Barnabas Manyam in Yola traces the roots of the current political crisis in Adamawa State and reports that the embattled governor may join a vibrant opposition party ahead of 2015 if his reconciliation efforts fail
The internal feud rocking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State may not abate for now until a meaningful dialogue with the emergent forces of the two combatant factions is held. Investigation shows that if this is not done, PDP’s continuous control of the state in 2015 will not be certain, as Governor Murtala Nyako’s political strategists are already making alternative plans to join a vibrant opposition party ahead of 2015.
The state governor, Murtala Nyako, since his inauguration in 2007, has employed various tactics to contain rampaging forces from outside, and even within his cabinet and his party, the PDP.
Although skirmishes are normal features in any democratic practice, the Adamawa case study has, however, lingered to a worrisome dimension in the past, due largely to the hate campaign that characterised the last governorship election in the state.
Interestingly, Nyako happens to be the only governor in recent history to have contested for the same office three times and winning same without incumbency advantage, having been a victim of judicial pronouncements on his seat many times over. This, according to sources, was the genesis of the political feud, because the judicial fireworks were handiworks of anti-Nyako elements in the PDP.
Fascinatingly, a deliberate political scenario was created by top echelons, which has pitched one ethnic group against the other, all for political gains. The self-serving intrigues remotely guiding the hate campaign against Nyako and his government are, however, glaring for those who see with prescient and lucid views.
To a large extent, there appears to be some kind of advantage that accrues to those bent on perpetrating the dissensions, not taking into cognisance the collateral damage the entire state is facing or its citizenry stands to incur as a result of their actions. It is hoped that peace will subsist in Adamawa State, at least before the next round of elections. But, right now, the PDP remains a house in disarray, judging by many internal battles and high profile sabotage being masterminded by some of its chieftains. To say the least, the PDP under Nyako has had to contend more with fifth columnists from within its fold than defending itself from opposition parties in the state.
Looking back, soon after election in 2007 and later after the elections in 2008 due to a tribunal ruling, Nyako had to draw more from his military experience to survive and to remain the landlord of the Dougirei Government House.
As the state continues to grapple with the intense fighting within the party, the reasons for the deep-seated in-fighting remains a mirage, at least, to the common people of the state. To the masses, the feud could be on account of anything but service delivery. This is because Nyako’s new government is held in high esteem by the masses on the premise of infrastructural development; water supply, health care delivery and education development, which led the Nyako government to win prestigious prizes as the overall best performing state in Nigeria in the educational sector.
Despite that, some PDP top echelon, said to be Abuja-based, insisted that the government is a misnomer. They accused Nyako of selective empowerment and of running an exclusive government, with social services and development programmes not equitably distributed. Thus, to these critics, his administration was designated as government of “family and friends.”
However, Nyako’s admirers and the teeming populace have always queried the allegation that any social service or development programme was not equitably distributed. “Are there some people who were denied the use of roads constructed by this government, or are there those who were denied access to hospitals, schools or pipe-borne water that runs through homes across the state,” an associate of the governor asked?
He further cited Nyako’ s many feats to include what he described as “the first of its kind,” in area of skills acquisition programme in Nigeria, where young people drawn from the 21 local government areas of the state are imparted with technical skills in strict compliance with German technical standard to boost technology transfer and special skills resource of the state.
Fate of the opposition
While the in-house battle rages within the PDP, the opposition could best be described as docile, as they are rarely heard coming hard on any government policy, which prompted a conclusion by supporters of “Baba Mai Mangoro”, as vice Admiral Nyako is fondly called, that the ship of state is in the capable hands of a competent navigator who happens to be an experienced seaman.
The passivity of the opposition, argues Nyako supporters, speaks volume of their endorsement of this government. This view has to a reasonable extent been corroborated by political commentators in the state who hold that in a few cases where a row ensued between the government and any of the opposition parties in the state, one or some PDP characters were fingered as masterminds.
In the past, a socio-cultural group, Adamawa United Forum (AUF), came hard on the way and manner Nyako was running the state. AUF accused the retired seaman of nepotism, accusing the governor of hoisting himself up as the alpha and omega in the state.
Nyako’s sins
The question many observers are asking today is, what are Nyako’s sins that most of those who fought for his victory have turned around to cripple his government?
This question is what the cabal that was formed as soon as Tukur became the national chairman of the PDP could not find answers to, but now appears the public may need to wear its thinking cap to get to the root of the matter as what we gathered may not be palatable to all.
Alhaji Umaru Mijinyawa Kugama, state chairman of the PDP, once described the internal wrangling within the party as a fight over bounties of a political victory.”Believe me, Governor Nyako is just grappling with an age-long tradition of sharing state resources among the upper echelon after a political victory like this. What he met on ground was a ‘come, let us chop’ kind of a situation, but he said ‘no, it must not continue.’ That is all I can tell you,” Kugama stated.
While this argument seems to douse curiosity, Dr Umar Ardo, governorship aspirant with a vibrant opposition voice, on the other hand, has grabbed the judiciary by the jugular to chase the Kugama-led Exco of the PDP out. Ardo argued that the Kugama-led Executive Committee was constituted in breach of the party’s constitution.
However, political commentators say Kugama, having been duly elected to serve for a period, should be allowed to complete his tenure. This argument is premised on the fact that Kugama should not suffer for a wrong he has no hands in, seeing he was elected state chairman of the party by delegates of the party.
While the battle rages on, the Tukur-led National Working Committee (NWC) suspended Kugama and a caretaker chairman in the person of Damagun, who was appointed soon after a controversial state congress was conducted, leaving out the Nyako-led PDP in the cold. It was that congress that produced Chief Joel Hammanjoda Madaki.
Soon after Madaki’s emergence, the litmus test of who becomes the member representing Jereng constituency in the State Assembly was hovering on the blink menacingly. Two congresses were conducted by Madaki and Kugama, but later the INEC, which had supervised the two congresses, rejected that of Kugama and accepted that of Madaki.
The election was allegedly conducted in the sitting governor’s home local government area of Mayo Belwa and PDP won, but the victory left a bitter test in the mouth of the two PDP factions.
Today, the relationship between these two factions has become so irreconcilable that it is certain the state and the citizenry would be the worse for it.
The stakeholders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State, especially those loyal to Governor Murtala Nyako, have finally resolved to dump the party in Adamawa State.
This fresh development, we exclusively uncovered, will be implemented if all the current efforts by Nyako at reconciliation fail.
