YARI IS AT WORK
By Zander Imaseun
The Director General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari, is at work. He is doing what he knows how best to do – operating quietly behind the scene.
That is Yari’s hallmark. He does not seek undue attention. Yet, he delivers more than you can ordinarily imagine.
Take for instance, when people were jostling for the position of Director General of the campaign council, Yari’s name never cropped up.
There were speculations here and there that certain individuals were being considered for the top job. Yari’s name did not feature in the calculation. But the man who knows the value of networking was busy reaching out. He knew where and when best to play the game.
And he struck the right cord when it mattered most. Senator Yari deserves hearty congratulations for not seeking undue attention. He deserves our respect for playing the politics of maturity.
It should be noted also that Yari has maintained his balance since he was appointed.
He has not been seen anywhere throwing his weight about. As an administrator par excellence, Yari is revving up the engine of the campaigns without constituting himself into a behemoth. He is down to earth. That way, he is ensuring that the campaign structure remains coherent.
There is no shooting from pillar to post. There is no confusion arising from multiple and confusing layers of authority. He is ensuring that everybody plays in the field where he is assigned to.
His decent disposition is also the reason why the APC Presidential Campaign Council is not at war with opposition political parties. Yari is ensuring that the campaign stays focused. As a political party, the APC has an enormous task ahead of it.
As the ruling party, the APC stands even much more challenged. It has to work hard to defend the mandate it is carrying at moment. This calls for maturity, dedication, steadfastness and a clear sense of purpose. Yari has all of this in abundance.
He has a mission, that is, to deliver the party at the polls. He has to ensure that the ruling party does not flounder. Nobody achieves this purpose by being noisy or reckless. Rather, anyone carrying such a huge assignment must bend over backwards to know where the roof is leaking.
If Yari’s approach is sustained, Nigerians will witness a campaign where the ruling party will neither be unnecessarily boastful nor unduly jittery. When the ruling party stays on a decent lane, the opposition parties will likely borrow a leaf from it.
What can be gleaned from the Yari approach so far is that President Bola Tinubu made a good choice in Yari. As Director General, Yari will make his re-election campaign stable. Nigeria does not need to have its polity unnecessarily heat up by rabble rousers. Yari, I must say, is a round peg in a round hole. For those working under Yari, there is a lesson to be learned. Follow the man’s winning ways. Do not be loud or bellicose. Such tendencies do not win elections. What works in any campaign is competence, sagacity, sincerity of purpose and, above all, the recognition of the fact that the people are the ultimate target of any campaign. A campaign team must identify with what the people want and ensure that they are integrated into its campaign. A campaign message should not be abstract. It must be people-centred.
In fact, there is no doubting the fact that Yari will tailor the APC campaign to suit what the people want. As governor, he delivered huge dividends of democracy to the people of Zamfara State. The welfare of the people mattered so much to him. He was never found wanting in this regard. As a serving senator, Yari is also working well with his constituents. His scholarship programme for indigent indigenes of the state is inimitable. No Nigerian politician is known to have done what Yari is doing.
When I had cause recently to appraise Yari’s scholarship programme, I did point out that his likes are in short supply in Nigeria. I had partly observed as follows:
“It must be said that Yari is an all rounder. When he was governor of Zamfara state, he excelled in infrastructural development. He established Zamfara State University to boost education in the state. With the establishment of that universe, many Zamfara indigenes who could not find spaces in some other universities can now be accommodated. As a philanthropist, he is also known to have been providing food items with which many families feed themselves.
As senator in charge of water resources, he has ensured the provision of boreholes to communities that need them. Beyond infrastructure, the man is also actively involved in human capital development. In religious matters, the man constantly sponsors people for pilgrimage. With this, their spiritual lives are enriched. Senator Yari is also into peace-building.
He is known to have spearheaded dialogues and programmes that will enhance religious and ethnic harmony in the country. He does this because he recognizes that peaceful coexistence is a sine qua non for progress and unity. The scholarship programme under consideration here is a good example of the man’s commitment to ensuring that the state, indeed the country, boasts of professionals in various fields who will deploy their skills into building the country.”
Having succeeded hugely in his philanthropic activities, and having demonstrated beyond doubt that he is a quiet achiever, the time has come for Yari to transplant his acumen into a larger platform.
His job as the Director General of the APC presidential campaign council presents him with one. He has to convert the assignment into a goal by getting the campaign team and the party’s leadership to imbibe his political strategies. The opportunity that the APC enjoys by having a Senator Yari as the leader of its campaign must not be wasted. It has to be converted into an advantage. For Yari, the message should be simple. He should continue the good work he is doing.
Imaseun, a media practitioner, writes from Lagos.
