Bindow and bumpy road to Dougerei House


The battle for Dougerei Government House Yola will be intense as incumbent Governor Bindow Jibrilla is confronted by three major candidates. Muazu Abari writes on his chances.

Friends turn political foes

The forthcoming gubernatorial election in Adamawa state will be an interested political battle to watch: A battle of former political friends turned enemies, beneficiary and his benefactors and by extension contest between rebellious political Godson and his two former political god fathers.

Most analysts believe that it will be a tough political battle especially for the incumbent governor BindowJjibrilla who is seeking a second term amidst stiff opposition within and outside his party. And there are those waiting to teach him some bitter political lesson.

Unlike in 2015 when Bindow was a beautiful political bride in Adamawa politics and had a smooth path to pick both the APC gubernatorial ticket and eventually emerged the governor on a platter of gold despite lacking in sufficient political pedigree and political structures.

He relied largely on the Murtala Nyako’s structures, supports and the goodwill of the people, the table seemed to have turned against him making him, a development many say has made him a political orphan of some sort without solid shoulders to lean on like in the previous elections.

According to one of the party’s chieftains, “a good numbers of those who worked assiduously to bring him to power in 2015 did not only feel betrayed and abandoned but disappointed. These see him as a political enemy that must be electorally dealt with, and send to political oblivion in gubernatorial election on March 9.”

It seems therefore that as he renews ambition to take another shot at Dougerei Government House Yola, there are bumps and obstacles capable of hindering his aspiration. Should he fail he would likely-be one-term governor thereby making poor history in Adamawa politics.

Foretaste of March 9

The just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections, where the APC lost his senatorial district and the Southern zone of the state which has large voting population, has further compounded his woos. His party-the APC did not only lost two senatorial seats of Adamawa-north and Adamawa-south with 14 out of the 21 local governments in the state but also lost four House of Representative seats of Numan/Demsa/lamurde, Guyuk/shelleng, Michika/Madagali and Fufore/Song, all of which initially been previously been controlled by the PDP though.

The lost of the state to PDP in the presidential election and National Assembly has further pitched the governor against some prominent stakeholders of the party in the state such as Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Gen Buba Marwa, Dr Mahmud Halilu Ahmed, the former SGF Babachir Lawal, among other closed allies of President Muhammadu Buhari.

They have attributed the party’s failure to the governor and equally led to accusations and counter accusations between them and the governor. This has further deepened the internal crisis and created sharp divisions within the party. It may therefore not be surprising if they choose to work against Bindow in the forthcoming gubernatorial election.

Bindow’s optimistic

Despite all these odds, the governor and his supporters believe his performances in almost four years of his government especially in the area of massive constructions of roads within the length and breadth of the state will see him through.

They believe that the gang-up against him will fail and will not stop him from getting re- elected because he has lived up to the expectations of the ordinary people of the state who constituted the bulk of the voting population in the state.

They have also attributed his travails to his refusal to sustain the long standing tradition of sharing the resources of the state to individuals and groups which earned him the wrath of these stakeholders and his detractors who are envious of his achievements.

But those who are opposed to the governor’s re-election have consistently dismissed these allegations with a wave of hands, instead have accused the governor of messing up the state.

“He lacks lack of sincerity, has poor leadership ability, betrays trust and his incompetent leadership have subjugated the people of the state to untold hardship in addition to mortgaging the future of the state with over borrowing of loans,” former governor Murtala once alleged.

In fact, the estimated figure of the state indebtedness currently stands over N80bn in less than four years despite the huge federal allocation that came to the coffers of the state, according to some persons.

Atiku and Nyako factos

Most analysts are of the view that even if you take Nyako and Atiku factor and their influences out of Adamawa politics and put only the gubernatorial candidates of various political parties in the state on scale in terms of their credentials, reliability, popularity and acceptability among the people it will be very difficult for Bindow to triumph over some of the other candidates.

They believed in most quarters is that even if Adamawa APC is united and not divided the way it is now Bindow will find his opponents a hard nut to crack in the election much more of now that the party is not only divided in the state but also riddled with internal crises.

However the battle for Dougerei Government House will be contested between Bindow jibrilla of the APC and former acting governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of the PDP, as well as Senator Abdulaziz Murtala Nyako of the ADC and Emmanuel Bello of the SDP, all of who are seen as serious contenders.

Bindow’s strength

As a Senator he kept faith with the people of his senatorial district and was credited with the execution of some constituency projects that impacted positively on the lives of the people of his constituency. In fact, he was tagged “digital” in Adamawa politics because of his skill acquisition programmes. In some way he has grassroots followership which should not be taken for granted. He is also a serving governor with reasonable influence.

Also, his strength lies in his performance in the area of road constructions, power of incumbency, grassroots following and prudent management of his campaign resources to galvanise support for his ambition.

But his obstacles lie in the sharp divisions within his party, the danger those that have drawn the battle line pose against him and likely adverse effect of some powerful political forces in the state fostering against him.

Pls use pixs of Gov Bindow Jibrilla

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