As Buhari visits Adamawa

Barring any last minute change of plans, President Muhammadu Buhari would be arriving Yola, the capital of Adamawa State today for an official working visit to the North Central State. To this writer, and indeed, other citizens of the Sunshine State, this presidential visit is very timely and significant considering that it is the first […]

Barring any last minute change of plans, President Muhammadu Buhari would be arriving Yola, the capital of Adamawa State today for an official working visit to the North Central State. To this writer, and indeed, other citizens of the Sunshine State, this presidential visit is very timely and significant considering that it is the first by Mr. President to the in the aftermath of the 2015 elections in which the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) coasted to victory.

Thanks to former Governor Murtala Nyako who played a key role in ensuring the APC’s victory both in the governorship and the presidential polls in the state. 

Apart from dousing the tension created in the state as a result of frequent clashes between farmers and herders, the President’s visit would also set the tone for political permutations ahead of the 2019 general elections. To the host governor, Umaru Muhammad Jibrilla, it would be an opportunity to warm himself in the heart of the visiting President by not only proving his electoral value in 2019 but also showcasing his achievements within the past two years of his administration.

But as he cuts the symbolic tape to commission some projects earmarked for him to do so during the visit, I wish to use this medium as a concerned citizen of Adamawa State to whisper a few things into the ears of Mr. President.

Undoubtedly, the visiting President would be treated to a grand reception in Yola during which the Secretary to the Adamawa State Government (SSG) would likely be given an opportunity to do a presentation that would showcase the scorecard of the Bindow administration. During the presentation an attempt would be made to score political goal by showing that while the previous administrations, especially that of Murtala Nyako, spent more on road projects with poor results, the current administration showed financial prudence by spending less with more ‘dividend’s  recorded in roads construction.

It is no longer news that the political honeymoon between Governor Bindow and his predecessor (Nyako) is over; hence the President must not be carried away by the mere flavor of any presentation aimed at rubbishing the previous administration. 

He should be reminded of a similar presentation that was made to former President Olusegun Obasanjo sometime early last year while in Yola after a visit to the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba State. That fateful evening Obasanjo was said to have been hosted by the Adamawa State government with a presentation on achievements which centered on road projects. Characteristic of him, OBJ was said to have responded by saying that in the aftermath of the Boko Haram war which also affected the Adamawa State, he had expected a presentation that would match with those recorded by previous administrations  

As a keen watcher of development trends in Adamawa State, I have personally done a comparative assessment of the tenure of former governor Murtala Nyako and that of his successor, Bindo, and arrived at the conclusion that the achievements of the latter cannot rival those of the former. While governor Bindo may be showcasing road projects, it is a known fact that such visible projects are only within Yola township and to some degree Mubi North and less than 2 kilometers in Numan and Ganye. Bindow is simply taking glory for other people’s projects.

On the other hand, Nyako’s achievements had covered virtually all spheres of life in all the nooks and crannies of the state ranging from water, schools, hospitals, agriculture, including vocational training centers (5 each) in all the zones of the State. 

At the inception of the Nyako administration in 2007, published data from Oxford and the UN had suggested that Adamawa was the third most backward in terms of economic governance and socioeconomic activities. But another survey which covered the exact tenure of the Nyako administration (2007-2014) indicated tremendous improvement.

I am not Nyako’s public relations consultant; after all he is also currently facing his travails with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. But like I earlier said, I feel obliged as a patriotic citizen of Adamawa State to put the facts straits as they relate to Nyako and Bindo in terms of development of Adamawa State.

Therefore, as he visits Adamawa State today, I implore Mr. President Buhari not to be deceived in any way with this trajectory of cosmetic presentation. He should, therefore, go with those who genuinely mean well for the state and has electoral value.

Ahmed Abubakar wrote from Yola, Adamawa State.