Nasarawa: End of the road for corrupt politicians?

Any one conversant with Nasarawa state will realise that regrettable as it sound, the state has not been so lucky to experience  good governance since the advent of democratic rule in 1999. Abdullahi Adamu held sway for eight solid years in Nasarawa and an honest account of his stewardship leaves much to be desired. To […]

Any one conversant with Nasarawa state will realise that regrettable as it sound, the state has not been so lucky to experience  good governance since the advent of democratic rule in 1999. Abdullahi Adamu held sway for eight solid years in Nasarawa and an honest account of his stewardship leaves much to be desired. To put it bluntly, former Governor Adamu wasted eight years in Nasarawa state and left the people yearning for development in virtually all facets of their lives.
Adamu imposed on the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and hence, the peoples of Nasarawa State the incumbent governor, Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma. Rules were flouted, party loyalists betrayed and decency thrown to the dogs when the ruling Peoples Democratic Party converged in keffi- the base of former governor Adamu- to conduct its gubernatorial primaries. Eventually and with both covert and overt support of then governor Adamu, a new entrant to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, Akwe Doma was foisted on party members as the flag bearers.
Political analysts believed the imposition of Gov. Doma on both the state and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party was a grand strategy by outgoing governor Adamu to have a safe landing. The belief then was that the man was bringing in somebody who will cover his baggage of sins.  True to Adamu’s perceived calculation, Governor Doma came in and kept sealed lip with regards to the debt profile of the state.
But all that is now story as they will say. Governor Doma spilled the beans in a meeting with PDP local government officials in the state when he declared to them that he met a paltry ten million naira in the state coffer. It became obvious since that declaration that the governor will eventually allow the law to take its cause and ensure that the people of Nasarawa get back all that has been taken away from them through eight years of bad leadership. The eventual arrest of Abdullahi Adamu the strong man of the ruling PDP is the beginning of the end.
One fact which cannot easily be refuted is that both Adamu and his successor have part ways. This, in my candid opinion is the cheering news for the good people of Nasarawa state because the duo are bed of the same feather, one is no better than the other. The thrust of this piece is on the end of the road for both Adamu and Doma.
If Adamu wasted eight years in Nasarawa State, obviously with nothing to show except chieftaincy titles through which the state’s meagre resources were stupendously squandered, Gov. Doma has wasted three years doing nothing other than theorizing on an ineffective thirteen-point agenda. It is sad that he still has one year to waste because the law provides for four years!
A Doma governor which started on a slow pace consequent upon which citizens nick named him “Ali slow” has not really justify the confidence reposed on it by the people. Three years on the saddle and the governor cannot lay claim to any tangible project which the administration has executed. For more than a decade, Nasarawa keeps gallivanting in an oscillation of movement without motion no thanks to Adamu and Doma.
The unravelling frosty relationship between the duo is a welcomed development for the peoples of the state because it will provide the needed opportunity for someone on the side line to catch in on the leadership of the state and expectedly, provide the needed leadership which the people have for long been yearning for since both have failed the state and its people.  In the days ahead, the duo will no doubt try to outwit each other and the end result will, hopefully, be the emergence of new crop of leaders who will take Nasarawa to the proverbial Promised Land.
Regardless of where the current squabble between Adamu and Doma (never mind the fact that the governor’s aide will want to fool us into believing that all is well between the two) leads to, one obvious fact is that  governor Doma’s  continuity bid will suffer a set back just as Adamu’s intention to run for the senate. The arrest of Abdullahi Adamu and importantly, the on- going trials at the Federal High Court in lafia, to my mind, signposted the anti climax for both governor Doma and his predecessor. The duo will work against each others political ambition and eventually, both will fall. In the end, it will be good riddance to bad rubbish.
Addra Attah A. O, Gidan Maikudin Ridi, No. 5 Mathew Akwe Road, Doma, Doma L.G.A, Nasarawa state