by Alex Augustine Babajimeta
The 20th of March 2021 local government councillorship bye elections for 3 wards , Guyuk ,Kiri and Lamurde in 3 local government areas of Adamawa state respectively ,has been done with.
As expected the PDP swept the elections hands down except for the disappointing fall in Lamurde ward of Lamurde local government area , where the APC won .
The posture of the governor H.E Rt Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri ,in all intents and actions, is of a violent free and fair elections where votes count and winner declared .
AUF was making history ,deviating from the long practiced ,unfair local council electioneering of past administrations, where the ruling party must be declared winner for every position whether won or not.
The governor had on inaugurating the AISEC election committee for the bye election ,charged the Isa Shettima -led body to be above board and ensure free and fair voting , and immediate declaration of the duely elected .
And his excellency stayed clear of the process.
By so doing AUF had opened the field for the peoples voice to be heard through unhindered or fettered voting. A milestone actually ,that can be sustained and imbibed by future administrations decades from now.
Knowing fully well what is required to win an election in a situation like that, governor AUF (after diligent strategising and mobilisation of resources as a party member and leader) sent his deputy Chief Crowther Seth to represent him at the three campaign rallying points of Guyuk ,Kiri and Lamurde ,with a high powered delegation consisting of :
honourable commissioners and board memebers ; local government party chairmen of Guyuk, Shelleng and Lamurde and their executive members ; the hon. Speaker and some members of the Adamawa state house of assembly; executive chairmen of the three local governments ; state chairman of the PDP Barr. A.T Shehu and other top government and party officials.
The campaign train moved from Guyuk to Kiri and ended in Lamurde , The hometown and forte of the number two citizen of Adamawa state , and deputy governor , H.E Chief Crowther Seth.
The delegation was powerful and was ready made to win all three wards councillorship . At the rallies the governors message was passed on by Chief Crowther seth and reiterated by state party chairman barr. Shehu ,all party loyalists and well meaning citizen are to ensure victory for PDP candidates.
The governor was fully convinced that PDP will triumph in all the elections, an election even the opposition accept was free and fair, this was because of the good relationship he had with the people of the regions, or any other region of Adamawa state for that matter .
Little did AUF know that his party will fall in lamurde of all places , where he expected a handsdown win because his number two man,
the sitting deputy governor of Adamawa state was from Lamurde , and it was fatally assumed and expected that he has home support and the clout to mobilise the people to vote for a party they are benefitting from and ensure victory for PDP .
But alas the PDP lost though with a 299 slim margin .Kudos to those 1480 PDP loyalists who stood by the governors request and voted for the party.
We move.
So, why then did PDP lose in Lamurde ,where not even the opposition expected to win?
APC faithfuls want to celebrate the win as an achievement of their popularity ,very laughable though.
If it was indeed so why didnt they replicate same in the other two two local government areas of Guyuk and Shelleng ? where they were beaten black ,blue and purple.
But for the fairness of Governor AUF who chose to lay another precedence in Adamawa state by allowing results to stand and successful winner declared irrespective of party ,the Lamurde election will have been declared PDP and very little can be done about it
Kindly recall the 2016 local government elections under the APC /Bindow administration. it was pathetic ,i was a running mate in that election for Yola north council and we saw koro koro government magic that year, the rest is history ,and has now been made mundane by just this one, tiny master stroke by H.E Ahmadu Fintiri jn letting votes count.
H.E AUF allowed the votes to count .
So, if we agree unanimously that the APC woefully lost two out of the three wards up for grabs, and won that of lamurde by a paltry margin ,what then would be the real reasons for PDPs fall in Lamurde of all places?
The answers lies with the people, my inquiries yielded quite a number of answers including , but not limited to :
disharmony in the community as a fall out of how the Deputy Governor related with the people after the may / june 2020 skirmishes that had lost him immense influence in Lamurde land;
it is alledged that the deputy governor is not relating well with relevant stake holders from Lamurde ;
too much friction between the local government council chairman and the local government PDP chairman that is hindering synergy ;
complaints from the masses that they are not benefitting from the style of administration of both chairmen has eroded party loyalty;
worse of all there is the allegation that resources meant for mobilising the people to come out to vote where cornered by those concerned officials, coincidentally the annual kwete festival was favoured above standing in line under the hot march sun with no water to drink leading to loss of voters;
and the youths who constitute majority of voters were complaing of not being taking along as all the political office holders and officials from Lamurde are recycled elders.
Conclusively it was not the APC that defeated the PDP but it was a protest vote against the Deputy Governor ,the local goverment chairman and laxity or misgivings among the major stake holders from that zone.
It is advisable that the Governor sees this as a own goal ,as a wake up call.
Each and every elected and appointed official from the PDP must be up and doing to ensure we win back the confidence and love of the masses with more humanitarian gestures ;
positive and realistic synergy must be enhanced between council chairmen and their patners the local government party executives.. end of month party stakeholders meeting must be given bite and avoid the talkshop syndrome which is too much ado for nothing.
The deputy governor should be seen able and doing to ensure return to winning ways in his zone;
He should without prejudice take full responsiblity for that fall in his land ,mend fences and play the required leadership roles to get him back into the good books of his people .
My humble commendations to the people of Guyuk ,Shelleng and Lamurde for the peaceful conduct of a violence- free ,free and fair elections.
