I Won’t Succumb to Blackmail, Intimidation, Senator Adamu Vows

Oghenevede Ohwovoriole in Abuja

Former Governor of Nasarawa State and Senator representing Nasarawa West senatorial district, Abdullahi Adamu, has said that he welcomes the setting up of a nine-man committee by Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura to investigate certain activities carried out during his stewardship as Chief Executive of the state, saying he will not succumb to “blackmail” and “intimidation.”

Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura had on Wednesday set up a panel headed by the State Commissioner of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Ayuba Dogara Ayenajeh, to investigate the handling of the Farin Ruwa Independent Hydro-Power Project, the Zimbabwean Farmers Project, as well as concession arrangements for some state properties during Adamu’s tenure as governor of the state.

However, reacting to the setting up of the probe panel in a statement signed by his Legislative Aide, Alhaji Jibrin Abdullahi, the former Nasarawa State governor stated that everything he did while in office as governor was done openly and transparently, adding that the records are there for public scrutiny.

For instance, he added that the Farin Ruwa Project was never abandoned as insinuated but that since government is a continuum, he expected his successors to complete the project after his two terms in Office.

“It’s in view of the viability of that project that the Federal Ministry of Water Resources has now taken over, not only with the intention of completing the proposed 20MW power component, but is also considering the possibility of incorporating other components like irrigation and water supply”, he said.

He explained further that the Farin Ruwa dam project had reached over 60 per cent completion stage by 2007 when he left Office as chief executive of the state, stressing that this was duly acknowledged by Governor Al-Makura, when the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources visited him in Lafia barely two months ago to announce the Federal Government’s decision to take over the project.

He added, “It is therefore pure mischief and an attempted blackmail for him (Governor Al-Makura) to turn round and say he is investigating the handling of that project under my watch.”

On the lease agreement for management of Keffi Hotels, Senator Adamu said a private company with which he is associated, Pan-Afric Resources Limited, entered into a lease agreement with the then Plateau State Military Administration of Col. Joshua Madaki (now late) in 1990-91, which was about five years before Nasarawa State was created.

“I believe the great value addition that we’ve done to the hotel made successive governments in our state, including Umaru’s which is due to leave Office in a few months, to allow us to continue as concessionaires in the hotel’’, he further explained.

“I think the fact that Pan-Afric Resources has complied with the terms of the lease agreement and has turned the abandoned property to what it now, appears to have become a source of jealousy for Governor Al-Makura, who has now turned into a hotelier since becoming governor.”

The senator reiterated his decision to welcome the setting up of the probe panel, which he described as “a political misadventure” and “an exercise in futility that was clearly misguided