The dust raised by the comments of Abba Jimeta, Chief of Staff (COS) to Governor Jibrilla Bindow, is yet to settle, having polarised the state chapter of the ruling APC, still threatening unity in the party ahead of the 2019 general elections. IBRAHIM ABDUL’ AZIZ, reports
Already the political temperature in Adamawa known to be one of the complex states in the federation has continued to rise with gladiators warming up in preparation for the 2019 elections. To this end, some key members of the ruling APC in the state averred that the state governor Sen.Muhammadu Jibrilla Bindow and his cohorts are free to leave following the salvo fired by his Chief of Staff (COS), AbdurRahman Abba Jimeta, when they accused the national leadership of the party of undermining their administration.
It could be recalled that the COS to the governor recently said his principal and his supporters may leave the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Jimetta, who spoke during a visit by the APC national delegation led by Senator Abdulkadir Jajere, said the federal government had been treating Adamawa like an opposition state just as he also spoke on the state’s position on the presidential ambition of former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar.
“We are loyal but tell the national secretariat of APC that there is limit to loyalty and that party business is optional. In fact, you have the right to change even your religion. So, tell the national APC, we are very loyal.
“But there is limit to that, especially if they are not recognising us since we are the army of the party that are supposed to enjoy the fruits of the party or, out of frustration, we join the opposition,” he said.
On the political alliance between former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Governor Mohammed Umar Jibrilla, Jimetta said he did not regret a recent statement in which he said the governor and his cabinet would support Abubakar’s presidential bid.
However, he blamed the media for misrepresenting his statement at the launching of N4.6 billion Pariya-Malabu road in Girei where he wished Atiku success in his presidential bid.
“Everyone knows that Atiku is ambitious. We said we wished him success over his ambition to become president of this country. But the newspapers reported that we said it was either Atiku or nobody.
“I was called by the Director SSS that my speech caused alarm because I said I wanted Atiku to become president.
“I would say that a hundred times. If you are arresting people who say they want their own, you will arrest the whole of this country. Katsina for Buhari, Kano for Kwankwaso and Lagos for Tinubu,” Abba said.
Jimetta alleged that the funds for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) projects allocated to the state were diverted by some powerful individuals within the federal system.
However in what could be described as swift reaction, some party stakeholders in the state lambasted the state -led APC government for daring to speak that way pointing out that the position of the government is not the position of the party in the state.
Alhaji Mohammad Iliyasu Gamawa described as unfortunate the threat to quit APC, averring that the development clearly exposed Bindow and his chief of staff as opportunists, “When they came from the then new PDP to join those of us in legacy party that formed APC, many accused them of being opportunists and now they have proofed that.
“People say leopard will never change its spots; they are like adopted stray cats that will never change and we are not surprise at their antics.
“I have warned governor Bindow against his chief of staff who has been dragging his administration from one controversy to another. This chief of staff he hold so dear as an asset is more of a black scorpion in his (Bindow) trouser and the day he will hit Bindow with his final sting, the outcome to Bindow’s political career will be better imagine,” Gamawa said.
Also berating Bindow, another APC chieftain, Alhaji Uba Dan Arewa, said its pettiness and sign of ungratefulness for the administration to criticized the national APC and the APC led government of Muhammadu Buhari alleged marginalization of the state.
Dan Arewa said that with appointment of SFG and Minister of FCT from Adamawa alongside other federal appointments as well as federal projects going on in the state, governor Bindow and his administration must be ungrateful to criticized APC and FG.
“It is petty and unrealistic for Bindow to be expecting Mr President to consult him before appointing anybody from Adamawa,” Arewa said.
“ the statement by Bindow Chief Of Staff is not coming to us as a surprise because we have First Class information from our party secretariat that the governor and his aide have visited the party secretariat for time without number pressing for dissolution of the state working Committee.
Since the National secretariat of the party did not honour it’s request that is why they come out with a new tactic of defection believing that they could intimidate the party hierarchies to succumb to their demonic demand.
“ To us as APC chieftain in the state we are having a cordial relationship with our national secretariat. We keep on wondering why Bindow decided to draw dagger on the head of Adamawa APC exco who voted for him to become the standard bearer of the party. They even refused to collect Atiku annoited candidate’s N200,000. We don’t see reason why he will want them to be removed illegally.’’
