THE PETITIONERS ARE HERE AGAIN!

While thinking that I am done with lamentations about Adamawa politics I came across a petition by one of those fly-by-night organisations floated specifically for their mischief values.  Not forgetting their mercenary origins. The organisation, which goes by the name “Concerned Youths for Good Governance in Adamawa State” called for the disqualification of the Adamawa State acting governor from participating in the September 6^th, 2014 PDP primaries for the nomination of the party’s flag bearer in the October 11^th, 2014 gubernatorial by-election.  I couldn’t believe that at this late hour somebody, somewhere will resort to such underhanded tactics in order to gain undue advantage in a wrestling contest where most of the contestants have their hands tied to their backs by the powers that be.  From where I am sitting, it appears to me the PDP primaries is meant to achieve a particular outcome, though I must confess not being a member of the PDP, I may not know how the party’s system works.

Though the group claimed to be a youth vanguard for good governance in Adamawa state, it unwittingly revealed its hand of being a vehicle for causing confusion.  Are we to assume that it is only the PDP that is synonymous with “good governance”?  Because as one reads the petition, the group asserted that “we as loyal members of the party would have to act quickly to abort subversion of the cherished democratic credentials of the party”.  Fat chance!  You can clearly see that it is a put-up job, paid by certain interest in an attempt either to gain advantage or send a message subliminally to the credulous on the acting governor’s eligibility or otherwise to contest in the elections.

The opening paragraph sounded very impressive – “…good governance in Adamawa State”.  They began their letter with “The fulcrum of democracy is observance of law and order and laid down rules and regulations”.  That is just the issue.  When was the PDP ever known to adhere strictly to its laid down rules and regulations?  If the PDP had adhered to these rules and regulations, would it have allowed relatively new comers participated in its primaries?  It is my humble believe that democracy is all about universal adult suffrage by all.  This includes the right to vote and be voted for anyone above the age of eighteen and of sound mind.  And this right is guaranteed by the constitution of the land.  If this is the case, then I wonder why the PDP will insist on “defectors” from other parties serving for a certain period of time before being eligible to contest for any elective office.  But all this is by the way and no concern of mine.  I am just concerned by the fact of the exclusion tone of the petition.

I saw this petition just few hours after the PDP in its “wisdom” granted waivers to Ribadu, Marwa and Gundiri all them aspirants on the platform of the PDP.  Though I promised to myself not to comment on the by-election anymore, I was forced to reconsider my stand after reading the petition.  Assuming Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri was a member of the APC at a point in time, what rights has the trio got that he hasn’t.  I used the word assuming because I remember in the heat of the impeachment that brought Fintiri to the executive from the legislature, I had cause to argue with someone on whether the members of the state House of Assembly had ever decamped to the APC from the PDP.  I cannot ever remember reading anywhere that the state legislators had joined Nyako in either the nPDP or the APC, so the issue of “decamping” to the PDP from the APC cannot arise.  I remember telling him that I can smell trouble for Nyako when I read the announcement.  The rest as they say is history.

The fact that a certain “Umoru Ahmadu” registered for the APC at a particular ward doesn’t mean it is “Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri” who registered.  Beside the names Umaru and Ahmadu are common names in this part of the country but ‘Umoru’ sounds strange in this part of the world.  It is very miserable that youths can be used in a way not different from paid praise singers – and most often than not against their own interests – for peanuts.  If truly a youth group pens the ‘petition’, then they should be well advised to realise that whatever variant of democracy they are watering may come to haunt them when the stage is left for them.  If they know their politics or current affairs, they should know that Fintiri preceded the entire waiver “grantees” in the race for September 6^th.  I read with amusement the “permission” granted by the PDP to serial “defectors” and flip-floppers to contest but here are some “youths” praying to the aristocrats of the party to deny their “party leader” in the state the opportunity to exercise his inalienable right.

Should the PDP harken to this infantile call, I will advise the APC to roll out its celebratory drums to celebrate the fact that the sitting governor of Adamawa state is their member.  But this “petition” could also mean Fintiri is making an impact by whatever he has done different from the time he took over from Nyako.  If it is for the good of the state, the “youths”, he should continue.  My advise ex gratia to this particular desperado is to go to Adamawa and “connect” with the people instead of this infantile exercise.

