Memo to Murtala Nyako

Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo

At this point, to rejoice with you as you prepare to take over the affairs of Adamawa State is not a wise decision at all. It is like wishing you a safe landing, as you prepare, without a parachute, to jump off a Folker28 airplane, flying at an altitude of 28,000 ft. No human, with blood in his veins can survive that fall, not even a retired naval chief with years of marine reconnaissance, like you.

But I congratulate you, nonetheless. By this time in 2003 I would have been the first to argue that you are too tired and are not what Adamawa State needs. I would have been the first to advocate for a young, thoroughbred civilian and fully demilitarized governor for the state I hold so dear, but times have changed. So much water, as they say, has passed under the bridge. So much damage has been done to Adamawa State by people who feed on the state’s treasury like locusts. A large number of them under the leadership of Atiku and Bonie Haruna have neither shame, nor honor, neither empathy nor compassion, neither devotion nor dedication and neither patriotism nor nationalism. Their only seal is their loyalty to Atiku, or to one another, or to their club of undignified marauders who steal public money with a perforated sense of validation. Their hallmark is their lack of respect for constituted authority, lack of respect for societal mores, lack of vision and an inexplicable pursuit for notoriety. They seek medals in moral bankruptcy as evangelists seek Christ. They wallow in disgrace the same way their leader Atiku, relishes his fall from grace to grass.

In the last eight years, their natural descent to political failure has been well documented. Their strict adherence to the doctrines set by a non-conformist and self-deluded leader are also well orchestrated and publicized. Atiku’s Alta-ego, Bonie Haruna, blowing their master’s horn, once had cause to shamelessly beat his chest in admission that he is Atiku’s boy and even added that he had no regrets about it. So when the Adamawa State subvention was delivered he saw nothing wrong in keeping its beef for his master and the carcass for the state. Their eight years in office heralded not only shame, but unprecedented poverty to Adamawa people. It increased despair and weakened the foundations of social justice on which Adamawa State was created and on which the people thrived.

Under Atiku and Boni Haruna, Adamawa State lost its quality but gained a large quantity of negative attention, including being described as one of the hot spots of the 2007 election. This was not only alien to the nature of Adamawa but novel to its tenets. Its political advantage, gained with sweat and blood, went to waste. Its moral backbone to fight for its shot at the presidency of the country went down the drains. In the eight years that Bonie Haruna held office the masses were victimized and short-changed. Those who showed any descent were either isolated or whipped by state power, in spite of Bonie’s claims to the contrary.

The fact of the matter is that the economic hardships that our people have had to endure increased manifold under Bonie and Atiku, their bogus declaration of success notwithstanding. The standard of living of the people depreciated. Unemployment among the youth rose to alarming proportions. Basic social amenities lost presence. Common potable drinking water in the state capital is the color of Bafarawa’s turban. Educational and health facilities became regrettably deficient and the socio-economic gap between the haves and the have-nots widened like the sleeves of a caftan.

Admiral Murtala Nyako sir, I know that you were a governor in Niger State once, which may cause you to think that you are returning to familiar turf. But I tell you, these circumstances are different. You will soon discover that what is awaiting you is a cesspit of man-made murk. This hole, that Bonie and Atiku put the people in, is darker than night itself.

The point is that you are inheriting a government that spent eight years promoting the domestic welfare and political agenda of one man to the detriment of all. As a victim of these offbeat conquistadors yourself, you know what am talking about. They took the entire financial plan for roads and bought rugs for their homes. They took the sum allocated for potable drinking water for the state and purchased spring-water for their families. They took the huge monies meant for rural electrification and bought generating plants for their guest houses. They took the educational budget and established a university for a concubine, only to be populated by children of the shamelessly loaded. They took the resources made for public transportation and bought cars for transvestites. They took the monies for agriculture and put flowers on their porches.

You know it admiral sir, that if you were not a retired naval officer your farm in Mayo-Belwa would have been history. You fought to elevate the airport in Yola to an international one, in order to boost output and generate economic activity for the people and but they decided that an airstrip was just enough.

You must change the policy direction, planning and economics of Adamawa State to make it people oriented, not bourgeoisie inclined. Currently the accounts of the state are frozen, as you are aware, by the EFCC because an honorable son of the state, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu who knows their game-plan to wreck a final havoc has decided to preempt them and not allow them their obnoxious pleasure of a last bazaar. His stitch this time saves nine. It is a decisive move from someone who knows that one’s mother is one’s mother even if one of her legs is too short.

Nuhu’s action is only a patriotic gesture to give you some crumbs to start on. I hear they are challenging him in court. But by the time the accounts de-freeze they would have been themselves, out and frozen. It tells you how sincerely people want these locusts out of the way. The people still want to be part of a government that would make Adamawa a viable entity. What the State needs at this point in time is compassionate leadership. It needs an experienced chief executive. It needs a listening governor who would work with the state assembly, look the legislators in the eye and say “we are doing it for the people of Adamawa State” and not “we are doing it because my “godfather”, who would not hesitate to slap a judge, says so”. I would not bother you so much sir because the task ahead of you is enormous. I know that you need all the time in the world to plan your transition into this darkness. However, I will hasten to say my congratulations once again because I know that the state would do well to have a man standing in Dou Girei, not a man on his knees. Adamawa State needs a man, not a mannequin.

razaque