Protesting Adamawa IDPs ask governor to sack deputy

Aggrieved Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Guyuk Council, Adamawa State, yesterday held Governor Ahmadu Fintiri hostage, asking him to sack his deputy, Crowder Seth.

Fintiri visited the IDP camp with other personalities in the state to find a lasting solution to the communal crisis in the area, which had reportedly claimed over 50 lives this month.

Trouble started for the governor’s entourage when the IDPs sighted his deputy, who they accused of fuelling the crisis in his constituency. Carrying placards with inscriptions such as “Fintiri we love you, but your deputy is a criminal; he is murderer. Crisis will not end in our southern zone unless you remove him”,

“We don’t want him in our land”, “Go, Crowder, you are evil. Because of your evil, you cannot keep a woman”, the visibly angry IDPs also shouted anti-Seth slogans.

“We are aware of the deputy governor’s evil alliance and clandestine romance with the suspected criminal and mastermind of recent attacks on Dumna-Boshikiri axis of Guyuk.

“We demand the removal of the deputy governor and arrest of the alleged terrorist who is fingered by all as the chief sponsor of crises in this axis,” one of the protesters said.

According to him, when the deputy governor visited the locality to broker peace, he did not allow the stakeholders to state their own side of the story. Seth, who was standing close to Fintiri for fear of being physically attacked, was later whisked away by security officials when the body of a resident killed during the crisis was brought to the camp in a wheelbarrow by some youths.

But normalcy returned in the camp when the protesters discovered that he had left unceremoniously. Having stood speechless for about 47 minutes due to the protest, the governor told the IDPs that his administration had zero tolerance for crisis, adding that the security agents would carry out full investigation into the killings and prosecute those involved.

Fintiri told the mob, who were punctuating his speech with applause, that his visit was to show that they were not alone in their plight, pointing out that his government could not abandon them since his constitutional duty was to protect the citizens.

The governor, who expressed disappointment over the crisis, noted: “Nobody will be allowed to go free. When security investigations prove that you are connected to this crisis directly or indirectly, no matter the office you are occupying, you will face the full wrath of the law.”