CRY, MY BELOVED ADAMAWA

Oh, Adamawa, my Adamawa.  Adamawa is on the verge of being raped again, no thanks to the lowering of the leadership bar.  All manner of gangsters are now free to go for the highest executive office in the state.  It may appear the state has been diminished by the ousted administration to the extent that any would-be bandit has thrown his hat into the ring of the forthcoming gubernatorial by-election for the residue of Nyako’s tenure.  I am at pains to comprehend how we came to this sorry past.  Adamawa, home to academic giants, military heroes, business moguls and first class civil and public servants since independence.  The same Adamawa that produced the likes of Mallam Ahmed Joda and Musa Bello, Professors Samuel Aleyeidino, Iya Abubakar and Jibril Aminu, the Adamawa of General Jalo and Air Marshal Idi Bello.  My Adamawa is lying naked before some good and some not so good aspirants vying to be the next governor or looter, depending on who emerges or is imposed as the next governor.

I just finished going through an advertorial in Daily Trust by one of the aspirants, Dr. Ahmed Modibbo, listing his programmes.  On paper, they all appear laudable and achievable if handled by the right person.  Right person in morality, temperament and perpendicularity.  All the objectives listed by the candidate are critically required for the state to at least pretend to join the list of modern states.  From insecurity bedevilling the state in the extended war in the northern part of the state to the near total collapse of education; to the unprecedented decay in healthcare delivery.  All these sectors must be tackled for Adamawa people to begin to “live”.  But my caveat is that, the right person must be voted before all these are realised. 

Dr. Ahmed Modibbo spent the better part of his life in the education sector – I deliberately refused to say he is an educationist.  I hope the reader will understand the difference.  As far as I know, a person who spends his life selling books, or making furniture for educational institutions only or even selling chalk and dusters can claim to spent his life in education but that doesn’t qualify one as an educationist.  And I shouldn’t be misunderstood to be referring to Dr. Modibbo in the above group.  He spent his entire career between Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (ABU), National Teachers Institute (NTI) Kaduna and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).  He also headed the last two institutions.  These are no mean achievements and may therefore be termed as preparatory ground for any higher executive office.  It ought to be, but is it?

Almost four years back, spates of allegations that are yet to be denied flew around on the man’s moral corruption when he supervised the above organisations ranging from unsavoury revelations regarding admissions in ABU, to award of contracts to particular companies in which he had pecuniary interests.  These contract award scandals dogged his last years in UBEC, thereby denying him a second term and they were subjects of various litigations where he admitted in a direct testimony in court to have awarded a N2billion contract to a yet to be registered company and collecting and clearing their payments on their behalf since they don’t have a bank account.  There was also the question of ethical and moral uprightness hanging on his head, which refused to go over time.  May be he is banking on the fact that time erases such things from our memories.

Among the key areas he listed that he will tackle head-on once elected, is education and this sector needs a lot of attention.  But if Dr. Modibbo’s track record the NTI and UBEC are to be the yardstick by which to judge him and gauge the seriousness of his intent, then as far as my vote goes, he should forget his gubernatorial ambition.  And Adamawa state should be prepared for more of what obtained in the recent past.  Contract awards galore.  Nepotism.  Cronyism.  Can the state survive this mode of leadership again so soon after coming out of the misadventure perpetrated by the carpetbaggers recently kicked-out?  Adamawa state reminds me of one of the classic movies, the Good, The Bad and The Ugly, where bandits will invade a town, raze it to the ground after stealing its valuables and disappear into the sunset.  I hope we are not on the road to perdition.

The people of the state should be careful in choosing their next governor.  Yes, the state needs to be rescued – but from who? Definitely from those with questionable moral standards who may not be averse to dipping their hands in the till to satisfy the cravings of spouses and their relations.  The state needs to be rescued from those who cannot differentiate between the personal and the official.  We just got out of one mess, let’s be careful not to rush into another.

