By:
Benson Shalgabala
Politics in Adamawa state is markedly changing as SDP’s intrusion into the political landscape of the state has become undeniably noticeable. Since 10th November when the governorship candidate flagged off his campaign at the famous Mahmud Ribadu Square, political discussion in the state is never finished without a mention of the SDP candidate as a possible winner of the race. The removal of the APC in the race by the High Court, not withstanding it’s restoration by the Appeal Court, has proven fatal to the party in Adamawa. The key beneficiary of this act is the SDP.
Also, the gulf between the Governor of Adamawa State and the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has widened following the conferment of an award of excellence on Gov. Fintiri by his counterpart in Rivers State, Governor Nyesom Nwike, widely believed to be the arrowhead in the drive to deprive Atiku of the presidency in 2023 in spite of belonging to the same party. The award was given side by side with the G5 Governors who have also been working vigorously hand in hand with Wike to scuttle Atiku’s presidential ambition. It is also widely believed that the award is a reward their steadfastness in pursuing this agenda.
This however has not gone down well at all with most of the pro-Atiku kingpins and foot soldiers in the Adamawa PDP who believe that the least expected is total support for Atiku who among other things contributed greatly to Fintiri’s success in the Adamawa Gubernatorial race in 2019 at which he bested political juggernauts like the then Alhaji Bindo Jibrilla who was then a sitting Governor.
There have also been many speculations that Fintiri had been billed to emerge as Wike’s running mate had the latter emerged victorious at the presidential primaries where he was roundly defeated by Atiku.
Consequently, there are strong indications of very many members of the party who are grieved by this sad development are pitching their camp with Dr. Umar Ardo, the formidable candidate on the SDP platform in the state Gubernatorial race, but considered as a member of the Atiku political family.
But the PDP crisis in the state is not just about the Atiku group, there are also several other groups that are aggrieved with the government for neglect and lack of patronage and therefore rightly felt betrayed; and the party especially with the brazen manner the primaries for nominations were conducted. All these groups have coalesced themselves into opposition against the PDP. Pointedly, among these are Christian groups who feel that after coming out enmasse to support his candidacy in 2019, Gov. Fintiri in victory gave them the short edge of the stick by favouring only on his kinsman, the CAN chairman of the state. All these irreconcilable opposing groups, both in the PDP and the APC, are working feverishly to strike favorable deals with other candidates.
And it is clear that among the other contending governorship candidates the direction of support is invariably swinging towards the SDP for several reasons. First, Dr. Ardo has been in the political arena longer than all other candidates and so is well grounded in the politics of the state, and well known. He is also more educated, experienced and exposed than all the candidates. Having served at the presidential villa in an advisory capacity for nearly 8 years, shuttling between the VP and president, he has not only seen administration and politics of this country at the highest level but also created wide powerful contacts within the polity. Second, locally in the state he has been around persistently opposing the establishment and proffering alternative policy options. He thus overtime made a distinct political name for himself among mass populace. And SDP as a political party is also well entrenched in the political communities of the state. All these, along with decades of personal contacts across the state, combined to give Dr. Ardo a strong political support base with capacity to mobilize. And this capacity he unmistakably demonstrated at his flagoff rally by the unprecedented massive crowd he gathered at the event.
In a related development in the deteriorating political relationship between the PDP governor and the Christian community, the Adamawa State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has recently publicly disowned a social media report purportedly issued by the State Secretary of CAN pledging Christians votes to Gov. Fintiri as the association’s adopted governorship candidate.
In his stout denial, CAN’s State Secretary, Rev. Victor Saje, reveals that there is no endorsed governorship candidate of the association in the state gubernatorial race and called upon every electorate to vote his/her conscience.
Also, on the APC’s side of the political jigsaw, other contenders and key opponents of the Sen. Binani candidacy are also considering pulling their support for the SDP’s governorship candidate. With the newly introduced BVAS voting system, many have opined that the Adamawa gubernatorial race is very likely to spring major unexpected surprises. In the governorship race in Adamawa, it is now clearly a contest between three major parties and their candidates – PDP, APC and SDP – with the victory pendulum swinging towards the SDP.
