Adamawa state is no doubt a flashpoint of trying times, whether at the national and or state level. Gladiators and political game-changers are always trying to outdo one another to know the depth of the troubled political waters.
Since the return to civil rule in 1999, Adamawa has been a political boiling point ground for its leaders (governors) to contend with vested interests from all walks of life, with external forces intruding to feel the tempo of the national politics.
The regime of Boni Haruna from 1999 to 2007 had more than its share of woes, as pilloried him for allegedly mortgaging Adamawa to an influential political figure. Towards the end of Haruna’s administration, it was wobbling amidst threats of impeachment because of his unwavering loyalty to Atiku Abubakar, the man who first won the governorship and accepted a running mate slot with Olusegun Obasanjo who won the presidency.
Boni Haruna’s “cardinal sin” was unalloyed loyalty to a man he considered a political godfather. But then to politicians and other stakeholders at the national level, it was damnable.
Retired Admiral Murtala Nyako, then popularly known as Baba Mai Mangoro and failed governor had it bad during his government from 2007 to 2015 when his tenure was supposed to end.
2007 and 2015 was a row-and-rogue experience of an unsteady government of Nyako, elections were cancelled, a rerun was conducted, and he had it real bad before he won.
Nyako’s sins grew from bad to worse as interest was stage-managed in 2014 by the presidency, using the House of Assembly under then speaker Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri to impeach him. Adamawa from 1999 to date remains the only state where impeachment was successfully carried out in the North. From the foregoing, it would appear that no governor has ruled Adamawa without a handful of sins.
Governor Muhammadu Umaru Jibrilla, a.k.a. Bindow, ruled from 2015 to 2019, but sins of disobeying two indigenes of the state cost his second tenure. The APC and his accusers were so pissed off with his sins and worked through all agencies including the party’s senior stakeholders and asked him to leave the Government House to seek reelection.
The new sheriff in town and sitting governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, the self styled Fresh Air ATM, and messenger of the masses has begun to get critical reactions to his actions. Fintiri has changed the face of Jimeta, the administrative base (capital) of Adamawa with flyovers.
These are projects he said the state must have to go with the trend of life and technology. His best in the area of security, health, education and infrastructural development within the towns and rural communities of the state are indeed noticeable.
With all that the governor is doing, opposition party men who are renowned politicians still find him wanting. They believe his sins are so mortal that he might lose reelection in 2023.
They listed 22 sins they said are against the natural and extant laws of the land. The sins, they insist, are capable of rocking his boat and ousting him, so said Umar Mustapha Madawaki (Otunba).
Dr Umar Ardo, a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but recently jumped ship to the Social Democratic Party, SDP, said the people of Adamawa must reject PDP.
Ardo, SDP gubernatorial aspirant, said the PDP has become feeble in Adamawa under an equally feeble governor. He called on all and sundry not to allow things to continue in this manner. He ruled out PDP and APC from any consideration in 2023 because of their many sins.
He said Fintiri does not have the drive to rescue Adamawa state because the masses have lost confidence in him. Rescuing the state from the malicious grip of PDP under Governor Fintiri and APC as venal political parties is his mission. He urged the masses not to allow themselves to be annihilated.
The Otunba of Ekiti, as he is popularly called, and Dr Ardo view Fintiri government as woeful failures and jotted down his sins as follows:
- Poor state of education: in this sector, Umar Ardo alleged, schools across the 21 local government areas are dilapidated. He said that in some Verre communities in Fufore local government area, pupils are learning under a tree with one class teacher for more than 100 learners.
He condemned the school feeding programme as a hoax, a non-existent policy and lamented the lack of manpower and instructional materials.
- Health is another area that Otunba said Fintiri failed woefully and should not bother to come back to power in 2023 because the electorate would not vote for him. He has no drugs, no good salaries for the limited manpower, and no better condition of service for health workers.
- Corruption: is the cankerworm that has eaten deep and is still eating up the fabric of the present administration. He said the system is porous with all sorts of issues. Absence of due process in employment, awarding contracts, and government officials being accused of selling jobs to poor citizens.
- Infrastructure: Lack of all but unwanted flyover bridges discredited the government. He said the bridges are deceptive glory of what the masses of Adamawa state do not require at the moment. He accused the government of having forced him into doing so because of his self-interests.
- Lies: These are destructive maggots mainstreamed to the governmental system, to paraphrase Otunba Madawaki.
- Total failure in agriculture.
- Lack of policy implementation.
- No fertilisers for urban and rural farmers.
- Refusal to fund scholarships
- Refusal to upgrade workers for more than 10 years.
11 Refusal to pay outstanding pensions.
- Refusal to implement the new minimum wage.
- No sponsorship of l pilgrimages for both Muslims and Christians.
- Awarded contracts with no commissioners in place in his first six months in office.
- Failed to commit to the new minimum wage
- His campaign promises are more of a mirage.
- Absence of a credible local government election.
- Running the government like his personal estate.
- No potable water across the state.
- Insecurity, not securing the life and property of the masses.
- Imposition of local government chairmen
- Open attacks on former Governor Boni Haruna
These sins of the governor, the politicians argued, the masses will not forgive him until he is shown the way out of the Government House, Yola.
Garba, a journalist, writes from Jimeta, Yola, Adamawa state, via 08172570959
