Stripped of relevance due to several political misadventures, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara cuts the picture of a twerp clutching at straws.
That the former Speaker is going down in a puddle he dug for himself is not surprising but that he has the nerve to inspissate his descent into infamy with insults and expletives on respected leaders in the country like Governor Simon Lalong is unfortunate.
When Dogara along with former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, David Babachir Lawal started stoking the embers of a religious war through their selfish interpretation of the Tinubu/ Shettima APC presidential ticket, lots of well meaning individuals had tried to call them to order by showing them the negative implications of embarking on that course, but they continued until Dogara's partner, Babachir revealed their true intentions which was that they expected the party to call and negotiate with them.
Even as the party tries to ignore their rants, Dogara has now resorted to name-calling on the presumption that that will accord his desperation a modicum of relevance while in truth, it only exposes his hollowness and shameless mannerism.
For someone who calls himself an elephant (you may wish to pause and laugh) there is evidence that he needs some education in governance otherwise he wouldn't have been making some of the unfortunate comments being attributed to him.
He says for example that he has never spoken ill of Governor Simon Lalong but only attacks the Tinubu/Shettima ticket and that he has told the Governor to only do his job without inviting him to join issues with him.
For someone who has held the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives, this is a crass display of ignorance in the workings of party politics.
It is unfortunate that Dogara does not understand that as the Director General of the Tinubu/Shettima APC Campaign Council, Rt. Hon. Simon Lalong embodies the campaign and owes it as a duty to apply his best to see that the ticket wins in the forthcoming general elections due to the benefits derivable from the vision of the leaders presented by the APC.
To try to befuddle the minds of Nigerians with lies borne out of self inflicted hatred against this vision and insist that he has not said anything negative about the governor is the worst form of delusion.
With the zeal and patriotism of Lalong and the belief he has in the ability of the Tinub/ Shettima ticket to deliver the dividends of democracy to Nigeria as they have done in the past, any attempt to cast aspersions on that ticket is worse than speaking ill of an individual and can only be equated with an economic saboteur because trying to frustrate their chance is similar to jeopardizing the future of Nigeria!
But that is not even the most despicable thing about the carnard the former Speaker wrote. The most bizarre effrontery in that so called rejoinder is that Dogara of all people would call another a coward.
This is the same Dogara under whose tenure as Speaker, the term 'budget padding' found its way into parliamentary lexicon.
This is the same Dogara that couldn't confront the issues raised by his accusers in the budget padding saga but chose to treat the matter in the most pusillanimous way by sending the member who raised the issue on suspension just to avoid scrutiny, which thankfully, was upturned by the courts because of its illegality and breach of parliamentary proceedings.
This is the same Dogara that chickened out when his dubious plan to run as Speaker on a minority platform in the current Assembly was exposed and knowing he cannot square up with the more formidable Femi Gbajabiamila in a straight and open contest, tucked his tail between his legs and quitely stepped aside.
He dodged because he saw it was going to be a straight fight unlike in 2015 when he took advantage of what was happening at the Senate to escape scrutiny.
This is the same Dogara that several times could not contest the primaries of his parties but had to change platforms and beg for tickets in opposition parties just avoid disgrace now claiming to be brave.
If it is true that Plateau under Lalong has suffered maladministration, oppression and nepotism in the last seven years as he alleges then why is Dogara always running away to Jos, Plateau State when he is out of Abuja?
Is it not because Lalong has made Jos more peaceful and secured than Dogara's natal area where the former Speaker had made volatile by his several intrusions into the local politics of the area where he wants to be the one to determine who becomes councilor, district head and local government chairman all at the same time and does not accord respect to the elders in that area?
Does Dogara think that people have forgotten how he was indicted in the mayhem that engulfed his constituency which led to the revocation of the traditional title of Jakadan Bauchi by the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Sulaimanu Adamu in January?
Is it not a shame that a person who has held such a high position in Nigeria would choose the path of infamy and brigandage by instigating a crisis of that magnitude in which many were injured, more than ten houses razed and the convoys of the Emirs of Bauchi and Dass attacked?
As further proof of his lack of tact and tolerance, the former Speaker did not sympathize nor show any sign of remorse towards the quantum of loss and over what happened to their Majesties. This unfortunately is the person trying to pontificate on good governance.
Dogara can claim that Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa-Balewa Federal Constituency has been turned into a massive construction site but is inane to assume people do not know it is because of the intervention of the federal and Bauchi State governments that the three local government areas in the constituency have benefited that much.
Available records show that the constituency would have benefitted even more from the Buhari administration were it not for the tomfoolery of Dogara who pads budget on one hand and fights the state government on the other and does not want any serious intervention in the constituency unless his hands are greased.
Only recently, the Dogara who claims to be popular in his constituency had to run to the Inspector General of Police for protection from his constituents. It bears restating that if not that Lalong has made Jos secured and peaceful for citizens where would he have run to?
Lalong cannot even be measured on the same scale with Dogara as far as politics is concerned. Dogara belongs to the featherweight category in politics while Lalong is a heavyweight champion.
