08:09:00
Fun Facts
BY MOHAMMED ISMAIL.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa state was strengthened after then governor of the state, Murtala Nyako, defected into it from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He brought along his entire political structure.
The APC was newly formed at that time, following an intractable and prolonged bickering between Nyako and four PDP governors on one side and President Goodluck Jonathan on the other side.
The sojourn of the former governor into APC which was facilitated by the then interim National Vice Chairman (North East) of the party Dr. Umar Duhu, naturally introduced new dimensions in the party that was bracing up to wrest power from the then ruling PDP at the national level.
Before the entry of Nyako into APC, there were two political blocks in APC led by the former military administrator of Lagos and Borno states, Gen. Buba Marwa Rtd and Engineer Markus Gundiri who led the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) blocks respectively.
Inevitably, bickerings between Nyako's camp and the other blocks, came to a head with the defection of both Marwa and Gundiri into the PDP in protests of the former governor's emergency as the leader of the party.
After their defection, Nyako single handedly financed the activities of the new political party which became a formidable force in the state. The new party became rooted across the nooks and crannies of the state through the influence of a well articulated political structure named Sarkin Matasa, coordinated by Nyako's eldest son, AbdulAziz Murtala Nyako.
The party rode on that momentum during the general elections, sweeping the polls at almost all the elective positions in the state.
However, while Nyako was making exploits in the APC, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had defected into the party before Nyako. Like Nyako, Atiku dumped the PDP.
But, as a seasoned politician, he had fashioned out a system of co-habiting with Nyako in APC until the former governor was impeached on the alleged directive of former president Good luck Jonathan over lingering and irreconcilable differences.
Although they were in the same political party, Atiku could not do much to save Nyako from the impeachment executed by the Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri-led house of assembly.
It was even more intriguing considering the close ties the former Vice President allegedly had with Fintiri and other powerful members of the house of assembly.
Some political pundits in the state considered the perceived hesitation of Atiku to intervene during Nyako's impeachment saga as a fall out of a simmering political rift between the two political heavy weights.
Others allege that the travails of Nyako offered Atiku an opportunity to settle political scores and to assume leadership of the party.
The picture of the rift between the two politicians became clearer in the run up to the bye-election and general election as Atiku tried to influence the emergence of one of his political followers, Ibrahim Mijinyawa, as the gubernatorial candidate of the party.
But Atiku's attempt to make Mijinyawa the guber candidate hit a brick wall as the party's leadership in the state, believed to be loyal to Nyako, resisted the move of the former Vice President on two occasions.
Instead, the incumbent governor Muhammadu Umaru Jibrilla, who was said to be favoured by Nyako's camp, emerged candidate of the party and eventually governor.
The victory recorded against Atiku's camp, despite the fact that Nyako was in political exile, became a pointer to Nyako's political might in the state party, especially with the victory of his eldest son at the senatorial polls where he clinched the Adamawa Central Senatorial Zone almost on a platter of gold.
The governor was also said to have benefited immensely from the political structure of Nyako.
Post election…
The victory of the party at the April polls seems to have only exacerbated the rift between the two camps as mutual suspicion has deepened in the wake of appointments made by the governor. There are allegations that the state appointments were slanted in favour of Atiku's camp as many prominent Nyako's loyalists are missing in action.
The appointment of one of the former Vice President's daughter Dr. Fatima Atiku Abubakar, Mijinyawa, among others as state commissioners fuelled this perception.
Another pointer to the growing rift is the alleged existence of a communication gap between Jibrilla and Nyako.
Political watchers opine that the governor's absence and eventual silence on the grand home coming of Nyako from political exile is an indication of a frayed relationship.
More so, the speculated guber ambition of Nyako's eldest son (now senator) ahead of 2019, has further heightened talks of a friction.
But despite the seeming political attrition and cries of marginalization from Nyako's camp, the governor has on many occasions tried to deny claims of favoring a group or political god-father saying that he was subservient to neither Atiku nor Nyako but to Adamawa people who unconditionally and overwhelmingly supported his political ambition.
Also, some of Nyako's loyalists in Jibrilla's government have on many occasions rubbished insinuations of animosity between Nyako's camp and the governor, noting that it if such gulf existed between the two foremost politicians, it would have been impossible for Jibrilla to appoint key Nyako elements including his former chief of staff Abdurrahman Abbah, his Director of Press Ahmed Sajoh and Mallam Uba Dan Arewa to man very important offices in his administration.
However, a source close to governor Jibrilla confided in this reporter that those fueling speculations over the existence of a rift between Nyako's camp and the governor are the ones who lost out in the scheme of things and don't want to accept realities. "It has become the culture of politicians who lost out in the scheme of arrangements to do all they can to either pull the system down or cause massive distraction which will derail the direction of the administration.
"Those that are making such hues and cries are mainly people who sought to get unnecessary favour from governor Jibrilla but could not get them because the governor has sworn to project the interest of all Adamawa people not that of individual persons or politicians," he said.
The governor himself has recently decried the activities of some politicians in the state whom he said were trying to pull him down because of his posture and resolve to do the bidding of the masses who voted him into office.
The Governor who made the remark during a recent Press Conference organized by the commissioner of finance said such criticism would not intimidate him nor cow his administration to toe their line which he said was against the interest of Adamawa.
" If you (critics) see me as monkey, I see you as banana", Jibrilla said.
He said that his administration would remain committed to fulfilling its electoral promises to the people and would not allow itself to be derailed.
The governor added that anyone who would attempt to blackmail his administration would be put to shame as he would never allow his government to be pushed by anyone or group to work against the larger interest of Adamawa people.
Hopefully, the message of the governor would get to the power brokers who are bent on arm-twisting him over tussle for control.
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