THE anti-corruption campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is being put up for public scrutiny as the capacity of the government to tackle graft is being questioned with recent revelations that former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar donated N500 million to fund the campaign of the state governor, Alhaji Muhammed Umaru Jubrilla.

The governor last week, disclosed that he had to dump former governor, Murtala Nyako when Atiku offered the huge sum to support his campaign bid even though the donation was in violation of the laws limiting campaign funding to prevent abuses and illegal hijack of the process of election and governance.

Jubrilla’s statement did not only expose the gross abuse of the provisions of the electoral laws, but it also raised both constitutional and moral burden for APC government to continue with the fight against corruption.

The Electoral Act 2010 clearly put a lid on the amount all candidates contesting elections should spend which must not be exceeded throughout elections campaigns.

Section 91 (3) stated that “The maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate at a governorship election shall be N200 million only” and Sub-Section 9 of the Act added, “An individual or other entity shall not donate more than N1 million to any candidate.”

Sub-section 10 went further to prescribe punitive measures to add bite to the Act by stating that, “A candidate who knowingly acts in contravention of this section commits an offence and on conviction is liable, in the case of governorship election to a fine of N800, 000.00 [eight hundred thousand naira] or imprisonment for a term of nine months or both”.

The questions some APC chieftains in Adamawa are asking President Muhammadu Buhari who is the major Apostle of the anti-graft crusade of the present administration and the national leadership of the party, is whether the party would act in the face of obvious negation of the law, to punish the offender.

Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Jimeta, a chieftain of APC in Adamawa has urged Buhari and the national leadership to look into the confession of Jubrilla and take the necessary action that can help to redeem the image of the party and the administration.
“When I read the governor’s comments in the papers I could not sleep that night because the comments have the capacity to destroy the plans of this administration to restore the rule of law in the country.
“It is either Buhari or APC leadership take an action on this statement or free former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, because Nigerians will no longer support Mr. President if the party sweep this issue under the carpet”, he said.

The Nyako Supporters Group (NSG) has called on the Adamawa House of Assembly to impeach Governor Jubrilla for flouting the regulations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on funding of a governorship campaign in the 2015 general election. Alhaji Adamu Namtari from Mayo Belwa, State Coordinator of the group, made the call while briefing newsmen last week in Yola.

He regretted that the action of the governor, who openly admitted receiving a whooping sum of N500 million from Atiku Abubakar through one Alhaji Jauro Turaki, during the 2015 gubernatorial campaign in Adamawa State, is a gross violation of Section 91(3) of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.
“Under section 91(3) the maximum election expenses to be incurred by a governorship candidate shall not exceed N200 million. We look at it as a breach of the said section of the law and therefore call on the State House of Assembly to commence impeachment proceeding against the governor,” he said.

Another chieftain of APC in the state, Aminu Gidado, during another press conference last week, also regretted that the governor could be ignorant of the law, insisting that a state like Adamawa cannot afford to have a governor that take delight in abusing the provisions of the country’s laws.

He said, “It is not something secret that the governor rode on the structure of former governor, Murtala Nyako to become a governor. We found it disgusting that N500 million has made him to transfer his loyalty to Atiku, I feel embarrassed that N500 million is Jubrilla’s problem.
“If his problem is such money, the Nyako Support Group [NSG] can give him more than that. Our concern is not whether Jubrilla’s loyalty is to Atiku or whosoever, but for him to stop embarrassing the state.”

Speaking on the allegation that Nyako fled abroad during the campaigns, Gidado said the allegations are not true and that the former governor had to stay in London after his impeachment because his liofe was under threat.

His words, “It still beats my imagination that the same Atiku who is today Bindow’s political lord had sponsored Alhaji Mijinyawa (Yayaji), his political godson for the same governorship position and if not for Nyako’s structure how could he have won the primaries?
“He forgot when Atiku frustrated him by refusing to fund his campaign and Nyako supporters still stood by him until his victory. Let us not make politics look like prostitution; yesterday you told the whole world that Nyako made you governor. It is not up to six months now and Atiku has made you governor. Maybe after another six months, you will transfer loyalty to Osinbajo.”

The governor however explained during the Christmas celebrations last month, his reasons for dumping Nyako on whose political structure he rode to win the gubernatorial elections.

The Electoral Act 2010 clearly put a lid on the amount all candidates contesting elections should spend which must not be exceeded throughout elections campaigns. Section 91 (3) stated that “The maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate at a governorship election shall be N200 million only” and Sub-Section 9 of the Act added, “An individual or other entity shall not donate more than N1 million to any candidate.”

While playing host to Jimeta indigenes who were led by his Chief of Staff, Alhaji Abba Jimeta, at the Government House, the governor said, “l shifted loyalty to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar because of the N.5b he gave to support my governorship campaign. During the campaign Nyako and his son, Senator Abdulazziz were in London, I have no regret over my decision”.

The governor accused some powerful politicians in the state of attempting to smear his image because he refused to do their bidding stressing, “apart from the money from the headquarters, nobody gave me ten naira during the campaign. The former VP asked me if we had any financial problem and I called the then party State Secretary, Abdullahi Bakari, who wrote and put our campaign demand at N300 million to him. It was after the submission that Atiku sent half a billion naira through Jauro to me.”

Also confirming the governor’s claim, Jimeta who was also the COS to Nyako said, “When you have two enemies, you join one to fight the other so what the governor did was right.”

Before the governor’s revelations of Atiku’s monetary gift, there were allegations that the former Vice-President has bought over the administration.

The governor appointed Atiku’s daughter Dr. Fatima Atiku Abubakar as Commissioner for Health while the former Vice-President is alleged to be a direct beneficiary of over 85 percent of all the projects in the state capital.

The first township road project was the Adama Beverages company road and the firm is allegedly owned by Atiku while the second road project was the Yola Bye-pass that led to American University of Nigeria [AUN] also said to be owned own by Atiku.

The third road project was the Gotel communication road and the media house to which the road led is also said to be owned by the former Vice-President just as the Karewa extension road project is where one of the AUN senior staff quarters is located.

Recently Atiku described the governor as the best Adamawa state has ever produced but the same statement was also credited to him in 2005 when he was quoted to have described former governor Boni Haruna as “a governor that Adamawa will not produce again in the next 50 years.”

Apart from seeking further explanations about the Atiku monetary gift, many politicians in the state are wondering if another person with a bigger purse may not take over the governor’s loyalty in 2019.

Presently the Nyako Group is in control of the party structures, while
Atiku, through the governor, is in charge of the Government House. The three Senators are the political commanders heading the Nyako troops with the support of other National Assembly members.

As the Atiku group parades political office holders as its weapons to challenge Nyako, the group may be facing the problems of disloyalty, as majority of the people serving in Jubrilla’s government were members of Nyako cabinet.
Very soon, answers would be sought for these as the state politics get more excited everyday with political events that are shaping and re-arranging supporters of different political godfathers.å