What’s wrong with Adamawa’s elite?

Something is definitely wrong with the elite in Adamawa State. How else can one explain the abject poverty in most communities in the state, with little or no support from well-to-do individuals, while millions of naira in legal fees and media propaganda are employed to antagonize virtually every elected government in the state? This is […]

Something is definitely wrong with the elite in Adamawa State. How else can one explain the abject poverty in most communities in the state, with little or no support from well-to-do individuals, while millions of naira in legal fees and media propaganda are employed to antagonize virtually every elected government in the state? This is really worrisome. If even a small percentage of the amounts spent by our elite in fighting legal, media and political wars were spent on our communities, life would not be as bad as it is today for most of our citizens in rural areas and urban slums.
Governor Boni Haruna famously had a running battle with the state’s elites when he was in power. In the end, he barely survived all the sinister plots and conspiracies. However, in the process, he lost a lot of steam and in some instances even the focus and direction of governance as the helpless and often hapless citizens became the losers. The same elite that hounded the governor ganged up to launch another on Murtala Nyako when he was governor, too. Shortly after he assumed power, they again teamed up against him and almost rendered the state ungovernable. In the end, the state witnessed the greatest instability in the history of any political unit in Nigeria, with 7 governors presiding over the affairs of the state in 8 years. It left the state heavily indebted, unstable and bruised. In the process, nobody gave a thought to the plight of the masses.
Now it appears the Adamawa elite are back to the drawing board, formulating what could be a new vista of war with the nascent government of Senator Muhammad Umar Jibrilla. Already, some cases are in court seeking to nullify his election through the back door since his fellow contestants in the last election did not go to the tribunal to challenge his victory. The legal war is upon us, just as the impending media war, seen via the sponsorship of false news reports on social and conventional media.
As the imaginary, unwarranted and unproductive battle is being waged by the Adamawa elite, abject poverty and despondency continues to bite harder on our communities with little or no effort from the wealthy. I mean, it took someone like Owelle Rochas Okorocha of Imo State to realize that we need schools in Adamawa State that will cater for the neglected children of poor peasants and traumatized Internally Displaced Persons. It’s indeed a shame on us all. Especially given the colossal amount we waste fighting our governments.
Ahmad Sajoh wrote in from Yola, Adamawa State.