EMERGING INTRIGUES OF ADAMAWA POLITICS

The ward and local government congresses of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the replacements at the wards and the preparation for the LGA congresses by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have brought to fore the emerging intrigues in Adamawa politics – the attempt to outwit each other in the control of the two-party structures among the party stakeholders is very clear.

The APC congresses, in most cases, were conducted based on Abuja’s directives of consensus and that the incumbents offer the Right of First Refusal including accommodating newcomers. While for the PDP – if you have held the office for up to eight years, death or resignation, your office is automatically vacant.

An interesting scenario in the APC is in Mubi North and Mubi South LGAs. The place has a former immediate governor – Bindow Umaru Jibrilla and a sitting Senator Ishaku Cliff Abbo. The two appeared to have been schemed out by Abubakar Jafaru, member representing Mubi North, Mubi South and Maiha Federal Constituency. For instance, while the Bindow and Cliff groups were at Yazaram Cinema waiting for the election to be conducted, the real election took place at Yelwa Primary School with Jafar having the upper hand. What also weakened Bindow’s active participation was the issue of the leaked audio against President Muhammadu Buhari.

Another place of interest is Yola North, Yola South, Girei and Song LGAs. Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani, Adamawa Central, wanted to replace most of the Exco at those LGAs, but all her candidates lost woefully. Many people were surprised by Binani’s politics-The Excos Binani wanted to replace were in fact those that assisted her to get the senatorial ticket by narrowly defeating Aliyu Wakili Boya, Sarki Matasa.

In the APC congresses so far, three governorship hopefuls – Muhammadu Umaru Jibrill Bindow, Senator Cliff Ishaku Abbo and Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani were casualties, while three other governorship hopefuls Modi Halilu, Nuhu Ribadu and Abdul Razak Namadaz appeared to have done their smart moves silently. Namdas doesn’t have any issues at his constituency. On the other hand, Boss Mustapha was not that enthusiastic – he only showed interest in one or two places in Yola North and Hong LGA. Former Governor Murtala Nyako played the role of a stabilizer and elder. The person that called the shots the most was Comrade Mustapha Salihu APC NorthEast Vice Chairman; he doggedly implemented the APC caretaker committee’s instruction of consensus, giving the incumbent the right of first refusal and accommodating newcomers. The big game will be at the state congress, and the state chairmanship position in particular- the big picture will be clearer. The grievances, crises and contentment from each of the stakeholders and the group, will be more open.

For the PDP, being the party in power in the state and having some big interest within it, its replacements at the ward level and preparations for other congresses were unique. Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri made some political attempts- Most of the loyalists of Chief Joe Madaki and former Governor Boni Haruna were blocked.

An interesting place is the Numan Federation, where the Deputy Governor comes from. Crowther Seth was made ineffectual at his base; the person that is pulling the string is the member representing Numan, Demsa and Lamurde constituency, Kwamoti Laori. He is Fintiri’s right-hand man. It is still a surprise to many that Crowther Seth was made ineffective at Numan Federation, but some pundits said it shouldn’t be surprised- Seth as Deputy Governor still operates from his personal house of which the road to the house is not even tarred. Many people see Numan Federation as the big loser in the Fintiri government, despite being the joker for the PDP in the 2019 governorship election.

To be fair to Governor Fintiri, a sitting governor often dictates the direction of his party, and Fintiri’s politics now goes beyond Adamawa, it has national elements in it. So he must have ‘the home’ in his control. Fintiri has and still having some big PDP national assignments. This is also knit with his political ambition and the Wike connection. It was reported that Governor Wike flew to Yola twice or thrice in a certain week just to confer with Fintiri and left within some hours. Any political tête-à-tête that cannot be done via a cell phone, is a big one.

There is a report that Fintiri will definitely try as much as he can to replace A.T. Shehu as the state chairman of the PDP. That’s why some politicians are of the view that Fintiri refuses to empower Shehu economically.

Fintiri means business, you can’t blame him. Recently, when the move to fill in the vacant position at the PDP Board of Trustee which was created by the death of former Governor Wilberforce Juta, Fintiri presented the name of Hamza Madagali, Adamawa PDP Organizing Secretary, but former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and PDP former National Chairman Uche Secondus intervened, and presented the name of Boni Haruna, being a former Governor as Wilberforce Juta.

As the intrigues in both the Adamawa PDP and the APC further unfold, we will analyze it from the angle of the moment.

Zayyad I. Muhammad, Abuja