3rd July, 2018
The National Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Adams Oshiomhole, has described Alhaji Balarabe Musa, a former Governor of old Kaduna State, as a man that is exemplary in his life and politics.
He stated this while speaking at the launch of a book titled: “Balarabe Musa, the Voice of the Masses’’ on Tuesday in Abuja.
“I personally will say I know not of any honest, sincere and incorruptible man as Alhaji Balarabe Musa, when we are talking of integrity and honesty, you cannot equate any Nigerian with him,’’ Oshiomhole said.
He noted that even as governor, Musa refused to negotiate when he was to be impeached as most present governors would do to serve their office.
He further noted that the ex-governor was not impeached for stealing, corruption or abuse of office, but because he refused to bend and open the state’s treasury for people to help themselves.
The APC national chairman added that Musa was impeached because he refused to pursue policies that in his judgment would be inimical to the welfare and well-being of the people of Kaduna state.
“For that, the forces that wanted things to remain the way they were predetermined to check him out.
“I am aware that there were all manners of forces to make him negotiate, but for him, you don’t negotiate your conviction.
“When you now compare that tradition to where we are today, where people decamp in the morning and before they get their registration card in the evening, because they did wrong calculations, they decamp back and they keep decamping.
“When they contest for an office and don’t win, they will go to another party and keep going like that,’’ Oshiomhole said, adding that this showed lack of commitment, value or political ideology.
He noted that to most politicians in the country, it was all about holding power, even if it meant holding power as an end in itself.
The APC national chairman and former governor of Edo stressed that to Musa, it was not about quantity, but “quality, principles, ideas and rugged commitment’’ to his ideology and belief.
“He is one person I found that even if he has to stand alone for what he believe in and every other person is going the other way because it is not convenient, he would rather stand alone.
“What I take from that is that you should do what you believe in even when you are alone,’’ he said.
Oshiomhole recalled how Musa, as governor gave him the first political appointment, by appointing him into the Board of one of the state-owned companies, not bothering about his religion or where he came from.
“Today in Nigeria, several years later when we are supposed to have known better, ethnicity and religion have become the basis for friendship, sometimes, the basis for political choice and national discourse.
“These are the type of things that Balarabe Musa will not be part of, for him, people should be defined in terms of who they are and who they believe in.
“The second thing Balarabe Musa taught us is that we should try to internalise that if you can’t beat them, keet fighting them because they will be defeated.
“He also taught us that even when they have beaten you, in the long run, your conscience will remain standing,’’ he said.
He, however, advised that there was need for Nigerians to work hard to make the country worth living in.