Adamawa: between Ribadu and Bindowo

and the All Progressives Congress candidate (APC) Senator Muhammad Bindowo Jibrilla is akin to six and half-a-dozen, to many people who are awaiting the governorship contest of the State. I am one of them. And I am awaiting this contest sincerely eagerly.On a personal note, whoever wins, to me, is very likely to remain approachable […]

and the All Progressives Congress candidate (APC) Senator Muhammad Bindowo Jibrilla is akin to six and half-a-dozen, to many people who are awaiting the governorship contest of the State. I am one of them. And I am awaiting this contest sincerely eagerly.
On a personal note, whoever wins, to me, is very likely to remain approachable and accessible. Perhaps it is this reason why several people have called me to ask which among the two politicians is my choice for governor. Indeed I have known both men from home and seen them play big Abuja politics. I have known Nuhu since our secondary school days when he was at Aliyu Mustapha while I went to Murtala College, even though he was two years ahead of me in class. I have written so much about Nuhu, with scathing remarks sometimes and supporting commentaries at others.
Bindowo has been a benefactor, for me, in several ways. When I started a newspaper in Abuja he had offered me a very centrally located office at the business district, pro bono. Ordinarily the office would have cost me a fortune, which perhaps I wouldn’t have been able to afford. But he let me and the staff sit there, gratis. There is nothing I can do, therefore, to repay him for the kind gesture.
I know from their tone that some of the people who are calling me to inquire where I stand are doing so for more than altruistic reasons. I even smell mischief in others. But as I always tell friends, my vote can only do so much just as my opinion is a drop in the ocean. I have retained a vehement passion though for my state to play catch-up. I have searched for a solution to the problems of Adamawa state, the constitutional laboratory of Nigeria, here, there and everywhere, since the start of democracy in 1999. The wise answers to my questionnaires have been very few and far between. Some give hope high enough to wave and smile at angels there above and some bring as much depression as a Goth funeral.
However, this matter is beyond Barkindo’s little wishes. It is about the people of Adamawa State who have lagged behind in dividends of democracy, stomach infrastructure and the general uplift of the human development index, when compared to other parts of the country. It is about the thousands of civil servants who have month after month been walking to their offices because they have been denied their wages. It is about the universal human suffrage. It is also not a question of what party ideology would do the magic. In the case of the two contestants, when it comes to party affinities, I would say that Nuhu and Bindowo just played the reality TV show, “wife-swap.”
Nuhu was presidential candidate of the Action Congress in 2011 which metamorphosed into the All Progressives Congress, APC, when Bindowo contested and won his senatorial seat on the platform of the PDP. It is therefore irrelevant for the people of Adamawa to put the two candidates in any party hour glass. Both are Muslims so, leave religion out of it. Both are Fulbe, whether half, quarter or simply by birth place. Both can also not be judged by the vehicle that brought them to this race as some things are better left unexposed. Indeed, APC, by all indications, is only “PDP-light”, if it were to be a drink.
However there are three compelling issues that Adamawa must reconsider when choosing a governor. They are corruption, insecurity and godfatherism. The corrupt public officials who operated along with Nyako to corner the states resources and deny workers their legitimate earnings must be tackled. Today they populate both parties in search of cover but we know from Nuhus background and antecedents that there is no hiding place for them, should he become governor.  Bindowo on the other hand may be too encumbered by his political IOUs that he may find fighting corruption a little too obstructive because of the preponderance of the Nyako community in the APC today. In security, Senator Bindowo is a serving senator whose action against insurgency that has bedevilled his constituency has not been vociferous. He may be close to Senate President David Mark and the Defence Minister, Aliyu Gusau but their disposition to stopping the killings in the north east have
been less than impressive and have therefore constituted more of a liability to Bindowo’s security credentials than assets.  In clear text, Nuhu Ribadu, a former AIG and one time anti corruption czar who approaches every assignment with a no-defeat-no surrender mindset is more favourably disposed to winning the war on corruption and halting the senseless killings that currently pervade the north east, than his APC counterpart. Besides, Adamawa State is in dire need of a paradigm shift and Nuhu Ribadu represents the new paradigm.