Adamawa: What Fintiri must do
From Yola to Michika, Fufore and Guyuk, Adamawa people can no longer deny that the state has become divided by hate and mistrust and is descending deeper into disunity. The simple reason for this is that the people of the state have allowed tribal and religious zealots to set the agenda. As we already know, […]
From Yola to Michika, Fufore and Guyuk, Adamawa people can no longer deny that the state has become divided by hate and mistrust and is descending deeper into disunity. The simple reason for this is that the people of the state have allowed tribal and religious zealots to set the agenda. As we already know, politicians merely stoke emotions for support which results in polarized debates and comments daily dominating the conversation, with the odium more profound in the media and on cyberspace.
That is why the task before Ahmadu Fintiri, the Acting Governor, is herculean. He must concern himself with what is right over what is popular, what is necessary over what is rational and what is important over what is politically correct. To do anything else is to bring horse sense to human anatomy.
A particular message worth noting is the decision by the acting governor to inject confidence building mechanisms into restoring the state’s sanity. Adamawa State has not only been pauperized by Nyako, it had been raped and dismembered. As at the first quarter of 2014, Adamawa had become one of the worst places on earth to live in, courtesy of open official corruption, loss of faith in the leadership, absence of democracy in the government and prevalence of insurgency on the fringes of the state. At the moment Garkida and many towns and villages, including Madagali which is farther north, have been ‘annexed’ by Boko Haram. Under Nyako Adamawa became worse than war-time Liberia. Families went without food, workers went without money, teachers went without chalk and schools were without books. That is not all; clinics too went without drugs while as the chairman of the farmers’ federation, agriculture never made it to the top of Nyako’s priority list, as farmers could not climb out of primitive methods of agriculture.
Adamawa seems to have evolved into a “dem all crazy”, where decency or decorum is banished when brainstorming over its development. Things got so out of hand that the vast majority of politicians think that only their nuclear family are deserving of the social infrastructure that the government should give to all. So Nyako would want to see his son Abdulaziz succeed him while Bamanga Tukur is rooting for Auwal Tukur, his oldest male child.
Adamawa’s political leaders only add fuel to the fire to gain more partisan advantages. It’s not that there are no voices of reason among our elected representatives. However, those voices are usually drowned out by the constant discordant shtick of hate. When it comes to tribalism and bigotry, most urban Adamawa people tend to echo their religious leaders’ sentiments, acquired from churches and mosques and other sources that are neither credible nor informed about governance. Rational comments or those which do not support the prevailing spin are quickly voted down.
It seems that righteous indignation, hate or mockery is acceptable as long as it is directed against the other tribe. But it is up to Ahmadu Fintiri to find those who believe in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-cultural and harmonious Adamawa to stand up and stop the hatred churned out by the state’s detractors. It is sad but political partisanship in Adamawa has already come down to tribal-level zero-sum thinking, with an increasing number of people driven by mindless anger.
The intense and vicious loathing among tribes is being consciously built up with scant regard for the dangerous consequences ahead of the state. It looks like things are likely to get worse unless people become consciously aware of the cynical political games being played on them. The question that Fintiri must have to deal with, if only he intends to steer Adamawa out of shame and retrogression to glorious path of unity and progress is whether our quest for better political leadership, fairness and good governance must come with destruction and dis¬unity. Acting Governor Fintiri has three months to reengineer Adamawa State.
It won’t be easy. To think that his job is a walk in the park is to do injustice to the man because he has a state under the twin evils of emergency and insurgency. But like a surgeon he must handle his business with great responsibility and an even greater desire to move the state to the level where those aspiring to step into Nyako’s shoes do not repeat Nyako’s mistakes.
Already several names have popped up as those desiring to occupy Nyako’s office, among who are two former presidential aspirants, Nuhu Ribadu and Buba Marwa, one former presidential adviser, Ahmed Ali Gulak, and several others like Joel Madaki, Markus Gundiri, Dr Idi Hong, Abdulaziz Nyako, Auwal Tukur, Jerry Kundisi, James Barka, Senator Bindo Jibrilla and Fintiri himself to mention just a dozen contenders. In the same vein there are more than another dozen pretenders angling for the coveted office, most of who would only realize how tasking the running of a state like Adamawa can be assuming they get the chance to have the national flag wagging behind their chairs.
But this is not the time to claim political points and neither is it time to point accusing fingers at one another. It is instead a time for a reality check for all Adamawa citizens who want to drive the hidden hands that have kept the state in perpetual bondage out and who ensured that its people remain the dregs of society. It should be a new beginning and a new awakening as the forces of darkness have returned to where they belong. But first the onus is on Fintiri to chart the course for others to follow until the sun begins to shine on Adamawa again.
Bello-Barkindo can be reached at: [email protected]