To start with, Lalong has never lost an election and is the only House of Assembly member that survived an attempt to recall him by no less a force than the presidency thereby establishing firmly that he is on ground and well loved by his people.
This, even the rest of the country appreciated as his colleagues speakers then made him the chairman of Conference of Speakers and eight good years after leaving the House of Assembly, Lalong became a governor by defeating a ruling party in the state.
As if that is not enough, he is now the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum which in geographical equivalence represents the old Northern Region!
You cannot compare this with winning three local governments due to chicanery.
While Dogara may try to hoodwink people that he willingly gave up the Constituency seat ahead 2023, those who know are aware that he is only doing so because he has exhausted his tricks hence forced to throw in the towel after seeing the handwriting clearly on the wall that he stands no chance of prostituting from one party to the other to win again.
You cannot be accused of being behind the attack on a respected personalities like the emirs of Bauchi and Dass and think you can survive politically in that terrain.
That is why he is angry that he was not chosen as either deputy national chairman North of the APC nor as running mate to Tinubu.
One cannot help but gasp at the veiled reference to a world renowned professfor from Bogoro as an 'ant' by Dogara. To me, that is the height of disrespect to one the best brains in that area and for someone like Dogara to refer to that Professor as an an ant, all I can say is that posterity will judge.
This is the same person that made his mark as an academic long before Dogara knew what it means to wear a wig and who mobilised resources to see him advance in politics. It is the height of ingratitude to call him an ant.
It is for this same hubris and lack of respect for elders and constituted authority that Dogara at one time or the other fell out with Governors Isa Yuguda, MA Abubakar and now with Bala Mohammed.
He runs to Jos for succor when his belicosity and irreverence makes it difficult for him to cohabit with leaders and decent citizens in his own state but runs to Plateau to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere and infrastructure that a clear headed leader has provided.
It seems being vacuous and empty are not enough drawbacks for Dogara as he comes with the added burden of bringing reproach to any administration he identifies with due to his selfishness and disloyalty to collective causes that it has become safe for each administration in his state in order to give him a wide berth if it to achieve success. That is why he is always oscillating between layers and unable to have a foothold anywhere.
Dogara for want of things to say also claimed that Lalong supportted another candidate in the APC presidential primary. This also speaks of his lack of understanding of party politics which makes it possible for parties to identify the best among them and to collapse all structures under one for effective campaign once primaries are over.
That Lalong accepted to serve as the DG of the campaign council of the party is due to his understanding of this basic principle and out of loyalty to the party and to Nigeria because he believes that the duo of Tinubu and Shettima are better placed than the candidates of the other parties to provide quality leadership and good governance to Nigeria.
Dogara can equally not compare himself with Shettima who won elections to become governor of Borno State twice and the third time as a senator hence should stop whining that he would have been a better choice.
The question is, if Tinubu had picked Dogara as running mate what would the latter be bringing to the table?
What value would he have added to the ticket when he has become a persona non grata even in his local government government that he has to run to the IGP for protection.
Probably it is the bags of rice and cartons of noodles that he hid in his house in Jos until Endsars protesters forced the residence cum warehouse open that he would be contributing to the election.
If Dogara has evidence that Lalong said anything against Tinubu during the primary it should not be from the delegates that he (Dogara) confessed to have hosted. Who knows if the purpose of hosting them was to put words in their mouth so as it use it as a tool of blackmail?
Again, Dogara tried to blame the invasion of his house by Endsars protesters on Lalong.
He thinks people are not aware how his neighbors have confessed that for several years they've been witnessing how he has bringing and hoarding trailer loads of rice, Semovita and cartons of noodles meant for his constituency.
Why will Lalong not accept to be DG? Is everyone expected to be a self serving bigot like Dogara who only sees Nigeria from the prism of stomach and lust for power?
The story of Dogara and Lalong in the APC can be equated with the situation that Mordecai and Haman in Bible.
Mordecai has been doing things to protect the king and when the king found out, he asked, what can be done to this man and Haman thinking he was the one being spoken of asked that he should decorated with honours.
While Dogara has been working to undermine the APC and left the party treacherously on the eve of the 2019 elections, Lalong has never left but has continued to work for the growth of the APC.
Dogara only came back when he saw that the APC may likely pick a northern Christian as running mate to Tinubu.
Hence when Tinubu was looking for someone who has the capacity to enact on a national scale what he had done in his state to coordinate his campaign, the name of Lalong came up.
Since then, Dogara has not been able to sleep and is subtly with his partner Babachir, asking that they should be called for reconciliation.This is shameless.
Is this the kind of person that one will engage in a public debate?
We will continue to expose those fables they concoct to hoodwink members of the public but suffice it to say that since Dogara left the House of Representatives, no one has heard of budget padding again meaning it was exclusive to his method of running the House
Shamelessly, Dogara is never a man that dares, he is one that balks. He does not have balls but sees himself as a ball to be tossed by others hoping it would land him in a position to sulk and continue his treachery.
He is worse than Brutus and Judas combined, at least those ones had the gumption to own up to their betrayals but Dogara even when caught with his hands in the cookie jar always tries to make excuses. Shame.