Adamawa guber: Can Fintiri, Nyako and Bello dislodge Jibrilla

The trio of Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, Abdul’Aziz Nyako and Emmanuel Bello are seeking to dislodge incumbent Adamawa Governor Bindow Jibrilla from Dougueri House. Muazu Abari writes on their chances.

Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri

The PDP gubernatorial candidate was the immediate past speaker of the state House of Assembly and two-time acting governor of the state. Among his admirers he is fondly called ATM because of his people-oriented policies and concern for the plight of the state civil servants.

His penchant for running welfarist government evident by the remarkable infrastructural development within the short time he served as acting governor stood him out in the politics of the state.

His emergence as the PDP governorship candidate did not come to most political observers as a surprised because even prior to PDP gubernatorial primaries in the state most people had strongly believed that except by divine intervention nothing would stop him from picking the PDP ticket. This was based on his popularity and acceptability among the PDP family and by extension the people of Adamawa state.

Fintiri is a grassroots politician, a focused entrepreneur who came into the political limelight of Adamawa state in 2007 election when he contested and won the House of Assembly seat of Madagali state constituency under the platform of the opposition ACN and was subsequently elected as deputy minority chief whip.

He subsequently defected to PDP in the interest of his constituency and was re- elected to the assembly for the second term in 2011 under the PDP and subsequently became the majority leader and then the speaker of Adamawa state House of Assembly following the impeachment of the then speaker Sadiq Ibrahim Dasin.

Before him, the House had poor image but he worked hard to correct things. This earned him the support, confidence and trust of his colleagues and the people of the state who rallied round him and this restored the battered image of the House in the eyes of the public and increased his popularity in the state.

As speaker it’s said the House was vibrant, had quality and robust debates and diligence in the performance of its duties and oversight functions and maintain cordial relationship with the executive arm.

He became acting governor where some said he showed courage in leadership and redefined governance in the state through his policies, programmes and projects which rekindled the hope of the people who looked forward to him and his administration optimism.

But for the court judgement which ordered the swearing in of Murtala Nyako’s deputy Bala Ngillari as the substantive governor to complete Nyako’s tenure he perhaps would have become governor. (Governor Nyako was impeached).

His strength

His grassroots connections, popularity and acceptability among the people of Adamawa and the overwhelming supports he enjoys from civil servants in the state. The achievements he recorded as acting governor make him a contender of note.

Obstacles

The ongoing EFCC case against him and alleged hate speech against the Fulani’s when he was acting governor which has become a campaign issue against him despite his several denials in addition to the fact that those sympathetic to Nyako will likely work against him as they are yet to forgive him for his role in Nyako’s impeachment.

Senator Abdul’aziz Nyako

The gubernatorial candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC) is the eldest son of ex-governor Murtala Nyako and the current senator representing Adamawa Central senatorial district elected under the platform of APC in 2015 who subsequently defected to the ADC due to irreconcilable differences with Governor Bindow Jibrilla and later emerged as the party gubernatorial candidate.

He was a fine and vibrant military officer who carved a niche for himself in his military career and rose through the ranks to become a commander in the Nigerian Navy and voluntarily resigned in 2007 to assist his father in the running of his government.

Abdulaziz played key roles in the drafting of Nyako administration policies and programmes which impacted positively on the lives of the people of the state especially in the areas of skills acquisition and youth empowerment programmes which were initiated by the administration.  This increased his political popularity and made him a force to be reckoned with in Adamawa politics.

His appointment as Sarkin Matasan Adamawa by the Lamido of Adamawa Dr Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Mustapha during his father administration further boosted his image. He connected easily with the youths in the state and succeeded to put in place structures in all the 21 local governments in the state where youths were brought together and mobilised against drugs abuse and other social vices.

He played prominent roles that led to the successes of APC in the state and was believed to be instrumental to his father’s decision to defect from the PDP to the APC when he fell apart with Goodluck Jonathan government and was subsequently elected as senator to represent Adamawa central under APC. He is currently the chairman senate committee on special duties.

His gubernatorial ambition is seen in most quarters as a subtle revolution being engineered by the youths to effect generational change in Adamawa state politics and subsequently Nigeria.

Some think he has not impacted greatly interns of attracting the dividends of democracy to the people of his senatorial district arguing that he has been more concerned with fighting the governor for political reasons rather than touching the lives of his people.

But his supporters and admirers believe that he has done his best in bringing dividends of democracy and empowering his people and also pointed at his efforts and contributions to the passing into law of Not-too-young-to-run bill and North East Development Commission bill into law.

His strength

He may benefit from the benevolence, goodwill and popularity of his father Nyako (snr) whose political influence is considerable. The senior Nyako also affected lives positively and some would wish reciprocate the gesture by voting for his son.

The division within Adamawa APC is an added advantage to his gubernatorial ambition as most of those fighting and opposed the governor’s re-election within the party are Nyako supporters and followers and would prefer to go with him rather than Bindow or Fintiri who they believed had all betrayed Nyako.

His promises to continue with most of the empowerment policies and programmes of his father as well as his youthful age and ability to spring political surprise may also boost his chances.

Obstacles

He is a direct opposite of his father who was known for his humility, compassion, love for humanity and friend to the common man with large heart of assisting the downtrodden.

He is also contesting under a seemingly weak political platform which relatively unknown to the people of Adamawa state in addition to the belief by some people who view his ambition as Nyako plan to imposed his son on Adamawa.

Hon Emmanuel Bello

The gubernatorial candidate of the Social Democratic party (SDP) is a dogged fighter and determined young man with great foresight and patriotic zeal whose passion for the development of the state and his people influenced his decision to go into politics.

He is a successful business man who damned uncertainty political to contest the House of Representatives seat of Gombi/Hong federal constituency on the platform of the PDP but was allegedly short-changed at the primaries.

But he remained resolute in his fight for the collective interest of his people. He took the party to court and secured a favourable court verdict as the authentic PDP candidate and the duly elected member representing Gombi/hong federal constituency.

He later defected from the PDP to APC and contributed greatly to the success of the party and indicated his interest to contest for the gubernatorial seat of the state under APC, but was denied.

He later defected from APC to SDP to realise his gubernatorial ambition and succeeded taking over the party structures which subsequently led to sharp division within the party in the state leading to the defection of other party members to Action Alliance.

His strength

His door-to-door campaign strategy and his record of service in the National Assembly in addition to his financial capability and the fact that he enjoys the supports of most Christian community in the state that see him as their own being the only Christian among the major contestants.

Obstacles

Apart from contesting under a weak political platform his support based is only limited to one senatorial district and among the Christians. Some have claimed he has not made much effort to spread himself to other parts of the state. Narrowing himself to the Christian community may limit his chances.

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