Governor Murtala
Nyako has come under a barrage of accusations from opposition elements
in the state in the past week. Allegations range from the purchase of
voters’ cards calculated to disenfranchise a sizable voting bloc to his
involvement in the relocation of migrant herdsmen during the just
concluded voter’s registration exercise to give him an advantage in the
election.
The attack from the
opposition was spearheaded by Markus Gundiri, the Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate and Buba Mohammed Marwa who left
the PDP for the CPC to contest against Mr. Nyako after a disputed party
congress. The first shot was fired by Mr. Gundiri who was alarmed by
the resettlement of migrants suspected to be foreigners in the
registration exercise.
Then Mr. Marwa
warned that “the Adamawa state government is buying off people’s
voters’ card at a very ridiculous amount.” He said the government’s
action is regrettable, and “wondered how many voter’s card the
government can buy”.
“If any attempt is
made to rig the elections I can assure you we are ready to die there.
Nobody can rig us out,” he said. He expressed confidence that the
people will stand by them. Mr Marwa further said he understands that
the state government has also set up a unit with the objective of
exploring ways on how they can compromise the forthcoming elections.
“Buying and
destruction of voter’s card would not give the state government any
advantage” he said, noting that only “implementing pro-poor policies
was the only guarantee to gaining the people’s confidence and votes.”
The governor is not desperate
However, Aminu
Iyawa, principal special assistant to the governor on media said the
incumbent is not so desperate to be governor of the state unlike Mr.
Marwa who he said has been exhibiting signs of desperation by jumping
from one political party to another.
The ACN had alerted
the media with what it claimed were documentary evidence of some
migrants brought into the state in six truck loads preparatory to the
polls. The party said it suspects the state’s use of a revised policy
on nomadic resettlement as ploy by the governor to increase its votes
during elections.
Mr. Nyako’s
administration has also come under harsh criticism from prominent
senior citizens of the state under the umbrella of the Adamawa Elders
Forum. The elders had pointed out that the government policy of
reclaiming farm lands meant for the indigenes for Fulani nomads was a
sinister development that could set the ground work for future settler
indigene dispute as seen in other states.
But supporters of
the governor on their part have alleged that the opposition in the
state is engaged in fear mongering. The secretary of Gombi local
government, Ibrahim Mohammed, said the insinuations that the migrant
Fulani herdsmen were Chadians and Nigeriens was not true nor did the
state government sponsor the resettlement of the nomads. Mr. Mohammed
said “none of these people is from Chad or Niger as falsely claimed.”
The district head
of Gombi, Shuaibu Barde who confirmed the presence of the people in his
domain however said they are actually members of one family. Mr. Barde
said it is regrettable that a particular gubernatorial candidate had
chosen to sensationalize the issue for political ends and to cast the
ruling PDP as working to grow its votes through “illegal means”.
Fear of Plateau
The district head
said because he stands to suffer from the backlash of any grave
security breach in his domain so he ordinarily would not risk allowing
unknown migrants to settle within his domain if there weren’t any
guarantees that the migrants are peaceful and law abiding Nigerians.
A civil servant in
the state who spoke under anonymity said he is worried by the
relocation of the settlers because of the volatile security situation
in the country and the activities of the Boko Haram sect in some part
of the North East zone. “We don’t want to see Adamawa become another
Plateau where the settler indigene issue has become a divisive issue
nor do we want to lose sleep over the presence of some foreigners whose
roots remains obscure.”
The Police public
relations officer in the state Altine Daniels said the law’s role is to
monitor the situation. Mrs. Daniels maintained that there was very
little they could do since the state government created the grazing
reserve settlement.
During the last voter registration exercise the comptroller of
immigration in the state paraded six foreigners apprehended by the
officers of the immigration service for illegal possession of voters
card.
