The Adamawa PDP Gubernatorial Malcontents

By

Babayola Toungo

babayolatoungo@yahoo.co.uk

 

 

In 2003, a certain Adamu M. Modibbo jettisoned the organised life of a banker to join partisan politics and sought to be the governor of Adamawa State on the platform of the ANPP.  Before his entry into the party, there were more other interested politicians who had earlier signified their intention to contest for the governorship on the platform of the same ANPP.  Modibbo joined the fray on a blizzard of much publicity and bravado and suddenly became the man to beat.  What with his hitching his political wagon to that of General Buhari.  On the day the party primaries was supposed to hold, Modibbo outsmarted the other contestants by calling a press conference to declare himself the candidate of the party.  Despite protestations by the others, this fallacy was allowed to pass and he flew the party’s flag at the 419 elections of 2003.  But since most people in Adamawa State were fed up with the Boni Haruna administration coupled with General Buhari’s soaring profile, the people voted massively for Modibbo.  In the run-up to the elections and the aftermath, people suffered untold hardships – some even lost their lives while others were maimed or had their businesses crippled by the state government, while civil servants who overtly or covertly identified with him had their careers cut short.

 

At the end of the day, after the court battles were won and lost, Modibbo abandoned his followers and jumped to the PDP ship, abandoning his hapless supporters.  When the time for “anointing” a candidate for the governorship elections came, as the PDP is wont to do, a rather rank ‘outsider’ was nominated by the party to flag its flag in Adamawa.  Modibbo who was dreaming to be so “anointed missed the mark and lost all sense of decorum by spearheading a fruitless campaign to reverse the party’s decision.  What he conveniently forgot was that four years ago he was a beneficiary of the same thing, but because he was the beneficiary, all is well.  When the likes of the distinguished Senator Hamman Bello Mohammed complained, he waved them off with the back of his hand.  Now that the shoe is on the other foot, Modibbo can’t keep quite.  Ironically, Modibbo is now the spokesman of those who lost out to Admiral Nyako.  Those at the vanguard of the protest are Senator Abubakar H. Girie, Alhaji Dahiru Bobbo, Senator Jonathan Zwingina, Chief Joel Madaki, Alhaji Auwal B. Tukur, and General Aliyu Kama.

 

Senator Girei would have been the most ideal candidate the PDP should have fielded but for one, am not comfortable with his vacillating from one party to the other.  I find it difficult to be convinced he really has the interest of the people at heart.  It appears to me he is more interested in being the governor than in serving the people of Adamawa.  I may be mistaken, such are the vibes I get from his fickleness.  After his purported indictment by the Kuta Panel, which was specifically set up to remove the late Okadigbo as Senate President, and after being schemed out of the PDP by Boni and Atiku for the Adamawa gubernatorial ticket in 2003, Senator Girei joined the ANPP.  He later rejoined the PDP knowing fully well the temperament of the party.  I fail to fathom why he is now bellyaching after he was variously informed by the powers that be the reasons for his ostensible disqualification by the PDP.

 

Another one of those complaining about the “imposition” of Nyako is Senator Jonathan Zwingina, a man dogged by corruption right from his days as a Commissioner in Adamawa State.  It was during his watching brief as Commissioner for Water Resources that giant distribution pipes meant for the Jimeta – Yola waterworks were sold to people outside the state, thereby derailing the project completely.  The pipes were donated by the Japanese government to the state to ameliorate the suffering of the people of the state capital.  It took a threat from the late Okadigbo, then Senate President, to suspend Zwingina from the Senate before he appeared before the Wampana Panel set up by the Boni Haruna administration to investigate the circumstances for the unpatriotic act.  Also donated by the Japanese government then were two generating sets meant to boost power at the pumping station.  The generators were later converted by Zwingina to his personal use – while one was installed at his house, the other was installed at his hotel.  His most recent involvement with a bribery case was in 2003, during the confirmation hearing of nominated ministers.  He and his soul mate, Ibrahim Mantu were accused after the confirmation by El-Rufa’i of demanding N54million before the latter could be cleared.  Despite their feeble denials, Nigerians know better.  Such is the nature of the man now crying about corruption in the PDP.

 

Chief Joel Madaki, the former state Chairman of the party between 1999 – 2006, is also a major beneficiary of the PDP’s way of doing things.  He it was that supervised the party’s re-registration exercise when Atiku and most of his supporters were “de-registered”.  Madaki maintained his seat as the party Chair in Adamawa, a position he relinquished to contest for the office of the governor of the state.  A veteran politician by whatever yardstick, Madaki failed to notice that the bus they helped push to kick-start was reversing full speed to crush him and his associates in the ‘new’ PDP.  While ensuring that Atiku and co. were shoved aside, he failed o cover his flanks thereby becoming a victim of his own ambitions.

 

My sympathy goes to Alhaji Auwal Tukur, the young man that could ideally have made a difference were he to secure the PDP’s ticket for Adamawa State.  He has a lot going for him – intellect, age, dynamism and to some extent idealism.  I would have much preferred to have him as the governor than all the rest of the jokers put together.  By choosing to be a loyal party man, my advice to him is to remain resolute and focused on his desired objective of serving the people.  He shouldn’t allow himself to be used by those who have nothing to offer and may ultimately fade away into political oblivion if they couldn’t get any public office.  He has a very good vision for the state and I hope he will have the chance to implement the vision some day.

 

Going by the PDP’s antecedents, there is nothing new or untoward from what the party did in Adamawa State.  For most who felt they couldn’t fit into the scheme of the new PDP, they have opted out to join other parties.  If Adamu Modibbo and the rest want to be fair to themselves, they shouldn’t complain over what befell them.  Ahmadu Ali the National Chairman of the party, long ago defined the new party’s way of doing things as ‘garrison politics’, therefore whoever won’t kow-tow should find his way out.  Adamu Modibbo abandoned his teeming supporters in the ANPP and pitched his political tent with the PDP, not caring what happened to them.  The numerous others, who lost their limbs or lives in trying to make him a governor, should rot in hell as far as he was concerned.   If he were to remain in the ANPP, he would have easily picked the party’s ticket without much rancour and would have given the PDP a run for its money.  Same goes for Senator Girei.

 

As much as they want the people to sympathise with them, they simply don’t have a case as far I am concerned.  They have all been beneficiaries of the rottenness of the system to the detriment of the same people they claim to want to represent.  Hopefully the current rancour would serve as a big lesson to such opportunists who seem to be in politics only for the attraction of what they see as “lucrative office”, not as an honourable path to serve the people.  We are eagerly waiting to hear from them the real reason for their disqualification not this incoherent staccato dished out to the press.