Adamawa 2023: Fintiri’s Date with History

Many Nigerians expect incumbents to win election because of what has come to be known as power of incumbency. However, we have seen incumbents whose power of incumbency alone was not enough to deliver them at the polls. This and many more shows that Nigerians are becoming more and more aware of the powers that they possess as electorates.

Nowhere is the above scenario more glaring than in Adamawa state where a non performing incumbent was booted out despite having the power of incumbency as well as belonging to the ruling party at the center. In truth, the erstwhile governor, and his handlers knew long before the election that he will be trounced. The people of Adamawa made no secret of their desire for a fresh lease of life.

And as Adamawa like the rest of Nigeria is gearing for another round of election in 2023, the verdict is already out on the serving incumbent and it is positive. The people of Adamawa are waiting anxiously to return Governor Umaru Fintiri for another term and this is a welcome sight for citizens like us who are always looking out for the best for our dear state.

The question then is, what’s the difference between this incumbent who is been urged to recontest and continue, and the previous one who was ousted in a very emphatic manner? The answer is simple. Whereas the previous incumbent made sure to set the state backward by rewinding all the gains that previous administration made in critical areas as security, infrastructure, welfare of workers and the general citizenry, the current incumbent, his excellency Umaru Fintiri is the very embodiment of hope and progress. Within three years of his administration, he has completely changed the fortunes of the people of Adamawa.

Workers who were hitherto owed salaries and reduced to paupers that even financial institutions blacklisted from assessing credits because of the uncertainty around their actual salary now know exactly how much their salaries are, and most importantly, when to expect their monthly pay.

On the infrastructure front, there were areas in Adamawa state that were almost cutoff from the rest of the state because of the poor condition of roads. All that has been remedied thanks to the accelerated development programme of the Umaru Fintiri administration. Several roads have been deliberately built to aid the transportation of goods and services, especially from rural areas where agriculture has received a big boost as part of the economic diversification efforts of the current administration.

However, it is in the area of security that the people, especially those of Southern Adamawa, a hitherto peaceful region that was almost laid to waste by the previous administration and has seen the return of peace that the governor has been given his highest marks. This is all thanks to the concerted, multifaceted and multi-agency approach of the government towards ending insecurity in the state.

As I write this, governor Fintiri has procured several tons of liquid fertilizer as well as improved seedlings for distribution to Adamawa farmers for the upcoming season. This and many more people centred approaches, including a recent commitment by the governor to concentrate more on stomach infrastructure in his next coming is no doubt responsible for the high rate of optimism pervading the air in Adamawa.

It will be foolhardy for any politician to even entertain the thought of defeating Fintiri in the 2023 election and this is without prejudice to the array of contestants that have indicated interest to contest for the coveted office, especially within our party, PDP. It is on this note that I will enjoin people like Elisha Abboh to go with the people and support the reelection bid of Governor Fintiri. This I believe may even make it easy, especially for Elisha to seek reelection into the Senate.

Kabir writes from Abuja