In fact due to cohesive and purposefulness of the elite in the defunct Gongola and the early part of Adamawa, the state had under Shehu Shagari and Babangida produced four service chiefs viz -: Chief of Naval Staff, chief of Army staff, Inspector General of Police and Chief of the Air Staff, AM Ibrahim Alfa who is now late.

This analysis will not be complete unless the Barde/Juta administration is made mentioned of. No doubt, that administration appears to the benchmark for almost all administrations in the defunct Gongola and now Adamawa and Taraba States. Though in 1976 when the state was created it was led by General Muhammadu Jega, that regime’s concern was promotion of peace and unity among the ethnic nationalities and the establishment of administrative and make shift physical structures of the young state.

The Abubakar Barde government was a turning point. While it equally maintained and even promoted peaceful co-existence among the people of the state, it also realized that there were more than enough prospects to move the young state into development compared to any of the older states. He ensured building a balanced and inclusive cabinet devoid of any religious and ethnic bias. The Barde/Juta regime had tried its best to maintain peace during its tenure, the peace of a graveyard in the entire state. Though I was still young, but I can recall, there was no Students’ unrest in any of the post primary schools not to talk of major security breaches in the state. It did not stop there it equally attempted to exploit the state’s huge potential in Agriculture, Health care delivery, Education and industrialization to mention a few.

At the tail end of that administration, it left a number of ongoing projects which were the school of Nursing and Midwifery, the Brewery Project at Bajabure, College of Education Hong, the state secretariat complex and the state House of Assembly Complex. Others are the sports stadium along Yola Numan road currently one of the abandoned projects, the permanent site  of the college of Preliminary studies, Science School Infrastructures in M/Belwa, Uba and Fufore all abandoned projects.

Although not much was achieved by successive administrations yet peaceful co-existence had continued to be their cornerstone. Perhaps the only misfortune that occurred under Boni Haruna in 2003, was the Fulani/Bachama feud which resulted in the loss of lives and properties in Numan LGA. This situation led to the deposition of the former Hama Bachama Freddy Soditi Bongo. Despite that episode, generally the Boni Haruna regime deserves commendation for completing almost 90% of the capital projects initiated by the Barde/Juta administration. This is in addition to establishing the state university.

Governor Nyako’s massive grassroots support in 2007 even without going through the tortuous primary election was informed by the belief that as an octogenarian, he would put to bear his wealth of experience as a former Service Chief and former Military Administrator and move the state forward in all aspects of development that begets a peaceful society. But within the first six months of his reign, Governor Nyako proved the electorate wrong.

One of his agenda that impacted negatively on the citizenry is the unconventional appointment of Special Assistants under the auspices of Special Projects and Programmes Units (SPPU). What this means is that the activities of the core civil service has been thrown overboard. While the number of Conventional civil servants in the state has remained at 15,000 since 2008 to date, the governor’s SAs have been rising. The government had attempted to empower some Youth under the (SPPU) but there are several misgivings surrounding their activities.

For one, traducers of the administration have alleged that the SAs have been used as instruments of political thuggery, especially during the last governorship election. According to them, since these SAs are paid allowances depending on their status, they do not have specific functions rather than carrying out adhoc responsibilities as foot soldiers of the government.

The recent Fulani/Bachama feud is giving a cause for concerns and apprehensions that the unfortunate cases of insecurity to that had already enveloped Plateau, Borno and Yobe, are gradually finding its roots in Adamawa.

One of the primary responsibilities of government to its citizens is to protect them and their property from attack. And since a democratic government is meant for the people by the people authorities are expected to listen to the people’s advice most especially on issues that border on security. I am of the opinion that if the government in Adamawa had listened to an earlier advice of the security experts and other concerned citizens as stated above, the recent reprisal attack on innocent lives in Lamurde and Numan Local Governments would have been nipped in the bud.

The present administration has made quite a number of blunders in the recent past. Instead of allowing rationality to prevail, it has given much room to advices of sycophants and other idle people who say hallelujah even when they know things are falling apart. These groups of people are those who specialize in attacking anybody who attempts to point out where the government goes wrong. But as stakeholders we will not relent in pointing out any lapses of the government as long as such opportunity presents itself.

Salaudeen resides at Nasarawo Ward, Jimeta-Yola.