The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress
(APC), Comrade 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 secure 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 believes 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.
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