Alhaji Ibrahim Bilal is the Chairman Adamawa state All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview, he tells MUAZU ABARI, how low he rates the current administration in the state saying that Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, in the last two years, has mortgaged the future of the state.
Your recent claim that the performance of APC elected representatives and appointed officials within two years surpasses Fintiri’s achievements in two years. Going by what we see on ground, do you still stand by your claim?
We are not claiming but stating the obvious that even a blind man in this state can attest to. We have the facts, documents and evidence. We also have the pictures and know the locations of these projects visa viz what PDP administration have done in this state in the last two years. So, I am not just standing by my words, but would continue to stand by it. I reiterated that the performance of our elected representatives and appointed officials has surpassed what Fintiri’s administration had achieved within two years in office.
Can you please give us insight into these achievements recorded by your members that surpassed that of the governor?
Although it would be very difficult for me in this short interview to enumerate all the achievements because they are enormous, but let me start with our National Assembly members. Senator Binani has drilled 82 boreholes in various communities of Adamawa Central out of which 72 are industrial boreholes providing over 20,000 litres of water per day in rural communities where the people need it.
She renovated, equipped and furnished more than 22 primary schools through SDGS and other agencies. He carried massive empowerment programmes and trainings of teeming youth and women on various skills acquisition, provided them with tools and financial supports to open their businesses in addition to sponsoring some bills that resulted in the conversation of MauTech to a conventional university and the ongoing efforts to transform Federal Medical Centre Yola to teaching hospital, among others. Namdas has also carried out so many intervations especially in the areas of health, water, education, empowerment, roads constructions, among others. Let me be specific a bit here. There is one government hospital in Jada which was built without quarters for the doctors for years. Namdas saw this challenge affecting his people and decided to build doctors’ quarters for them which was recently commissioned to mark his two years in office. There is another hospital in Bajama and other parts of his constituency which he either brought, renovated or constructed. You know Bajama and koma are rural areas that have no road, hospital and boreholes, but occupied by thousands of rural people. Before the coming of APC government in 2015, from Mayo Belwa to Jada, there is no road, you had to spend three to four hours before reaching Jada, but now, within few minutes from Mayo, you would reach Jada courtesy of Namdas. When you come to Hon Yusuf Captain Buba, he brought more than six different water projects in his constituency supplying water for five or six villages in addition to personal interventions in providing water to his people. All the police stations in that area were razed and vandalised by Boko Haram insurgents and the district head office but he also succeeded to influence and also used his resources to get them renovated. He also built more than 25 schools, one hand pump borehole and one industrial borehole each in all the electoral units and wards of his constituency. We also have Senator Abbo and our other elected representatives at the state level who have done a lot for the people of Adamawa in the last two years interms of executing projects. The same cannot said of PDP and their government.
You made mention of APC-appointed officials at the federal level achieving a lot, but you didn’t give us insight into their own achievements in the state. Would want to tell our readers?
I always laugh when Fintiri’s government brag about constructing roads. How many roads have they constructed in their two years in office? Forget about the roads scattered all over the state constructed by the immediate APC- led administration of ex-Governor Bindow Jibrilla. The SGF, Boss mustapha, has influenced construction of over 200 kilometres of roads in the last two years through ecological fund and other interventions.
Even here in FCE Yola, we have such intervention totalling over 2km with water drainage. Go to Garha, Garchiga and from Hong to Gogna and other parts of the state, you would see many of these roads brought by the SGF. Before the coming of APC, we don’t have teaching hospital in Adamawa but today we are in the process of having a teaching hospital through the bill sponsored by Senator Binani with our university already converted into conventional university which means more admission chances and employment opportunities to our children and citizens. When you come to our First Lady, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, she also assisted in executing various live-saving projects in the state which you all know and there is no need for me to mention here among many of our appointees. If you go to universal basic education alone, you will see so many projects brought by APC government to the state. In fact, we have constructed over 300 classrooms across the state. I am talking of those ones that were single-handedly executed by the federal government, their signboards and mode of structures is different from the ones constructed through joint projects. Go to Juppu Jam in Yola town, you will see another special school brought to Adamawa state by appointees of this government.
How would you rate the performance of PDP-led administration in the state as it clocked two years in office recently?
My own assessment of him is low performance; he has failed woefully to live up to the expectations of the people of Adamawa. Although he constructed few roads which he concentrated in urban areas unlike we who concentrated our projects in the rural areas where majority of Adamawa citizens live. The youths whose future have been morgaged through alarming borrowing in the name of projects which are nothing to write home about, would pay them back in their own coins come 2023. Even if you are embarking on projects, we expected them to use IGR and other initiatives to do the projects, not burdening the state with bank loans which further indebted Adamawa. So far, the loans collected by Fintiri’s administration stood at over 30bn within just two years. Forget about the 100bn they wanted to float from the capital market in the name of agro businesses. You can imagine how much the administration would collect before the end of their tenure in 2023 when we will send them parking. So in a nutshel, the only achievement of Fintiri’s government in two years is mortgaging Adamawa future and our youth with debt.
The state government attributed your outburst to the fact that you and your party were yet recover from the political tsaunami that befell you in 2019. What is your take?
This is laughable. But I want them and Adamawa people also to know that we didn’t lose 2019 election due to non performance or Fintiri’s popularity, we lost because we had internal wranglings which forced some of our aggrieved members to vote against the party. If not, where would Fintiri and PDP be by now? But now we have realised our mistakes and decided to forgive one another, reconciled and agreed to work together as one family. I can assure you that we are more determined to take back the state in 2023. Even with our internal crisis which led to our loss, if you look at the votes we got in that election, it is not something you will underate, so politics is always like that; sometimes, you win, sometimes you lose. For instance, when Fintiri was speaker in PDP government, we collected power from them, we didn’t have factions in our party but I assure you that with total reconciliation in the party today, we would take back the state in 2023.
You seem to be optimistic about taking over the state in 2023. What gives you such confidence?
Let me remind you when Fintiri came on board, he boasted that APC in Adamawa state would die within three months, but did the party die? Instead, we put them to shame and proved them wrong. We did not only stop at that, but keep waxing stronger by the day, depleting their ranks and keep on receiving PDP defectors most of whom were instrumental to Fintiri’s victory in 2019. That is why you always see mammoth crowd of people whenever the party or its elected representatives are holding any public function. Ex-Gov Bala Ngillari who served as deputy governor for seven years and as governor for seven months has ditched them to APC. Senator Abbo, a mobiliser and current senator representing the governor’s senatorial district has also joined APC. Sen Abdulaziz Nyako whose votes led to Fintiri’s emergence has returned to APC. Hon Emmanuel Bello, the SDP gubernatorial candidate also returned to APC with all their supporters and structures among many other PDP top shot in the state. Any moment from now, we would also receive Senator Grace Bent among other prominent PDP politicians in the state.
