EMMANUEL SAMUEL, Yola
Ahead of 2023 general elections, the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa State, has accused Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of fiddling, while the state “is on fire”.
As such, the APC said the governor “should start packing his load to leave Dougirei Government House Yola, whether he likes it or not”.
The party was, however, reacting to a statement credited to the governor who said APC was overwhelmed with crisis and currently in shamble.
Fintiri has upon his return to the state after a prolonged “working tour”, given the opposition party a hard tackle, saying that a party that could not organise hitch-free ward congresses was not worth its name.
“We are back and we have already started counting our victories and our successes towards 2023.
” As you know, the other party has just started their ward congresses and they are totally in shamble.
“They are in deep crisis that they will never recover from. After all, we know they are not a political party,” Fintiri said.
But in a riposte, the APC spokesman, Mohammed Abdullahi, accused Governor Fintiri of fiddling while the state was on fire, advising the governor to concentrate on the onerous challenges facing the state, rather than dabbling into the affairs of other political parties.
“It is not our habit to join issues with his Excellency, the Governor of Adamawa State because of the respect we have for his office.
“We wonder why he will jettison the onerous responsibility of governance and dabble into the affairs of another political party.
“But it is incumbent to state that if there is any political party that is riddled with crisis today, it is the PDP.
“The neck of their National Chairman is still hanging as the two factions call for his resignation. We even saw demonstrations at the national secretariat of the PDP with people carrying placards asking Secondus to go.
“Instead of him to concentrate and solve these issues within his political party, he is trying to delve into the affairs of the APC.
“I vividly remember a time his Excellency said at Ribadu Square that within three months, there will be no APC in Adamawa and I want to categorically, clearly say that within these three months he postulated, the PDP in Adamawa State suffered the greatest loss a political party can imagine.
“It is within the period that his Excellency, Barr. Bala Ngilari left the PDP for APC; it is within that period that a sitting senator, Sen. Ishaku Abbo, left the PDP for APC.
“Within the same period, Sen. Grace Jackson Bent who is a BOT member of the PDP, left for the APC. In a similar development, former house of representatives member, Titsi Ganama, who represented Michika/Madagali and Hon Ahmed Wangubi Fons, who represented Ganye Jada Mayo Belwa and Toungo and Hon Gibson Nathaniel, all defected from PDP to the APC.
“At the same time, a State Deputy Chairman of the PDP, Timothy Audu Vimtim defected from the PDP to the APC. I think it is better for his Excellency to sit down and nurse his wounds than delving into the affairs of APC.
“He has a burden on his neck to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people of Adamawa state. It is better he do that because time is not in his favour. Come 2023 whether he likes it or not, he is vacating the Dougire government house because APC has become more formidable, more strong and more determined to recapture the seat of the governor in Adamawa State,” Abdullahi noted.
Also responding to the allegations that the recently conducted ward congresses had torn APC to shreds, Abdullahi said, there is no political party, that has conducted a rancour-free ward congress like the one APC conducted, because the stakeholders and the party leadership have worked assiduously to arrive at a consensus, and the consensus has really worked.
“We had congresses that are rancour free and envious of other political parties. Let us wait and see what will happen when the PDP will do their own. May be they will have to invite doctors to take care of them but as far as we are concerned, we are not disturbed by what his Excellency has said, because he has said it before and the result happened to be more positive to the APC,” Abdullahi said.
The APC spokesman added that the PDP would suffer more wounds in the future.
He noted that in order to regain its winning streak, the party under the leadership of Yobe State’s Governor Mai Mala Buni, had set up “a powerful reconciliation committee under the Executive Governor of Jigawa, State, Abubakar Badaru, noting that the committee, which is made up of eminent personalities who are respected in APC circles and even the Nigerian political space, “will surely deliver the goods”.
“They are going round the states where the problems are and they are addressing issues squarely. To make things easier, in each state, they have identified key stakeholders that are saddled with the responsibility of reconciling people within the APC.
” I want to assure you that all these petty issues that people are hearing about APC are mere rumours, they are not really existing.
“APC has become formidable in Adamawa state, we have realised why we are out of power and we have put our house in order,” he said.