Bauchi APC: Whither lies Adamu Adamu’s loyalty? By Ahmed Adamu

It is expected that when one is called upon to serve in government or any organisation, unalloyed loyalty becomes the guiding principle. It goes without saying that commitment on the part of the servant must not only be total but also be seen to be absolutely total. Refusal to abide by this cardinal principle is a recipe for failure regardless of the collective efforts to succeed.

A disloyal appointee becomes a weak link in the chain to pull the system towards attaining the set goals. Where there is disloyalty, internal subterfuge or blatant treachery, no positive results can be achieved.

For, as it is said, a house openly or covertly divided against itself can never stand. Indeed, such a dismal scenario may well be playing out in the All Progressives Congress-led federal government as well as its numerous ministries, departments and agencies where activities of some pretenders could sabotage the system especially now that the stage is set for the 2019 general elections. Politicians are notorious for navigating their ways towards the side of the bread that is well buttered. We should not put anything past some elements who could be working covertly for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

This deduction can be drawn from the private pronouncements as well as the subterranean activities of some characters that are capable of undermining the policy objectives of the government at all levels coupled with the unrestrained opposition to certain elected public officials picked as their targets as the 2019 polls beckon. If those elected officials fail to carry out the change agenda of the present regime in their various domains, these political wolves in sheep’s clothing would only succeed in frustrating the government of the day and consequently slow down democracy gains meant for the people. Also, by targeting and undermining elected officials, those appointees only serve to weaken their electoral base and open them up for defeat in the forthcoming 2019 polls.

One of such political appointees is the Honourable Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, whose Janus-faced antics have brought so much disunity, tension and acrimony to Bauchi state politics in particular and the Northeast geopolitical zone in general.

It is no secret that Malam Adamu was relatively unknown in the political circle in Bauchi prior to his appointment as a minister by the Buhari administration. His appointment to that critical position was a huge surprise to most political watchers and stakeholders in the state. The only credential he had was his closeness to President Muhammadu Buhari.

It, therefore, goes without saying that he got the appointment not on the basis of his contributions to the socio-economic development of his home state. In fact, the nation’s education helmsman never contested any office in the state either as a councillor, local government chairman or even state House of Assembly member not to speak of a higher position as a senator or governor.

So, it was no surprise that when he was appointed to oversee the Ministry of Education and a professor subsumed under him as minister of state, many tongues were sent wagging because many Bauchi people never knew him from Adam. It is also no wonder that the education sector has not made any meaningful progress in the past three years. As a former newspaper columnist, perhaps he would have fared better as government’s mouthpiece rather than the nation’s driver of education. Malam Adamu’s covert activities in his state, where Barr. Mohammed Abubakar has been at the helm of affairs following his landslide victory in the 2015 elections, should be of concern to the people of the state.

He is seen to have stepped into the shoes of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, who had a running battle with the incumbent governor over the control of the state’s party structure until he defected to the PDP recently.

It was so quick for the proselyte to forget that the effort of the governor in ensuring the success of the party also rubbed off him in his constituency in the state during the 2015 polls. What will anyone gain by working at cross purposes with Governor Abubakar? The action governor deserves the total support of all genuine members of the APC family in the state. Malam Adamu should, therefore, not constitute a stumbling block to the smooth execution of the governor’s policies and programmes.

After all, the minister has never worked for the victory of the party in the state. So, what is the basis for playing the spoiler this time around? By covertly joining forces with the governor’s traducers, thereby creating unprecedented disunity within the Bauchi APC and emboldening the PDP to mount an ever-increasing challenge against the APC as the 2019 polls approach, Malam Adamu could well be described as running with the hare in Abuja as a minister and hunting with the hounds in Bauchi by teaming up with those in the opposition. Malam Adamu’s deep-seated envy of the unquantifiable achievements of Governor Abubakar has been taken to the most absurd level and it is abundantly clear that the minister would prefer a PDP victory in the 2019 elections for reasons best known to him.

Had he been a hard core APC man at the state level ab initio, perhaps the story would have been different. However, the entire APC family members in Bauchi state are smart enough not to fall into the delusionary and diversionary antics of the minister and have vowed to decisively humiliate him and his fellow travellers be they in the APC, PDP or wherever they may be.

Malam Adamu should have enough on his plate as the education minister. He is persuaded to face the challenges his mandate comes with and leave his governor alone to paddle his own canoe. Ahmed Adamu wrote in from Bauchi.

Leave a Reply