Amid the conspiracies to scuttle his second term bid, to make him go the same way of his predecessor booted out of office after one term, Governor Umar Fintiri succeeded to make history by winning his re-election bid despite the attempted coup against him. MUAZU ABARI writes on his long walk to re-election.
Rough terrain of Adamawa politics
Adamawa state is a proud home of so many political juggernauts, prominent sons and daughters of repute who have made their marks in their various fields of endeavour and in Nigeria’s socio-economc and political arena.
To venture into Adamawa politics is synonymous with one signing his death political warrant where only the brave-hearted can dare and keep afloat for long.
Suffice it to say that since 1999, the politics of the state continues to consume so many astute and tested politicians despite their popularity and stronghold in the state’s political landscape.
Fintiri’s early move in politics
Umar Fintiri, however, decided to damn the consequences of political uncertainties and ventured into Adamawa politics by contesting for the House of Assembly seat of Madagali constituency in 2007 under the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and won to represent his people.
Upon his election into the Adamawa State House of Assembly in 2007, Fintiri emerged as Deputy Minority Whip and later Minority Whip which brought him into leadership hierarchy of the Assembly where he gave his people efficient and effective representation that was second to none in the history of the constituency.
This boos step increased his popularity and endeared him to the hearts of his people.
To further serve the interest of his constituents in line with their wishes, Fintiri subsequently defected to PDP and won his re- election for second term and later emerged as Majority Leader and subsequently as speaker following a leadership change in the Assembly.
As speaker, he proved his mettle and leadership acumen demonstrating competence and capacity that stood him out.
His sterling leadership qualities endeared him to the people and his colleagues in the Assembly and by divine providence following the impeachment of Ex-Governor Murtala Nyako, he stepped in as the acting governor of the state which marked a turning point in his political career.
With his emergence, he immediately swung into actions to re-define governance in the state.
Within just 3 months in office as acting governor, he embarked upon massive constructions of roads, resuscitation of street lights, payment of unpaid salary arrears, prioritisation of workers welfare, among other impactful projects, which endeared him to the people of Adamawa who look forward to him with high hopes and optimism of a better and greater Adamawa state.
Despite his superlative performance and popularity, his efforts to become the substantive governor of the state in the supposed bye election did not see the light of the day, following court judgement given a day to the election which voided the supposed bye election and returned Nyako’s deputy Bala Ngillari as the substantive governor of the state to complete Nyako’s tenure.
The judgement forced Fintiri to return to his original seat as Speaker, even after his tenure and the 2015 election that produced Bindow Umaru Jibrilla of the APC as governor he continued to keep faith with his party (PDP) and the people of Adamawa state who appreciated his modest contributions to the development of the state within just three months in office and they were looking for an opportunity to paid him back which 2019 election provided where he won to emerge as governor.
On assumption to office, he promised the people of the state a breath of fresh air and commitments to make Adamawa work again, anchored on his 11 point development agenda as clearly stated in his inaugural speech entitled” Hope restored” when he said .
“The journey to Dougerei House has been a long one for me and victory could not have been possible without your supports.Those who followed my journey will know the hurdles, the accusations, my incarceration but God almighty is the ultimate planner who give power to whom He wills. I did not get this far because I’m the best politician or better than other contestants. I was simply chosen by God almighty to be your governor once again.
“Politics is over and the stage is now set to for the extra job of making Adamawa work again. As a government of popular consent, I’m mindful of the responsibility this has bestowed on us. I hereby affirm that hope has been restored and true change has come to Adamawa, let us embrace it, as i solemnly pledge to provide leadership that is required to make this change work for the good of all,” he said.
1st term scorecard
With these commitments even in the face of intimidating challenges, financial strangulation, frightening debt profile, decayed infrastructures and high expectations, Fintiri swung into action to fulfil his promises to the people of the state where he succeeded to redefine governance in the state, revamped the education sector leading to implementation of free education, introduction of school feeding programme.
Others were payment of WAEC, NECO fees, payment of counterpart funding which saw massive renovations of schools, recruitments of teachers, massive investments in physical infrastructures leading to completion of abandoned road projects, constructions of urban and rural roads and the first ever flyover, reconnections of communities to National grid and electrification projects, rehabilitation of hospitals, constructions of brand new cottage hospital among other achievements in various sectors.
Infact, in his four years in office, the governor succeeded to re-write the development history of the state and turned Adamawa into a model of good governance and infrastructural development in Nigeria with his footprints scattered across the state to the admiration of the masses which earned him so many National and international award’s which make most people to believed that he wont have any problem with his second term bid on account of his performance.
Tough battle for 2nd term
But unfortunately, to the disbelief of most people, his re- election journey have turned out to be the toughest political battle of his life.
