As the gale of declaration by the prospective candidates to contest or re-contest election at various levels ahead of the 2023 general elections continues, it is imperative that the electorate focus on the credibility, pedigree and antecedents of those who indicate interest to seek their mandates.
Thus, the decision we make in just a day at the poll in 2023 will surely make or mar our future, depending on the side we choose to belong – either the way of credibility and development or implausibility. So, the need for the electorate to put on their thinking caps so as not to end up making a wrong decision cannot be overemphasized, especially as desperate politicians seek to hoodwink the people with sweet promises.
Of those who have already declared, we have seen some of them brandishing physical fitness as their political selling point by just running in an open space with much media hype.
This is very strange to our democracy; I don’t know when one’s ability on the race track has become a criteria or pre-requisite and credential of leadership acumen. In sharp contrast to the recent ploys of some APC gladiators, the 32nd American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR, could not run on his legs as he was physically disabled; yet he was mentally sound, administratively upright and so demonstrated the qualities of a great leader. Indeed, he was the only president of the United States to be elected into a position of leadership four times. FDR led the US through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the great depression and Second World War and expanded the powers of the state through series of programmes and reforms known as the New Deal.
Like the FDR, the selling point of any political office seeker, should be his mental and leadership capacity not the other way round.
It is in this context that the Adamawa State governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri is defining the art of political practice and governance. The politics of the 2023 is genuinely taking shape to sustain the pace and path of transformation put in place through purposeful leadership in the past three years of his administration.
In fact, while others are trying to use all sorts of lies and stratagem to outwit the electorate for their selfish gains, for Governor Fintiri, his reputation and enviable record of achievements speak volumes for him; his people who have genuinely seen and witnessed his good hands in politics from his sojourn as member of the state House of Assembly, speaker and later governor, are now mounting on him pressure to seek re-election. Luckily for the state and its entire population, he has decided to throw his hat into the ring again in 2023.
Endeared by his performance, recently, a group of friends of governor bought the expression of interest and nomination forms for the governor to contest for a second term on the PDP platform. After obtaining the form in Abuja, the group, called Special Committee for Fintiri 2023, in the company of numerous political organizations, presented the forms to the governor in Yola, on Friday, April 8. The group said it decided to buy the form for Fintiri due to the ‘extraordinary’ achievements recorded by the governor in various sectors of the state’s development.
The highly attended event followed the massive endorsement and subscription to the PDP-led administration in the state where the people in all the 21 local government areas and 226 wards of the state have trooped out en masse to vote for the party’s candidates in the just concluded local government elections.
In his determination to test the strength of the party, Fintiri went round all the nooks and crannies of the state to campaign for the PDP and as envisaged, the feeble opposition in the state got overwhelming defeat. Of course, PDP won all the contested seats but through a well contested polls unlike the new normal in some states where the process is usually manipulated in favour of the government in power.
It is not in doubt that the state under the last three years has witnessed an unprecedented approach to governance, a total departure from the era of deceit and indifference to the plights of the people by those who called themselves leaders but occupied the seat of power to enrich selves.
Governor Fintiri, from his speech during the inauguration of the newly elected local government officials where he subsequently heeded to yearnings and aspirations of the majority to submit himself to the service of the state for the second time, he left no one in doubt about his determination to pilot the state to greater heights.
Said he among others: “Because we have done so much and there is more to be done to better the lot of our people and our dear state; because we have built a trusting relationship with the electorate, majority of whom are the masses where our support (both in votes and prayers) is derived; because our party needs to continue on the path of victory; after a very wide consultation within our great party and outside it; within the state and outside it; with my family, friends, associates and leaders, I wish to formally inform you that I have accepted to offer myself yet again, to seek for the endorsement of our Great Party, the PDP, to carry its flag in the 2023 governorship race of Adamawa State. I believe you can trust me again as you have done before. There is indeed nothing about me that either you or the entire citizens of Adamawa State do not know. And there is nothing on the shelf of your developmental needs that I do not know. I have started the crusade for reinventing a new Adamawa where no one is left behind and nothing is left untouched. We have done so much in physical infrastructure and moving forward, stomach infrastructure will take precedence.”
To those who know how he transformed the state including his commitment to welfare of the civil servants, free education and free feeding in the schools, building of roads and hospitals and other critical sectors of development, with the declaration of his intention to run, the journey towards the state’s development has begun.
- Kera writes from Kaduna.