn ignoramuses. If not, they would have
known that elective positions are decided at the polls and not by protests.
Their insults and threats have shown that they are ignorant of such. If they
were aware, they would have concentrated on winning the delegates or wooing the
congress to their side. Maybe their myopic reasoning has given them the
impression that Tallen, being a woman, will succumb to their threats.
Again, if
they are knowledgeable, they would have known that Shendam is only one out of
the six local governments that constitute the Southern Senatorial District and
it cannot, alone, decide for the zone who to represent them at the Senate. And
Shendam is not the local government deciding for the others who to vote.
Therefore, their protest is just a wild goose chase. If they had the knowledge,
they would not have protested but rather lobbied.
Thirdly, if
the sponsors and their puppets understood the concept of respect for individual
rights and opinions, they wouldn’t have openly exhibited dictatorial tendency
of respecting the Plateau State governor’s right of vying for a second term,
but attacking that of Tallen. This is not democracy. It is criminality to trample
upon somebody’s rights. Has Tallen violated the Constitution of the Federal
Republic in contesting for the Senate? Who has she offended illegally?
If the
sponsors of such laughable protest ever knew democracy, which is government of
the people, by the people and for the people, they would not have protested
against the people’s right to choose aspirants of their choice. By protesting
against Pauline Tallen, it is equivalent to protesting against the choice of
her teeming supporters and that is great injustice.
The other
five Southern Senatorial District local government areas cannot be held to
ransom by a handful of puppet youths, forcing them to accept a different
senatorial aspirant. It will be an act of irrationality for anyone to say they
will protest that Lalong should not contest for a second term. Why would you
want to exercise your right of vying for an elective position and you don’t
want someone else to exercise theirs?
The sponsors
of the protest are not only ignorant; they are dictators, democracy assassins,
greedy and very selfish individuals.
The other
point is they called Tallen a spoiler, but in the real sense Tallen is not. The
protesters themselves are the spoilers. Tallen never told anyone not to support
Lalong to enable her win the Senate seat. But they are the ones protesting
against her constitutional right of contesting for the Senate.
In any case,
who told them that Tallen‘s ambition will spoil Lalong’s second term bid? Where
did they get that information from? Since it has not happened, the attack on
Tallen as a spoiler is malignity, character assassination, blackmail and
demonically inspired.
How can one
judge another on a perceived offence without actually committing the offence?
Has Tallen actually spoiled Lalong’s return for a second term? No! So why call
her a spoiler? Finally, the overall protest by the sponsored youths is an
attack on the federal government and an act of ingratitude to it.
Recently,
President Muhammadu Buhari approved women participation in politics and
supported the agitation that women should be given one-third of the elective
positions in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
Likewise, his wife, Dr. Aisha Buhari, is agitating for one-third slot of
elective positions to be given to women. It was on that premise that Dame
Pauline Tallen decided to take a shot at the senatorial seat.
How will the
Presidency feel if it hears the report that its bosom governor and friend of
the President, Rt. Hon. Simon Bako Lalong’s local government and tribe are
paddling against the tide of women participation in politics, something they
are agitating for? If there should be a state in Nigeria and local government
that should be seen to support the cause of the All Progressives Congress
(APC)-led Federal Government, it is Plateau State and Shendam Local Government
Area, because of the closeness of Mr. President and the Plateau State governor.
The protest
against the political Tsarina Amazon, Dame Pauline Tallen in Shendam, where
Lalong comes from, is an outright betrayal of the policy of the federal
government, hypocrisy that the local government is with the Presidency and
Plateau State Government too.
The Federal
Government has allocated a lot of juicy projects to Plateau State, and it is
morally right for the state to reciprocate such gesture. But for somebody to
sponsor youths who came out and attempted ridiculing a close associate of the
wife of the President on a policy initiated by the United Nations (UN) and
approved by the Federal Government, is an utmost disrespect and disregard for
same since it is not illegal, and anti democracy.
Since there
is no condemnation from the Plateau State Government over the protest yet,
could it be that it had the tacit approval of the government? Furthermore, the government
has not countered the speculations that it is sponsoring the immediate past
deputy governor, Ambassador Ignatius Longjan, to hold sway for Governor Lalong
at the Senate with the intention to replace in 2023. Could it be that is the
reason for attempting to thwart Tallen’s ambition using the smokescreen that
she hails from the same local government with the governor and speaks the same
dialect? Could it be that their fear is that the performance of Tallen if she
gets to the National Assembly will endeared her constituents to stick to her
like a stamp to a letter and cause the dream of the Governor of going to the
Senate a mirage?
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