ADAMAWA: NOW THAT THE ELECTION IS OVER …..?

Election comes and election goes. This has been the age-long tradition of all nations that have chosen to adopt Liberal Democracy as their mode of governance. However, what election usually leaves behind are a set of Winners and Losers. Not withstanding, since the tenets and principle of this same democracy we so cherished and value proclaims for a Loser to embrace and congratulate the Winner, I therefore admonish the other political parties and their candidates particularly the Action Congress (AC), being the main force of the opposition, its candidate, Alh. Ibrahim Bapetel and all its supporters to rally round the God’s chosen candidate: Murtala Hammayero Nyako and forget – if only for the time being – grievance and envy which opposition and competition breeds and partake in the celebration by congratulating the Peoples Democratic Party and its Governor for the sake of harmony and statesmanship on the one hand and moving our backward and long-neglected state forward on the other hand.

Adamawa state is a heterogeneous state that has in its composition individuals with different religious affiliation: Muslims, Christians, traditionalists, etc of whom we have all been co-existing peacefully and harmoniously since time unmemorable. Even better, we all have the firm and unreserved believe that leadership is a divine bestowment from God himself. Consequently, in accordance with the yearnings and prayers of the collective populace, God Almighty, in His omnipotence of knowledge and wisdom to choose what is best for the people have divinely chosen Murtala Nyako therefore it will amount to blasphemy to question God’s decision regarding His servants and their destinies after all, the whole of Adamawa has, in the Mosque and the Churches, surrendered and submits their will by praying and praying for God’s divine intervention in the choice of their leader.

Divinity in the issue of leadership ought to have been fully understood and accepted by everybody whether you are a contestant, supporter or a sponsor of a candidate. God alone gives leadership to whom He chooses.

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It is quite wrong and sinful in the sight of God, who reserved the power to Himself to choose from among millions who should lead, for a mere mortal to thumb his chest with vanity and pride and proclaim that even if the heavens and the earth will be merged together, a certain candidate must be made a governor. We have seen cases in some few states in Nigeria where those who parade themselves as the political god-fathers of those states with self-acclaimed rights to install who shall lead where and when ended up in disgrace and disrepute to their selves.

For how many times in the political history of this country have people massively voted for a popular candidate whom they are sure will be declared a winner only for the less popular candidate to be declared a winner instead?

Has it been all that long for us to so soon forget 2003 election where General Muhammadu Buhari in the globally-acclaimed the most freest and fairest election ever in the history of Nigeria, was voted by a clear cut majority yet curiously Obasanjo whom the majority of Nigerians, given the chance, will have taken a great pleasure to partake in lynching and pursuing him and his luggage out of Aso Rock with koboko whips, daggers and machetes was declared a winner instead? Or was it not in the same Nigeria that a murder suspect held in Police custody was freed and subsequently declared a winner in a Senatorial election he was fortunate not to have participated?

All these occurrences points to the power of divinity in the choice of a leader. We, as human individuals, may prefer and fights for a particular candidate for various reasons; be it our relation, our friend, our benefactor or simply based on patriotism. But are we ever supportive of a candidate based purely on the feeling of strong patriotism to our nation or state?

Political god-fatherism has always been the bane of our political development in Nigeria because the god-son always owes his service and loyalty not to the poor community and the poorer masses who scorched their skins under the fiercest sun voting for him but to the god-father who is persistently breathing down his neck to make sure his investment in him is yielding the maximum benefit. This is achieved by the number of Aides, Special Assistants, Advisers and Commissioners the god-father nominates to the Stooge-Governor who perform among their duties, spying and reporting the Stooge-Governor’s actions and decisions to the Grand Master for approval. These political god-fathers see politics as a business venture in which they invest by sponsoring a weak-minded and spineless stooge whom they will be dictating to and ordering about. Their residential sitting rooms is always the first chamber where critical issues concerning the state is analyzed and executed before being passed to the legislative Assembly for signing and masses’ consumption.

In Adamawa, we have for eight years lived in such conditions with little to prove that we have had a government that was there for all of us. conversely, we have also seen a few selected individuals who because they lacked the moral restrain and disciplined humility to live within their means, have romanced with the partiality-inclined government by means of sycophancy and baseless adulation whereupon they enjoyed creature comforts of luxuriating mansions and sleek cars through ways that would have repel the devil himself. Not only that, this little clique of the last government’s beneficiaries looked upon the rest of the citizens as a second class citizen within their own states which naturally generates an over-consuming frustration that is long awaiting for an out-let to explode and spill.

Explode and spill it did during the last re-run Adamawa gubernatorial election of 26 th April, 2008 as have been seen by all those fortunate to be around.

Never had in the history of Adamawa politics have people across all religions, labour Unions and market operators been more united in expressing their shared opinions as have been vividly witnessed in the last poll. In the midst of the raging torrents of incessant campaign of calumny, slander and character defamation being heaped on Murtala Nyako by the Action Congress (AC), the whole people of Adamawa irrespective of social class or ethnic background have massively voted for Murtala Nyako. This is in complete retrogression to the expectation of the Action Congress (AC) who had went about inciting the other tribes against the Fulanis and hoping to create a state of insurrection by circulating a baseless misinformation in their publications that the Fulanis (Muslims) are dominating the other tribes (Christians).

