The Rise and Fall of ANPP in Adamawa State By Zayyad
National President, National Union of Jimeta Students The
political terrain of In
an ideal democratic environment, opposition is a fundamental
institution, therefore the need for strong, vibrant and focused
opposition party in the system is indispensable, but the situation in The
All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) Adamawa State, started with humble
beginning, with first conveners; like Senator Mahmud Waziri, Dr. Bala
Takaya, Chief Medan Teneka, Senator Hamman Bello Mohammed, Barrister
Bala Ngilari, Mohammed Koiranga Jada, Alhaji Saleh Michika(former
governor of Adamawa state), Alhaji Abdulrahman Adamu jimeta, Comrade
Pascal Baiyau, Senator Manasa T.B. Daniel and Barrister Ambros Mamadi,
these people are clearly a true reflection of the geo-political balance
in Adamawa State. ANPP
has been bedeviled by problem right from it inception in In
any organization conflicts do exist, but serious organization have
conflict resolution mechanism; conflict resolution mechanisms of any
political party are discipline, loyalty and leadership that look beyond
today. As
a enthusiast of system thinking, I see political parties as naturally
open systems, that accept input and output and build a leadership
hierarchy base on parallel subsystem arrangement; whereby the failure of
one subsystem in the leadership hierarchy will not affect the entire
systems; but the ANPP in Adamawa State is today a closed system with a
leadership hierarchy arrange in series subsystem where the failure of
one sub system affect the entire system, this resulted in the party to
have a stiff narrow entry point into the party and a wide open exist
door out of the party; many individual with large followers leaving the
party like flying insects scattering, which make the leadership of the
party to develop a hocus pocus attitude. In
an ever changing Nigerian politics, where issue oriented and all
inclusive politics is overtaking sentiments, for any political party to
make an impact on the political landscape of
Adamawa, a strong and wide spread membership in the five
political zones of the state is a most. The zones comprise the northern
zone, the central zone, Numan federation. Ganye chiefdom and the Mayo
Belwa axis, a critical look at the ANPP’s presence in these zones
shows a diminishing party followership. In
the northern zone, the party has only two recognizable party bigwig,
Musa Kamale and Paul Wanpana, who are new comers to the party, in the
Numan federation, only medan Teneke is left in the party and one man
cannot make a forest, in the Ganye chiefdom and Mayo Belwa axis, the
party presence can be simply describe as at a zero level. The only
valuable asset left to the party in the central zone, is the national
vice chairman Northeast. Interestingly,
the party made a surprising gain in the central zone during the 2003
general elections, where the party got a member in the House of
Representatives from Yola North, Yola South and Girei and two state
house of assembly members. But the opposite was the case for the just
concluded local government election, as the party swam in a pool of
defeats, in Yola North and Yola South. Three things were responsible for
these, first the party has lost many party strategist in the Jimeta-Yola
axis who play major role in the party hitherto victory, people like
Alhaji Yusuf Danumma, secondly the rival P.D.P. had planned well, for
the election in armed with today’s ‘Giant of Jimeta
politics’Alhaji Danjuma Jalo. Thirdly, five days to the election, ANPP
announce the removal of her Youth wing leader in Yola North, these three
things couple with the change in support from the people of Jimeta and
Yola, and judicial court verdict on the gubernatorial election tussle
between Gov Boni Haruna of the PDP and Adamu Muazu of the ANPP, which
demoralized ANPP members, adversely affected the party’s fortunes. For
any political party to remain relevant in our today’s Nigerian
politics, the party need to be productive, proactive, pragmatic and
responding to change, the greatest fall out of the ANPP in Adamawa
state, is the party had never had a congress either ward, local or state
level, to elect party stewards or candidates, this was the major reason
that wound-up the party with hoity-toity compaing in the 2003
gubernatorial election which led to a one man show, for the party to
make an impact on Adamawa political scene, it has to go to every valley,
push every limit and undergo massive well planned rehabilitation, not a
one day or one year rehabilitation but a long term process. The
latest development in any political party can make one to speculate the
future of the party, certainly the ANPP will come out with a poor
dossier comes 2007 election, as the Adamawa people are gearing toward
making one of their own, vice president Atiku Abubakar the president of
Nigeria. In today’s ANPP Adamawa, right seems to be left ups are going downs, things are in perpetual oscillation, the party is today a mosquito legged elephant any move can lead the party to entropy. Zayyad
National President, National Union of Jimeta Students |