Adamawa: Jonathan’s visit and 2015 battle

THE recent visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to Adamawa State has raised the State’s political temperature, especially with regard to the fate and fortunes of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the coming 2015 General Elections.   The recent removal from office of the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and the defection of Governor Murtala Nyako to the All Progressives Congress (APC) are posing immensel dangers to the potency of the state PDP in 2015.  Thus, the President’s visit, in which he spent more time on political than state matters, was seen by many as a political medication to re-inject life into the state wing of the PDP, in preparation for the 2015 elections.   President Jonathan was in Yola, the capital city of Adamawa, to commission the Nigerian Airforce Secondary School built by Air Marshall Alexander Badeh, an indigene of the state, who was recently promoted as Chief of Defence Staff.  The President, who arrived at the Yola International Airport one hour behind schedule, was received by Governor Murtala Nyako.  Jonathan, accompanied by Air Marshall Badeh, Tukur, Service Chiefs and top PDP chieftains in the state, spent about one hour at the venue of the commissioning.   Driven in the same car with Governor Nyako, the President proceeded to the Palace of the Lamido of Adamawa, Dr. Alyiu Mustafa Barkindo, for royal homage.  Thereafter, the convoy moved to the Lelewa Hotel located opposite the Adamawa State Polytechnic, near the state PDP office, Yola, venue of the party’s stakeholders meeting.   When the President got to the venue, Governor Nyako alighted from the car and bid him farewell, while the Deputy Governor, Mr. Bala Ngillari, who is now the leader of the PDP in Adamawa, took over proceedings at the stakeholders’ meeting.  The meeting, which started at about 1.00pm, lasted till after 3.00pm, had in attendance PDP chieftains, including Tukur, Senator Jibril Aminu, and Senator Bello Tukur, the only serving senator from the state in the party.   Other party leaders were The Minister of Women Affairs,Hajia Zainab Maina; former Minister for Health, Dr Idi Hong; and the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Mr. Ahmed Guluk.  The Guardian learnt that the President told the party leaders that the crises in the PDP were not enough reason for five governors on the platform of the PDP to defect to the APC.  “May be their defection was an act of God; it can turn out to be for the good of the party,” he was quoted by a chieftain that participated in the meeting.  Mr. Justin Kalakala, the president of PDP Youths for Adamawa Southern senatorial zone, also confirmed that Jonathan assured members of the party not to panic over the crises, saying that the PDP would become stronger after the storm.   According to Kalakala, the President re-affirmed his total commitment to rebuilding the PDP as a party that could defend the norms and values of democracy in the country.  He said the President also appealed to members of the PDP in the state to remain focused and united, to ensure victory during the 2015 polls.  Subsequently, the state chairman of the PDP, Mr. Joel Madaki, Senator Aminu, Deputy Governor Ngillari and other speakers at the meeting endorsed the President as the party’s candidate for the 2015 presidential election.  Madaki and Ngillari assured the President that the people of Adamawa State were behind his transformation agenda and would continue to support him to achieve his desire to transform the country.  The President reportedly concluded the meeting by ushering in two National Assembly members that decamped from the APC to the PDP in the state. They are Mr. Haske Francis Hananiya, representing Gombi/Hong federal constituency and Mr. Emmanuel T. Ganama, representing Michika/Madagali federal constituency.  According to Mallam Shehu Umar, a PDP top shot in Mayo-Belwa, the home town of Governor Nyako, Jonathan’s visit was not only to solicit support for his re-election ambition, but also to repackage Adamawa PDP for the political battle in 2015.   He maintained that the visit was purely designed to create an opportunity for the President to interact with members of the PDP in the State and discuss problems confronting party.  Umar noted that the visit has not only restored hope in members of the party in the state, but that it has also confirmed that Jonathan would not only contest the 2015 presidential poll, “but he is well prepared to win the race.”  He disclosed that the President “assured the Adamawa PDP of his full support to ensure that the party wins all the elections in the state come 2015.”  Former PDP governorship aspirant during the 2012 election in Adamawa, Dr. Umar Ardo, said the visit of the President was to stamp the party’s authority in the state and also to confirm the legitimacy of the state PDP executive, led by Mr. Joel Madaki.  “The President’s visit has proven otherwise to those that think the PDP, without Governor Murtala Nyako, who was a liability to the party, cannot stand or get the kind of support that the people of the state witnessed on when the President arrived in the state capital,” Ardo said.  “It is now clear to even a blind man that there is no vacancy for any other political party in Adamawa; PDP is the landlord for now.”  Ardo recalled that a day before the coming of Mr. President, the state capital was adorned with APC posters and billboards, but that the following day, “all the posters and billboards disappeared. It was like magic; the posters of the President (and those of Dr. Ardo) painted the state capital.”  He said the stakeholders’ endorsement of President Jonathan for the 2015 polls was to show that, “the state wing of the PDP supports Mr. President, considering his development programmes within the short time of his administration.”  “Our votes in Adamawa are intact for Mr. President, as our people are wise, considering what happened to them in the past, when party leaders misled them for selfish interest,” he said.  On the alleged statement by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that he would not contest for the Presidency in 2015, Ardo said that if that happened, “there would be political danger if he (Atiku) did support Jonathan.”  “Atiku is a force in Nigerian politics; so, if he is not contesting and he is not supporting Mr. President, it means we in PDP will face serious political danger, considering his wealth, political experience and acceptability across the country,” he said, adding, “he will pose serious danger to any candidate that he opposes during the poll.”  Ardo advised that for political comfort, the national leadership of the party should work hard to bring Atiku back to the Jonathan camp, “to avoid a tough election battle in 2015.”  In truth, the Adamawa PDP is almost facing political extinction owing to its poor financial status and a leadership that is yet to establish itself on ground following the crisis that greeted its emergence.  The major financier of Adamawa PDP was former Vice President Abubakar, who is presumed to be the leader of the rebel group in the party.   Without Atiku, according to political analysts, the party “will be going to the battlefield without arms and ammunition to confront its enemies.”  The state political appointees and majority of the elected members on the platform of the PDP had abandoned it, and shown no practical commitment to a party that helped them to achieve their political ambitions.  This would constitute a thick roadblock to the victory of the party in the state if the President does not follow up with practical actions after his visit to rescue the PDP from the claws of chieftains of the opposition APC, who appear battle-ready to crush the party in the 2015 polls.  The Guardian investigations reveal that the only PDP chieftain in the state, who since 1999 has remained a loyal member without defecting to another political party, is Dr. Umar Ardo.   According to sources, “he has spent his family funds to sustain the party, especially now that Atiku has withdrawn his financial assistance to the party in the state.”  Ardo was instrumental to the dissolution of the Alhaji Mijinyawa Kugama-led state PDP executive, which was loyal to Governor Nyako.   It was his petition to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that compelled the national leadership of the party to sack the Kugama executive in line with the letter of INEC to the party.  He is still at the Supreme Court, challenging the legality of Nyako’s emergence as the winner of the PDP primary election in the 2012 governorship election.  The President visit proved Ardo’s standing in the party, as the stakeholders nominated him to address members of the PDP before the arrival of President Jonathan.  Besides, it was only Ardo’s posters and billboards that were placed side by side Jonathan’s posters and billboards, welcoming the President to the state

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