However, as the votes being cast had clearly indicates, no one can tell which religion, tribe or section of the society voted Nyako the most. It had been a situation where you see a Muslim family along side Christian family professing their vote is for Nyako. All those section of the society regarded as the dregs of society by the opposition; those wheel-barrow pushers, ‘Yan Achaba (Commercial Motor-cycle Riders) and most important of all, market men and women who the opposition termed as “Tururuwa” (Termites) and who, according to them, are non-indigenes that have no right to own a shed in any Adamawa market and therefore will be dealt with mercilessly upon their occupation of government house, have shown an unprecedented level of solidarity by coming out en masse to vote Murtala Nyako. Not only that, but they did stay to ensure that the ballots that carried their enfranchisement reaches the proper authority safely. “A kasa; A tsare; A raka.”

Now, the question is: Who are the Action Congress (AC) with now that the election is over? Is it their Fulani brethrens whom they have forsaken in anticipation of a hopeless election victory? Their Fulani brethrens they accused of scheming to marginalize the other tribes through discrimination, ethnic cleansing and misrepresentation? Or is it the other tribes (Christians) whom they tried to lure into ethno-religious crisis with the Fulani (Muslims)? Or is it the Christians they had not been happy for because Governor Murtala Nyako did not deny Rev. Reinhard Bonnke access to come to Adamawa?

I will like to seize this opportunity to dwell a little on the subject of discrimination and ethnic cleansing, a subject the Action Congress (AC) had based about 90 percent of their hypocritical believe that will deter and ensure the votes of the other tribes to their advantage.

Looking back into history, discrimination and ethnic cleansing first emerged during the time of Pharoe of old Egypt when he had discriminated against the Jews by imprisoning and turning them into slaves.

In our modern world, we have witnessed cases of discrimination and ethnic cleansing in Hitlerian Nazi Germany; the Nazi against the Jews and Communists, Bosnia; the Slavs against the Serbs, Rwanda; the Hutu against the Tutsi etc, etc.

Now I leave this question for the unbiased reader to answer: What does a peace-loving and respectable man or political party hope to achieve to justify the use of volatile and highly inflammable subject as “Discrimination and Ethnic Cleansing” or “Nyako’s move against the Christians” -both as titles in their evil and hypocritical publication: The Broom and The Action News- as a principal campaign issue in a state as heterogeneous as Adamawa?

According to popular saying of Julius Caesar, “the evil that men do lives after them”. In the case of the Action Congress (AC), the evil lives with them. They had left no stone unturned in their evil, hypocritical and futile effort to mar and tarnish the gigantic personal image Murtala Nyako has laboriously built around himself through judicious and people-oriented administration. An Administration that has to its credit in barely eight months, portable drinking water to the people, construction of road networks in both the state capital and other local governments, quality-improved education, free hospital services to pregnant women, free medical attendance to a child from 0 – 5 years old, purchasing and rehabilitation of agricultural machines (Tractors), speedy and rapid completion of abandoned and neglected projects, poverty eradication through monthly allowance of N10,000.00 at the least to thousands of poverty-stricken, unemployed youths etc, etc.

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The issue of the Poverty alleviation has generated a heated debate and controversy fuelled by the opposition in a claim that it is a corporate and institutional waste of government’s resources where only individuals favoured by those in government benefits from the scheme.

Presumably it is so, and going by the assumption of government as machinery through which welfare is accorded to people to realise their dreams and aspirations, then it is quite expected of this government to do all it can to bring to the barest minimum the level of poverty prevalent in the society whether or not the process is selective. After all, we have seen a government in the very last one before Nyako’s where state-owned houses were given to friends and favourites of that government without a thought of building any to replace those lost. We have also seen few “selected” people being awarded contracts worth Millions of Naira which would have alleviates the poverty of many. Some of this people are not even indigenes of Adamawa but simply because they are favourites of the government and it’s Master-controller from Abuja.

Now, to Murtala Nyako, as I am sure the recent event has clearly shown, people have not voted for Murtala Nyako simply because he is a Muslim or a Fulani man but simply because of these two factors: (1) The level of disenchantment people have for the Atiku-led cabal of government’s parasites who only feed and suck the treasury dry is what gave rise to the massive turn out of that day; and (2) the concrete development and the genuine desire to transform our state which had been unfortunately rated as the 36th out of 36 in the not-too-long ago Media tour ratings across the country. Combinations of these factors are instrumental to the deadly blow dealt the Action Congress by the electorates on that fateful day.

I therefore appeal and solicit for a transparent mode of governance from Nyako, a government that will be there for all irrespective of tribal or religious belonging. A government that will maintain the tempo and momentum upon which it started if, for anything, just to disappoint the opposition who are disseminating malicious rumour that the developmental projects done by Nyako was only a bait to deceive the voters into voting him again for the re-run election. Another reason why Nyako must not relent in bringing about the dividends of democracy to Adamawa is the consideration of the composition of people that voted for him. Despite massive and endless propaganda, both Muslims and Christians united and gave their total support to Nyako therefore it will be a complete bridge of trust bestow on him for any section of the society to be given more supremacy over the other. Both Muslims and Christians made their thanks-giving in their accustomed ways upon the declaration of Nyako’s return because they know for sure a yet another administration of honest and transparent leadership, a people-oriented government is in the offing.

By Dahiru Abubakar

.....Dahiru Abubakar writes from Jimeta, Yola-North, Adamawa state

E-mail: tahirabu2004@yahoo.com

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