by George Kushi
The congresses of the two leading parties in Adamawa State have come and gone . The aftermath of the two congresses is that while the PDP Congress ended with little or no dissenting views, the APC CONGRESS has been trailed by dissent on one hand and celebration on the winning side of Bilal. But most interestingly is the fact that while to many Babachir David lawal former SGF and Sen Abdulazeez Nyako seem to be of the same views, a new development has placed them at logger heads.
Senator Nyako it would appear is not limiting their intra party problems of religious polarization but has decided to make comparisons with what took place at the PDP Congress where a Muslim emerged as party Chairman. Of great interest is the fact that PDP members paid no attention to the religious inclinations of who would emerge as Chairman, rather the interest of the party was taken at heart.
On the contrary, the duo of Babachir and Nyako (Jnr) are at loggers head making comparisons along religious lines , the two are in earnest trying to prove that a religious permutation was responsible for the PDP victory of Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri in 2019, while Abdulaziz Nyako attributes it to the decision to opt out of APC into the ADC which decimated the votes that could have accrued to the APC,. Aziz Nyako tried to rubbish the fact of the religious factor by making allusions that a bulk Christian vote could not have yielded the victory of Fintiri in 2019. While he can hold that opinion it is highly debatable and impossible to account for the votes cast for the three parties along religious lines!!
The Senator’s major mistake just like Babachir is that they are looking at the political configuration of Adamawa State along a warped Prism and not from an angle of enlightened political education and orientation facilitated by a greater exposure through several channels that include social media and the evolving political culture in its wake.
The PDP as a party has set up it’s own machinery devoid of religious sentiments although conscious of equitable representation .
A baffling thing about Babachir and Nyako’s banter is that the concept of a polarized State along religious lines comes as a surprise to the people of the state for whom good works of government are shared irrespective of religious inclinations. The two have only bared their political views based on particular interest long known by flowers of political event in the state: The heart of Adamawa State, THE GOVERNORSHIP. For them, the battle has just began while the interest of the people is secondary.
While the two APC chieftains are arguing about the religious or the ADC factor that culminated into the victory of PDP in the state, the vast majority of those that constitute the electorate hold their own views. The machinations at the APC congress has left a broad area and a gulf that would need bridging which is a difficult thing given the religious colouration that the two principal actors hold.
As it is, there is an uneasy calm with powerful subterranean currents that would surface when a candidate for the GOVERNORSHIP emerges. The argument by Babachir on one side and that of Abdulaziz Nyako on the other would have to contend on the domain of public opinion of members within the party and finally the mass population of Adamawa State that would vote..
However, the people of Adamawa State deserve an orderly manner of doing things and these APC chieftains seem to be going in the wrong direction, a major problem that has beclouded the affairs of the party from the very beginning.
When the APC has a grouse along ethnic or religious sentiments, they should find an avenue of resolving their problems rather than enmeshing the entirety of the nation in their fickle minded squabble.
The current exchange of words within the APC fold on the conduct of the congresses from the ward to the state level as confirmed by Sen Nyako have been rife with complaints of “short changing” of some members. It therefore came as no surprise that the state Congress could not be completed within the stipulated time. This did not come as a surprise because right from the grassroot their has been discontent.
On the other hand, Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri at re helm of PDP affairs in Adamawa State has maintained the need to avoid squabbles within the party and to instead take the issue of governance seriously before resorting to politicking at the appropriate time.
The PDP in Adamawa State is as solid as ever . In the absence of rancour within it’s ranks , it is in a better state to better it’s last outing in 2019.
George Kushi can be reached on the mail kushgeorge19@gmail.com