The plot against him by some powerful interest within and outside the state who were palpably desperate to remove him from office by hook or crook even if it means subverting the wills of the people and democratic process.
Most people in the state including political analysts attributed what befell the governor in the election to two or three factors, some of which were self-inflicted.
Those who subscribed to this view believed that apart from underrating his main challenger in the election, Senator Aisha Binani of APC, the governor erroneously believed that his performance alone would see him through in the election.
It was also believed that the governor possessed the hands of an infant and did not see the need to prioritise stomach infrastructure and did not extend his hands to those who worked to deliver him in 2019 through political patronages leaving most of them disenchanted with his administration.
Consequently, some of his former political allies worked against him. Even some of his appointees failed to establish good relationship with the electorate who contributed to his long walk to first term victory.
The drama
The political drama in Adamawa guber election started immediately after the successful conduct of the election when the results started filtering into the state collation centre after 18 Local Governments results were collated which saw the Governor leading his APC counterpart with some margin leaving only the result of Michika, Madagali, Gombi and Fufore behind.
By the time that the result of Michika, Madagali, Gombi arrived the state collation centre Yola, the governor was still leading his APC counterpart but with less expected margin leaving only the result of Fufore local government behind still being awaited for final collation and official announcement then the unexpected happened as news filtered in that some political thugs believed to be APC supporters stormed the local government collation centre and carted away the result sheet of the local government.
This marked the beginning of the political drama in the election and with this development, INEC decided to send another result sheet to the area but a new controversy erupted with both APC and PDP claiming two conflicting results. While APC claimed that based on the result at their disposal given to them by their agents, they have over 37,000 votes against 20,000 votes scored by PDP. This they erroneously believed will make them winner of the election.
On their part, PDP insisted that from the authentic result snatched, APC scored 25,00 against PDP 20,000 meaning APC is only leading them in the local Government with 5000 votes which prompted INEC to fall back to its IREV to download the authentic result to solved the problem which proved PDP right.
As this controversies raged on, the Resident Electoral commissioner (REC) Hudu sidi who initially sent another form to Fufore collation officer was caught on tape directing him to manipulate the result of Fufore local Government in favour of Binani APC claiming that he received an order from the highest authority to assist Binani to emerged winner of the election at all cost and by all means which he admitted when accosted by journalists in an interview.
Following the resolution of the controversies that trailed Fufore result through INEC IREV, the returning officer in the state Prof Mohammed Mele declared the result inconclusive on the ground that, Fintiri scored 421,524 votes against Binani who scored 390,275 votes but the margin of win which is 31,249 is less than the cancelled votes of over 40,000 in 69 polling units across 20 Local Governments with 37,016 potential voters with PVCs.
Just before the rerun election, several people, groups and lovers of democracy as well as the PDP family in both the state and the national level called for the removal and replacement of the REC who they have passed vote of no confidence on account of the leaked voice call but Prof.Mahmood Yakubu led INEC ignored this patriotic calls and allowed him to continue in his capacity as REC but sent two National Commissioners to supervise the rerun election in the state.
The failed political coup
Just like the main election, the supplementary in Adamawa state went on successfully in 69 polling units across 20 Local Governments as scheduled which saw Gov.Fintiri clearly in the lead .After 10 Local Governments the collation process was adjourned for sunday 16th 11 Am to complete the process and declared the final result.
But in what is akin to political coup and seen as unprecedented in the history of political desperation and craze for power at all cost and by all means the embattled REC in company of the state commissioner of police sent to supervised election in the state CP mohammed Barde and other heads of security agencies in the state batched into collation centre ahead of 11 resumed time to declared APC Binani winner of the election even when the result of the remaining 10 local Governments are yet to arrived state collation centre.
INEC quickly reacted to avoid total break down of law and order in the state by coming out with a statement nullifying the illegal declaration by the REC, describing it as null and void and stressing that the REC had no power to make such declaration and that his action “is tantamount to usurpation of the power of the returning officer” and proceeded to suspend the collation process.
As the people of the state were yet to come out of this unimaginable shock seen as ‘civilian coup’, then came another shocker when the illegally declared winner Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani decided to make an illegal acceptance speech now described as “treasonable offence aimed at forcefully taking over a government from the incumbent.”
The remedy
After its emergency meeting in Abuja, INEC decided to immediately resume collation of the remaining results so as to complete the process but without any remorse, Binani in another desperate move, rushed to Federal High Court Abuja seeking to stop INEC from going ahead with the remaining process a request which was turned down by the court.
This paved way for INEC to collate the result of the remaining 10 local governments and declared Fintiri as the winner of the election having polled 430,861 votes against Binani’s 398,788 votes to win his second term bid.
It was indeed a tedious and highly unpredictable journey for him which ended up in sweet and well deserved victory for a superlative performance and doggedness in the last 4 years.