NUHU RIBADU: GENUINE ARTICLE OR PHOTO TRICK

I am at a lost.  Am terribly, completely totally at a loss and I believe I have reached the hopeless junction as far as Nigeria is concerned.  The lust for power exhibited by the defection of Nuhu Ribadu from the All Peoples Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic (PDP) is unfathomable, not withstanding his right to freely associate with whomsoever he chooses to associate.  But I believe with the kind of public image he cultivated in the past, it is a cruel deception on the teeming poor Nigerians who erroneously believed he was the genuine article.  May be I am taking the whole thing personal. 

Can Ribadu truly sleep with both eyes open on the same bed with Goodluck Jonathan, whom he classified as “one of the most corrupt Nigerians I ever investigated while at EFCC and his level of corruption even as deputy governor is just disturbing.  PDP is just a disaster and a total failure.  Change is the only panacea”.  This was as recent as 2011.  Or even DSP Alamasiyegh, Jonathan’s boss, who Ribadu humiliated by handcuffing him and dragging him from the comforts of government house, Yenagoa to the imperial feet of Obasanjo?  Or Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu, the PDP national Chairman, who was forced into self-exile by Ribadu for about two years before returning to be made the national Chairman of a party Ribadu called “a disaster and a total failure? Or the likes of Bode George who was forced to sharpen his kleptocratic tendencies in the Kirikiri Prison finishing school?

This particular political move is incomprehensible and unexplainable, no matter which way you analyse it.  Yes, Ribadu have the right to associate with the good, the bad and the ugly.  That is his prerogative.  But it is also our privilege to reject impostors and frauds.  It is also our right to choose the company we are identified with.  While trying to absorb the fact that Ribadu is now a PDP member, I was scandalised, to say the least, to see him on television at the PDP Adamawa State Secretariat in company of the likes of the former Adamawa State PDP Chairman and Secretary plus some other characters who played leading roles in the financial rape of the state. The same people who were leading actors in the promotion of nepotism, bad governance and architects of the stunted political and structural growth bedevilling the state.

Was Ribadu all this while playing up a role he knew that wasn’t him? Was he just exploiting the crave by Nigerians for good governance and accountability?  We believed him.  His constant invocation of God’s name at whatever occasion he is allowed to talk; his contrived zeal and passion to give the country a better society – a society where every leader will be called to account for his deeds and misdeeds.  We believed him and believed in him.  We didn’t know it was all photo trick.  We were gullible and trusting and look what we got.  At least even if he succeeds in his quest for power, we know we are not getting the genuine article but a counterfeit – forged in the same workshop as the likes of Bode George, Alamaseiyegh, Andy Uba and the rest of the gang.  We should be thankful to God that Ribadu showed his true colours before he got into power.

Ribadu’s new associates are the same people he castigated in the media, dragged to court in publicised cases with some shedding tears like Saminu Turaki, including his former boss in the Police, Tafa Balogun.  His famed reputation was solely built on these high profile prosecutions and media visibility.  If today Ribadu choose to wine and dine with these same people, how could I be convinced that all that happened in the past was not a put up?  Who do you trust in the trench now?  How can we move the country in to the 21^st century when our selfish agenda takes precedence over national interest?  Femi Fani-Kayode was unmasked for what he is and not what he has been claiming to be, are we witnessing the beginning of the demystification of Nuhu Ribadu?

Or may be we are at fault and looking out for supermen among us who should be above board in a society noted for its decadent life style.  Why did we trust and believe that Ribadu was different?  Was it because of the passion and zeal (sad to say, faked) he exhibited while he was at the EFCC or was it our unquenchable yearning for good governance which we only hear on the radio in other countries like Niger?

What ever was Ribadu’s selling power, I believe many are now the wiser of the decade-long deception.  It has been laid bare by the man himself.  Only thing is that he is expecting the Adamawa people to still see him as a knight in shiny armour who is out to rescue a damsel (Adamawa state) in distress.  He has chosen his friends like the former Chairman of the Adamawa State chapter of the PDP and his secretary, it is therefore left to the people of the state to either choose to empower them with their votes to continue the primitive style of leadership that they were rescued from or tell them to go jump in River Benue for all they care.

