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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