By Calvin Anadio Lawan
One fine day it occurred to the members of the Body that they were doing all the work and the Belly was having all the food. So they held a meeting and after a long discussion, decided to strike work till the Belly take its proper share of the work.
So for a day or two, the Hands refused to take food, the Mouth refused to received it, and the Teeth had no work to do. But after a day or two the Members began to find that they themselves were not in a very active condition.
The Hands could hardly move, and the Mouth was all but parched and dry, while the Legs were unable to support the rest.
So thus they found that even the Belly in its dull quiet way was doing necessary work for the Body, and that all must work together or the Body will go to pieces.
Opposition in a democracy is more than needed. As a matter of fact, government has been divided into 3 arms purposely for checks and balances.
I saw a post on Elder Jason DePukka Gcfr’s timeline lamenting how Fintiri’s PDP has maltreated the party’s stalwarts in Michika LGA who had worked tirelessly to deliver their wards and LGA to the PDP in the last elections. Sen Abbo Ishaku has narrated almost the same story to me and Hon Simon Isa of Song LGA appears to have been suffering the same fate. Anthony Zira Guy alluded to the fact that there appears to be same story in just about all the LGAs of the state.
A political party is a Body made up of Members whose individual efforts is needed to solidify the Party’s goals and objectives on how best to better the lives of the people. It’s good and perfectly alright to have an inner caucus, Jesus had 12 disciples and 3 inner caucus.
In fact He made a statement I consider absolutely relevant for us in dealing with members of our groups or parties: “a house divided against itself will not stand. It becomes self-destructive when you begin to treat others as people of less importance. The other Members of the Body found out that the Belly is critically important to the achievement of the Body’s goals.
I am perturbed that a leader, whose primary responsibility is to help people achieve what they are capable of, to establish a vision for his team, to encourage, to coach & mentor, to establish and maintain successful relationships is the one antagonizing other members of his team thereby creating defections, fractions and outright enmity within his party members. Such would not help the party nor the people you are responsible for.
John C. Maxwell chronicled what an influential leader should possess in a more succinct manner. He said a leader must have integrity with people, must nurture his members, must have faith in the people, must listen to the people, navigate for the people, must enlarge the people, empowers them and reproduces himself in the people.
This truth I consider sacrosanct: if H.E. Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri desires to be successful and make positive impact as the leader of the PDP in Adamawa state, his influence should be all-round because without it, John C. Maxwell said “there is no success.”
When President Donald J. Trump succeeded in getting the GOP presidential ticket and went on to eventually won the presidential elections in 2016, he rode roughshod over most of his party’s leaders, feeling invincible. The rest, as they say, is history.
H.E Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri should tread carefully and not allow loyalist deceived him into thinking he doesn’t need other people to succeed. After all, it’s been said that be good to people you meet on your way up because you will still meet same people on your way down.
As the Governor, you are way up there, in 2023, you will have to come down here and solicit for votes from all and sundry, you might want to use the remaining two years to mend fences sir. Learn from Donald J. Trump’s experience.
Lawan, a political analyst writes from Yola.