The party chieftain insisted that Governor Bindow and his COS are more political liabilities to APC than assets.
“if Bindow and his aide leave APC, it is not going to be a minus to the party rather it will be minus to them. They are the beneficiaries of the party, people of Adamawa supports APC not because of Bindow or Abba Jimeta. Adamawa electorates believe in Buhari and Former Governor Murtala Nyako, apart from these two political actors no other political actors in the state live or death that command respect in the minds of Adamawa electorate.
“ I can tell you without mincing words that Abba and his principal are afraid to leave the party because they discovered the people of the state are no longer interested in their personalities reason they are trying to cause confusion in the hierarchies of the party.”Uba Dan Arewa.
Though in a new twist, Gov. Bindow has distanced himself and his administration from the threat to quit APC.
Bindow, who spoke through the Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Malam Ahmad Sajoh, told newsmen Saturday, in Yola, that the media, which ascribed the statement of the COS to the governor, were not fair to the governor, who had spoken at that occasion and declared his full support to the party.
Political analysts in the state are of view that COS’ statements are true reflection of governor Bindow’s thoughts, the reason his COS was not reprimanded.
They opined that the voice is of Jacob while the hand is of Esau and will not be surprised if eventually the governor and some of his loyalists defect to another platform ahead of 2019 general election.
The new battle
With the unfolding developments in Adamawa is very clear that the presidential ambition of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, particularly on the platform of the APC, may be dimming by the day.
For now Atiku, has the state governor, Bindow as his main ally, and Bindow is said to have been pitted against former governor, Murtala Nyako; Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. David Babachir, who collectively with the state leadership of the party, have made it known that the state has only one presidential candidate for 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari.
Already, the other group of Nyako/Babachur have commenced campaign for the president and have informed whoever cares to listen that Bindow does not have their blessing for a second term.
Sources say that the group is shopping for the governor’s replacement. Three names are on the table, Engr. Markus Gundiri who hails from the same local government with the SGF and Senator Ibn Na’allah, representing Adamawa South in the Senate as well as Mallam Nuhu Ribadu former EFCC boss.
To put paid to their strategy, the Buhari group has ensured that congresses were not held to constitute the state executive committee of the party which has been operating without a substantive chairman and deputy chairman.
The fear is that should there be a congress to elect a chairman as well as fill other vacant positions, the former vice president and the governor would be able to muscle their way through to install their lackeys.
Binta Masi who belongs to the Nyako group was the state chairman of APC prior to 2015 when he resigned to contest the senatorial election and won. He was subsequently replaced by Alhaji Ibrahim Bilal who prior to his emergence as state chairman was one of the three vice chairmen of the party in the state.
Sources claimed that he was schemed into the position by the Nyako group in collaboration with the leadership of the party in Abuja, which allegedly granted him an acting tenure for six months.
“Masi was replaced by the current chairman and he assumed that office without due process. There was no congress or election. He claimed to have been endorsed by the national headquarters in Abuja,” an insider has said.
The source maintained that the current chairman’s acting tenure was supposed to have terminated in September 2016 having allegedly gotten an initial six months acting regime that commenced in March.
Besides the chairmanship position, the office of the deputy chairman is till vacant following the death of the incumbent, Ibrahim Yamusa.
Last month, the state APC in collaboration with the Nyako group endorsed the candidature of Buhari /Osibanjo for reelection in 2019, an action that practically sealed the chances of Atiku getting the party’s ticket. However, the endorsement was a response to the pronouncement by the COS to the governor.
It could be recalled that, Bindow emerged the governorship candidate of APC through the active support of Nyako who ensured that Atiku’s choice and current commissioner for Lands and Surveys, Ibrahim Mijinyawa, was defeated at the primaries.
The governor ran into troubled waters few months after he became governor when he dumped Nyako’s camp for Atiku and purportedly informed the public that his decision was due to an alleged ‘gift’ of N500million from the former vice president.
This was not taken kindly by the Nyako Supporters Group (NSG), which called on the State House of Assembly to impeach the governor for supposedly flouting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s regulation on funding during the governorship campaign of 2015 general elections.
Well, for now, only time shall tell where the pendulum will swing.
