Adamawa State politicians are shameless, particularly their lawmakers. Last week, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja ordered the dethronement of Acting Governor Umaru Fintiri. He had taken office after he masterminded, as Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly, the impeachment of the governor, Murtala Nyako. It was all but clear Hon Fintiri plotted the impeachment for the sole purpose of becoming governor. He of course served as the public face and arrowhead of the many plots concocted by top Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) politicians of Adamawa origin and the Goodluck Jonathan presidency exasperated by Admiral Nyako’s strident denunciation of the president. Hon Fintiri did not pretend to any altruism, and perhaps could not. There is nothing in him to show that on any state matter, or political issue, he can be high-minded.
But as Hon Fintiri was betraying his oath as a lawmaker and displaying his greed as a power broker, the then deputy governor to Admiral Nyako, Bala Ngilari, was reinforcing his appalling lack of principles. He did not support his boss during the impeachment process, for he preferred to stay aloof. He could theoretically reserve his support and still maintain his principles, if he had any. But everything he did showed he had no scintilla of principles. Hoping to profit from the misery of his former boss, he had joined the plot by acceding to the request of the legislature to turn in his resignation. It was clear to the plotters that they would make heavy weather of impeaching both Admiral Nyako and Mr Ngilari, so they asked the latter to resign in order to facilitate his enthronement once the admiral was got rid of. He quietly and unethically agreed, and gave his resignation, which he freely wrote, to the Speaker. There was nothing in that undignified step to show he meant his resignation as a red herring or as a contrivance to ambush the plotters, as he tried to make out in court during his battle to reclaim office.
As soon as Admiral Nyako was unhorsed, however, Hon Fintiri greedily claimed the governor’s office, clawed his opponents, including Mr Ngilari, and elbowed the PDP hierarchs who realised too late they had been upstaged in a state now seething with betrayal and plots. Recognising late in the day that he also had been betrayed, Mr Ngilari headed to court. There were enough grounds in his petition to undo Hon Fintiri, a conclusion even the most pro-establishment judge in the land would be hard put to ignore. Last week, the chickens came home to roost for Hon Fintiri, who is now struggling to reclaim his former position in the legislature. It is not certain he would succeed. But even if he does, it would not detract from his desensitised heart, nor from his execrable politics.
Mr Ngilari is doing his best to convince the PDP top hats in Abuja, perhaps especially Dr Jonathan, that he would be their Man Friday during the 2015 presidential poll. He means it, for after all, he did not accompany his former boss into the All Progressives Congress (APC), hoping perhaps to profit from the doom Adimral Nyako was certain to come to on account of his unrelenting opposition to the president. The PDP leaders in Abuja, who had other plans for the State House in Yola outside of Hon Fintiri, came to grief but recovered their wits fast enough to throw in their lot with Mr Ngilari whom they think would be easy to beat in 2015. If Mr Ngilari is able to reconcile the warring and contentious elements in the state PDP, and is able to ingratiate himself temporarily with Abuja, he will lead the party to the next polls and await his fate in a state riven by feverish plots, betrayal and unethical politics.
The legislative coup may have failed, so to say, but it has nonetheless introduced too many contending elements into the state’s political crucible to the point that stability may elude it for a while to come. While they were plotting against Admiral Nyako, ambitious governorship hopefuls in the state abandoned principles, remorselessly crossed party lines, and formed temporary alliances so tenuous that they defy reason. Buba Marwa, a former Lagos State governor, and a man who won reputation as a sound administrator, proved his frailty by oscillating recklessly between parties; Bamanga Tukur and Jibril Aminu, veritable party leaders with monarchical tendencies, joined the plots not to serve the state or help it fulfill lofty goals, but to enthrone their own children; and Nuhu Ribadu, hitherto recognised as one of the most implacable exponents of ethics in politics, also joined the plot from a somewhat aloof standpoint and has all but ruined his reputation.
The media celebrate the political quirkiness unfolding in Adamawa State. They have not passed judgement on those who midwife the political and social maelstrom convulsing the state, and really do not need to. History will more competently pass judgement, and do it with such delicate aplomb that cannot be equalled, let alone surpassed. Mr Ngilari beamed expansively as he took his oath of office, an oath that means nothing to them in Adamawa, as it means nothing to Dr Jonathan and his co-conspirators in the presidency and PDP headquarters. Hon Fintiri is angrily plotting his way back into reckoning in the state legislature while training his guns on his Madagali local government area compatriot, Mr Ngilari. The pampered sons of the high and mighty in Adamawa, the scions of Alhaji Tukur and Professor Aminu, are for now ensconced in obscurity until they can decipher the shape of the warfare that is certain to break upon the state soon. And Mallam Ribadu, as this column predicted weeks ago should he fail to get the PDP ticket or even win the by-election, sits in rueful meditation, wondering what the gods have in stock for him.
For now, development has come to a grinding halt in Adamawa. In the few short weeks Hon Fintiri usurped power, he dispensed largess copiously rather than govern, and would have continued to do so had the by-election held and had he won. The ingratiating and unprincipled Mr Ngilari can be trusted to open the barn and let all the foxes feed in the few months remaining of the Nyako mandate, assuming the former governor does not come back to reclaim his mandate. Between the rampaging behemoths in Abuja and the pugnacious monoliths in Adamawa, the fate of the state seems sealed. The patriot and the judicious in Adamawa will pray that after 2015, sensible and diligent leaders can attain office and give the state the leadership required to ennoble its politics and develop its economy. But given the crop of politicians swarming around everywhere in that infested region, the chances of a turnabout are not as bright as the mind can envision.
