A near combustible situation was averted in Yola, Adamawa state capital – a needless situation generated by desperation and unbridled ambition garbed in recklessness. There was an attempted civilian coup by the APC gubernatorial candidate in Adamawa state in an unprecedented move of declaring herself the victor of the March 18th, 2023, gubernatorial election while collation was still ongoing. The near total occupation of the media space (mainstream and the social variant) was a pre-planned action meant to browbeat the electorate and even the governor and be presented with a fait accompli. The cacophony of noise will then make it nigh impossible for the governor to explain the “wujja wujja” magic show that took place.
The domination of the media space was pre-planned as a condition precedence to muddying the waters. It was therefore necessary to report every move or action of the APC candidate which gives her unwarranted visibility nationwide, which in turn projects her as a victim at the appropriate time. Meanwhile she was busy creating the news to fulfil her own side of the bargain. Fully knowing that a particular was used as a Situation Room by the PDP to monitor the elections and the way it was unfolding, Madam Governor illegally stormed the place in company of armed thugs, security agencies and a battery of camera men. It was a show meant to project strength, instead it projected desperation. The media was complicit in all these.
It was a reckless move that no sensible person will attempt knowing all the variables at play in the politics of Adamawa state at that point in time. The same APC candidate and her gullible supporters has already toxified the political space by weaponizing ethnicity and to some extent, even religion. So, the situation was more of a tinder box which requires little in terms of provocation to turn into a cauldron. I was in Yola on that Sunday – the day after the gubernatorial election. The tension in the air was so thick that one can cut through it with a knife. While most people were aggrieved and were barely restraining their anger, “Madam Governor-elect” was receiving congratulatory visits without a care in the world and with such confidence that nothing will upturn her ‘coup’.
The audio recording of the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) suborning a local government electoral officer to “taimaki matan nan” only confirms the rumoured romance between the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The award of a contract for the printing of sensitive electoral materials like result sheets for the gubernatorial elections to the candidate’s printing company, when the Commission was already aware that she is candidate in one of the election cycles. So, the collaboration, if I may say so, between INEC and candidate Binani started well before the election time. Guaranteed of being rigged-in by the REC and the powers form “above”, the APC candidate went ahead with her declaration party, including renting of an events Hall to hold the party there.
It was a desperate gamble that was designed to fail. I was curious as to the kind of mind that will think and act the way the APC candidate acted all through the weekend of the election and thereafter. Knowing that she is married to Dr. Ahmed Modibbo, I thought there will be some form of restraint – that he may have some form of a leash that he pulls whenever the situation reaches the tipping point. Sadly, I saw him at the collation centre trying very hard to secure his place as the First Man (lady?) of Adamawa; I saw a man high on power Viagra. The allure of Chairman Northern Governors’ Wives association was too much to ignore. It sad to see the cooky crumble this way and this late.
And of course, Binani’s political romance with the Senator representing Adamawa North Senatorial District – a trusted ally of the APC candidate. A garrulous, uncouth politician, who should be serving prison for assaulting a poor salesgirl. Ironically, this woman beater is the political soulmate of Binani, the women emancipator.
Once upon a time, the Adamawa North Senatorial District had the privilege of being represented by Professor Iya Abubakar, an astute and austere man and an academic colossus to boot. Though the quality of representation keeps sliding down the moral scale, that of Adamawa North is spectacular to say the least. Either our moral standards has been compromised or our need for good governance is no more a barometer for picking our representative. Imagine a Senatorial District once represented by a world class scholar in both ‘character and learning’ in every sense of the expression, now represented by a man known for his sexcapades rather than his legislative prowess. How did we come to this sorry pass? The Adamawa North Senator was caught beating a salesgirl in a sex-toy shop sometimes in 2019 after he won a seat to the Senate but was yet to be inaugurated. Typical of our media men, the story was buried for reasons best known to them. Anyway, the randy Senator is not of interest to me but for his association with our wannabe governor, Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani.
It appears the two Senators have formed an unholy alliance to still drag the state down the moral slope. In 2023, Adamawa state elected Professor Iya Abubakar, Professor Jibril Aminu and Jonathan Silas Zwingina as the Senators representing the three Senatorial Districts. These gentlemen are replaced by the likes of Abbo and Binani in the red chamber of the National Assembly. Gauging the level of our decadence, Binani decided to throw her scarf in the gubernatorial ring and by hook or crook emerged the candidate of her party and was presented to the people of the state. But the way and manner she went about trying to actualise her tall dream leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
First, for someone who claimed to be contesting for “every girl-child”, it is interesting to know whether among the “girl-child” she wants to represent is a certain salesgirl in a sex-toy shop in Abuja who was turned into a punching bag by Binani’s brother Senator and newfound comrade in their common cause of bringing down Fintiri by all means, fair and foul. To be in the same political bed with a sexual pervert like Abbo is the zenith of irresponsibility and desperation to be governor. I thought the pervasion will stop just at the “wujja “wujja” and “japta “japta”.