Let’s tell those who are backing Nuhu Ribadu to come and contest elections that they are backing the wrong horse.  If we wanted Ribadu’s new friends to continue lording it over us, no one would have celebrated Nyako’s ouster.  There wouldn’t have been any need for any by-election with all its attendant stresses, rancour and logistical nightmares.  With the new Nuhu Ribadu, I would rather go Nyako. QED

GOODLUCK, RIBADU

I write this morning with a very heavy heart.  This is because one of my political heroes decided to commit what I consider political hara kiri.  My sadness also stems from the realisation that Nigeria may be in trouble because those you feel have the moral suasion to drag the country by the force of their characters cesspit we have been taken to, to the Eldorado our politicians always promise to take us to, are turning out to be not better than the worst of the lot.  My sadness stems from the fact of knowing that most of us who grandstand on most national issues actually use our grandstanding as a vehicle for personal gain and nothing altruistic.

The defection of Nuhu Ribadu from the All Peoples’ Congress (APC) to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) came as a very rude awakening to those of us who still believe that it is possible to change the country through the force of our collective characters.  What Ribadu did to us is akin to thumping his nose on all those who still believe in him and those like him, but to be fair to him he has only toed a line earlier toed by some of his former colleagues in the Obasanjo administration like Femi Fani-Kayode.  Much as one may not like to lump Ribadu in the same political and ideological category with Fani-Kayode, one is forced by Ribadu’s action to do so.  This singular act by the former EFCC Chairman gives credence to the conspiracy theorists who went to town in 2011 with the rumour that Ribadu and Shekarau were bribed with huge amounts of money to ensure that Buhari wasn’t the only candidate from the north, thereby ‘dividing’ the northern vote between the three of them.  I refused to believe the nonsense then.  I am now compelled to reassess my perception of the story now that both Ribadu and Shekarau belong to the PDP.

My personal bellyaching aside, is there anything that Ribadu wants to prove by jumping into the PDP train?  Is he in the PDP to spoil the chances of those who have been in the party fighting the course of the party and for the entrenchment of democratic norms in the general polity?  Has Ribadu done a’Shekarau’ or is he continuing a project he began in 2011 and might have enjoyed the fruits of that particular misadventure?  Much as one may respect the ex-policeman, his latest move has effectively put paid to any claims of perpendicular leadership.  We just hope that Ribadu is not going to the PDP as Mu’azu’s battering ram in Adamawa.  There is already a long list of eminently qualified aspirants in all the political parties vying to contest the by-election without Ribadu joining the fray and muddying the waters.  There is also already so much rancour in our politics and personal relationship without some people trying to pour fuel into the cauldron. 

The talk on the streets is that Ribadu has never been averse to lending himself to be used and most often negatively.  This, I refused to believe.  Proponents of this line will quickly point his role in the production of the “advisory list” during Obasanjo’s disastrous third term campaign.  It was a list wich contained all those who stood against the actualisation of the demonic agenda.  Next they rehash his presidential aspiration of 2011, which termed as infantile.  It was prove-positive to many in the north that Goodluck Jonathan was bent on creating a third front in the north to scuttle any dream of a northern president.  And he has now being drafted to come and play the same role in Adamawa.  I refuse to believe this.

Though the PDP has its own way of doing things, I just hope for the first time they will get it right for the sake of the long suffering people of Adamawa State.  The herd of aspirants from the stable of the party are all imminently qualified to fly the party’s flag in the forthcoming October 11^th by-election.  If I were to have had a voice in how the affairs of the party are to be conducted, I would have suggested other considerations for the nomination of a candidate besides eligibility and suitability of the candidates.  It is conventional wisdom that whenever you have primaries in any of the parties, you are left with the burden of managing rancour, animosity and bitterness.  Most times, these acrimonies lasts the live time of an administration or even that of the contestants.  Also the malice, mutual suspicion and the distrust generated by Nyako’s impeachment are yet to go with the winds in some quarters.  Nyako’s tenure itself midwifed these problems we are trying to overcome. My suggestion to the PDP is simple – without appearing to be autocratic, the party can present the acting governor of the state in the October 11^th, 2014 by-elections to contest for the residual tenure of Nyako.  This way, the party won’t have to go through two primaries in the spate of two months.  Another primaries for the February 2015 general elections will hold in November 2014.

