A stitch in time for Grace Bent, CON

It is said that he who cries wolf to the wind will have his voice carried away and his help forever delayed. This is the case of Senator Grace Bent, CON, who lost her bid to be re-elected to the Senate of the Federal Republic to represent the people of Adamawa Southern Senatorial District in […]

It is said that he who cries wolf to the wind will have his voice carried away and his help forever delayed.

This is the case of Senator Grace Bent, CON, who lost her bid to be re-elected to the Senate of the Federal Republic to represent the people of Adamawa Southern Senatorial District in 2015, when she was resoundingly defeated at the polls by Senator Binos Dauda Yaroe.

From her recent activities in the press – at least, according to interviews attributed to her – she has made claims and counter-claims as to how His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, the Executive Governor of Adamawa State, and the state chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Adamawa State Chapter, played suspicious roles in her dislodgement as the legislator representing Adamawa South.

In the spirit of the season, it would not have been grossly necessary to respond but posterity says otherwise. She needs to know a few things.

First off, no legislator in the state has enjoyed the amount of goodwill and eaten such a large portion of the political magnanimity of the people more than Senator Grace Bent. No one. When the polity of Adamawa South voted for her overwhelmingly in preference to Senator Jonathan Silas Zwingina in 2007, irrespective of her not being from the state, she rode that wave of glory for years and not a pip was heard from her. In comparison, no one from the state would have been able to hold down such a seat in her state – marriage or not.

The magnanimity of the people expired after four years when she could not account for all the grandiose promises she made and had to get the boot at the polls.

In 2018, nomination/expression of interest forms were sold by the party to those willing to contest for elective positions. Bent joined the fray and swelled the number of jostlers from Adamawa South. This time, though, she was up against favourites Kobis Ari Thimnu and Binos Dauda Yaroe.

Before the votes casting day, news had begun to make the rounds that Bent was counting on the connections of her brother, a member of the National Committee who had been posted to the senatorial district to ensure she returned with a great victory at the primary, to become the party’s flag-bearer. She lost on a level- playing field at the primary.

To say her political fortunes were affected by two men who were absent on that day – Governor Fintiri and the state chairman of the party – is a few centimetres short of bizarre.

When the results were announced, thus; Kobis Ari Thimnu (189 votes), Grace Bent (322 votes) and Binos Dauda Yaroe (408 votes), invalid (4) and authenticated by the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Directorate of State Security (DSS) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Bent’s frustrations are not strange or misplaced; they are, understandably, those of one who has lost and is at a loss what to make of her current state. She is at the blame stage and, yes, could even take it further. My candid and brotherly advice to her is to cease from maligning the governor of the state and see to mending her relationship with the electorate of Adamawa South. She has still got a political future and she must not lose sight of this.

Bent should, as a true party person, dedicate her name to winning the credibility she lost which resulted in her loss at the primary. She has even got more chances of doing this, seeing as she has already been nominated as a member of the Party’s Board of Trustee (BOT). She needs to refrain from her continued bad-mouthing of party figures; it is anti-party and earns her no points if she does hope to get back to where she once was. She is not fallen, yet; she is just having a re-booth moment and, if everyone sees this, except her, then it is most unfortunate.

Neither Fintiri nor the party chairman in the state had a hand in her misfortune at the polls.The earlier this is categorically stated, the better for us all. “A stitch in time”, they say, “saves nine”.

 

A.T. Shehu, Esq., chairman of the PDP in Adamawa State.