Penultimate weekend, the Adamawa political atmosphere has been a beehive of activities largely due to the merger meetings ongoing between the two dominant opposition political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC), in Adamawa state.
As a keen observer and lover of the suspense filled and dynamic nature of Adamawa politics since 2013 when I arrived at the famous College for Legal Studies, Yola for my diploma in law, it is a time the APC merger talks were consummated from the federal level to the states.
In Adamawa, then Governor Murtala Nyako, who was part of the G7 governors which later became G5 owing to the exit of Governors Babangida Aliyu and Sule Lamido from the merger talks, resisted the temptation to hijack the party structure completely from the lagacy parties. He ensured equity in the formation of the interim state executives of the party unlike his then governor colleagues who hijacked the party structure unilaterally from it legacy members.
The then Secretary to the Adamawa State Government Mr Kobis Ari Thinmu emerged the state interim caretaker committee chairman of the party while someone from the then Action Congress of Nigeria led by Marcus Gundiri emerged secretary. The Buba Marwa led Congress for Progressives Change produced the treasurer.
As such one would understand that the APC in Adamawa state went into the 2015 elections in the state as a united house winning all the National Assembly seats and majority of the seats in the state House of Assembly and the governorship elections.
At the time, Governor Bindow emerged from the camp of Admiral Nyako. But the centre could no longer hold shortly after, when he (Bindow) practically did everything possible to undermine Governor Nyako, his son Senator Abdulazeez, and other key loyalists who believed in the former governor.
That was the beginning of the end for the APC in Adamawa state as later events have shown that the party could have retained the state in 2019 had Governor Bindow not fight the man who literally brought him to politics.
In order to avoid the mistakes of the past, Senator Nyako must skillfully negotiate the structure of the party’s state working committee so as to fully reintegrate into the party.
Thank God they are returning to the party at a time political parties are on the verge of activating necessary machinery towards conducting state congresses as genuine reconciliation will start from there.
Gaddafi Ibrahim Tanko,
Abuja
