Election dynamics in Nasarawa State
In the build up to the electioneering season, it was evident that the pangs of opportunism were fuelling the political involvement of the main opposition led by Congress for Progressive Change, CPC flag-bearer, Tanko Almakura because of his fixation with becoming governor, despite his sheer lack of political experience, being someone previously solely interested in […]
In the build up to the electioneering season, it was evident that the pangs of opportunism were fuelling the political involvement of the main opposition led by Congress for Progressive Change, CPC flag-bearer, Tanko Almakura because of his fixation with becoming governor, despite his sheer lack of political experience, being someone previously solely interested in business. It was this short coming that disqualified him from running under PDP and plunged him into the CPC where again he elbowed his way to the governorship slot. Now, at the end of the electioneering season, the difference between ambition based on promissory and credible track record of performance in office is only too clear.
The emergence of Aliyu Akwe Doma as popularly elected governor of the state in 2007 by contrast was the logical climax to the progressive political attainments of a seasoned public servant and veteran politician who had been a deputy governor of the old Plateau State. He was the main promoter of the Movement for the Creation of Nasarawa State before making a bold bid for the governorship of the state under the ANPP in 1998/1999. He was popularly acclaimed as the winner of that election but Abdullahi Adamu was declared winner in controversial circumstances. The fact that Abdullahi Adamu shoved aside several contenders in favour of Akwe Doma as his successor is regarded as his ultimate acknowledgement of the suitability and popularity of Akwe Doma.
The period 2007-2011, representing the first term of Akwe Doma as governor of Nasarawa State, is undoubtedly an era dedicated to the development of the state especially in terms of provision of the required infrastructure and exploitation of the natural resources of the state. The attention and resources devoted to the construction of hundreds of kilometers of rural roads across the state opened up the highly productive rural areas and connected them to markets. This move is seen as a double dividend for the state’s economy and the hitherto parched pockets of rural farmers. A similar initiative to boost agriculture saw to the launching of the Badakoshi project under which the famed yams of Nasarawa became export products to Europe while various incentives have facilitated the emergence of the state’s first generation of medium and large-scale farmers.
All over Nasarawa State, active signs of development can be seen as heavy duty trucks bearing giant water supply pipes, consignments of transformers and electrical equipment, agricultural inputs, road construction plants, hospital equipment and educational materials are on a regular trip to sites of ongoing development projects initiated by Akwe Doma’s administration. On another level, it is the hordes of unemployed youths whose idle gatherings across Nigerian cities have become ominous, that have been given renewed hope in the Skills Acquisition and Vocational Training Centres in the four major towns in the state. A couple of thousand of young men and women have been acquiring skills and vocational training in these centres which are fully equipped to enable the youths replace idleness with either welding, tailoring, fashion design, hair-dressing, painting, tractor or electronics maintenance, ICT and several other means of making a decent living . They are trained to as well end up employing and training other youths to be useful citizens as well in future. The trainees even have monthly allowances to encourage them to stay and are awarded take-off grants to start their chosen businesses.
Given this scenario of an evidently beneficial political administration which has brought dividends of democracy, it is germane to wonder on what grounds an opposition led by a private businessman can approach the electorate. It is unfortunate that the opposition goes about running the incumbent administration down on the untenable accusation of “non-performance”! Yet, you hear them saying Akwe Doma is “tight-fisted” because, unlike his predecessor, he does not dole out public funds for “welfare”. It is truly amazing how people can be so selfish as to prefer personal benefit to public benefit and how politicians can willfully engage in campaign of falsehood just to find their way to political power. Worst of all, however, is the recourse to violence and vandalism by the opposition in Nasarawa State to vent their frustrations on innocent people who chose to align with obvious leadership capacity and evident development, instead of empty promises.
The people of Nasarawa State did not struggle fifteen years ago to pursue the noble cause of state creation in order to create a springboard to catapult ambitious politicians to power but struggled to secure an enabling environment for them to bring development and progress to their land and people. It is a fact of history that prior to the Akwe Doma Administration, there was virtually no development to justify the resources available to the state. Most of the projects being undertaken by the Doma Administration are pioneer projects which should have been executed in the formative years soon after state creation. Even basic infrastructure like street lights and tarred roads in the state capital had to wait for the Doma Administration!
It will be a disservice to the people of the state not to put the 2011 elections in perspective of the historical context of the people and the state. Considering the huge financial liabilities and abandoned projects dumped on the Akwe Doma Administration in 2007, it is an exceptional achievement to have been able to put in place such a formidable foundation for future development. Yet, it is not a surprise that Aliyu Akwe Doma was able to achieve this feat because of his enviable background in public service and political leadership as well as his selfless promotion and support for the creation of Nasarawa State.
Akwati writes from Akwanga