The other gladiators may then go for the mother lode – the February 2015 general elections when you will have the chance of being a governor for four years and not anybody’s residual tenure.  The current acting governor will then be advised to excuse himself from the contest, be a statesman and superintend the elections.

All I could wish Ribadu is – GOODLUCK.

PUBLIC COMMENTARY AS A RESPONSIBILITY

 

Adamawa state has forever remained in the news for mostly the wrong reasons almost throughout this dispensation beginning from 1999.  It has been one political crisis or the other beginning with the quarrel between Atiku Abubakar, the then Vice President and his then boss Olusegun Obasanjo.  The state has also shown signs of stunted growth syndrome in relation to its peers.  These two phenomenon cannot be separated – perpetual quarrel between its elites and the stunted growth bedevilling the state.  And the ordinary man on the street bears the brunt.

While the state and the people are in the process of being pulled out of the quagmire they find themselves in, some others are stoking the embers of discontent and disunity in order to deny the poor the benefit of enjoying the relative peace and tranquillity that followed the exit of the immediate past administration.  The stock-in-trade of these people is the fabrication and dissemination of rumours meant to endanger disenchantment against the current government.  Such merchants of embitterment lack conscience and only worship lucre.

While the nascent administration under the leadership of Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri is trying to find its feet and re-energise a state that has been under life support all this while and prepare the people for the forthcoming elections by breathing live into hitherto institutions that has gone dead, these narcissists are busy distracting the government from its avowed goal.  Some of the rumours you hear are so pedantic and churlish that they bear no repetition.   I was shocked to read a post on Facebook by a person I  have tremendous respect for saying he “heard” that the government is considering the removal of his highness, the Lamido Adamawa, Dr. Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Mustafa.  Without considering the incendiary nature of such a rumour he went ahead and posted it on such a volatile platform.

I wondered what the author was aiming to achieve if not to ignite unnecessary tension and mutual distrust between the government and the highly revered traditional ruler.  The reason given by the writer is the Lamido’s call for a one hundred percept resource control at the on-going national conference.  I think the Lamido’s call was in tandem with the wishes of the conveners of the conference and should therefore be lauded and not be used against him, if it be true.  Such issues are not to be trivialised on social media because they touch raw nerves in some quarters.  But if the intention is to generate the aforestated objective of creating a strained relationship between the government and the traditional institution, then it is sad coming from such an experienced and exposed journalist.

The traditional institution is not to be taken lightly in any society and by whomsoever because they are repositories of our cultures and values.  And by convention, in Adamawa State you cannot go higher than the Lamido in the Adamawa Traditional Council.  Taking the name of the governor and the Lamido in vain is therefore the height of mischief.

A lot of rumours are flying around with the specific aim of painting the current government in bad light.  Views from politicians, operatives of the past administration and others who lost out in the present arrangement are hell bent on giving the government a bad name just to hang it.  As indigenes of the state with roots and stakes in how the state fared, we should be mindful of our utterances, particularly those of us who are privileged to have access to the Internet.  We inadvertently shape the mind of our readers – whether we dish out bile or honey.  I do not have any problem with writing anything factual, but we shouldn’t reduce ourselves to the level of those hate mongers who makes the social media their avenue of divisive comments.

As much as one may dislike his Excellency, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, he it is that God has thrust the mantle of leadership of the state on his shoulders.  The load he is carrying right now is enough to make the shoulders of Atlas wilt without many of us adding to those he inherited.  Much as some of us may find it difficult to accept the fact that Fintiri is in charge, it may be easier for us to accept that the old order is no more.  Fabricating dangerous stories in order to draw attention to self is doing great disservice to the already traumatised people of Adamawa. We should as much as possible be circumspect in our utterances.

The Fintiri government is barely a month old, yet we expect them to perform miracles that for seven years couldn’t be performed.  Trying to distract the government because our personal expectations are at stake is wrong and destructive.  May God save us from the tongues of the wicked.