In Adamawa Politics, There Are No Permanent Friends and No Permanent Enemies.
The recent pictures of Adamawa state Governor, Umaru Fintiri and his predecessor, Umaru Jibrilla Bindow, at the Yola central mosque in Yola South local government of Adamawa have proved more than ever to be what we have been told again and again but refused to learn: that in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests.
“Permanent interests” in this case means – you scratch my back or groin, I scratch yours – we tame the itch and stop fidgeting.
Friendship is a difficult thing to maintain even among the closest families. Friends are hard to come by, so hard to keep, and even so hard to get rid of.
Not in politics, though. Here, friendships are as easy as ABC. You can change them like underwear without having a bath, and it is just okay.
Lately, the political atmosphere in Adamawa state is a lot like Lagos’ iconic yellow danfo minibuses—swerving erratically, bulging as too many riders squeeze inside, their drivers’ clinging vice-like to both steering wheel and wads of naira notes.
2023 was one such political rush hour when the APC that lost the election despite having both state and federal might to their conqueror, Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa state.
Again, a faction of the All-progressive congress in Adamawa agreed to work together to unseat Fintiri in the 2023 elections.
Should Fintiri be worried, or will this pact—like a Lagos go-slow—generate a lot of noise but no forward momentum?
Impressive at first glance, this new anti-Fintiri coalition is deceptively broad and not especially deep.
The opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) is at its core, which ran Adamawa from 2015 until 2019.
Dogged and resilient, the APC is nevertheless a shadow of its former self, still rebuilding its party structures after years of infighting. Lining up behind it are many smaller parties, most of which are ‘mom-and-pop’ operations.
One may wonder why the governor media team that fired at anyone that wrongly analysis of the administration of Fintiri comes under intense fire from Kumangar led media directorate of the Governor.
Seeing the Governor and his predecessor holding hands and laughing to the public’s chagrin shows that both leaders know they are not enemies but friends with a common interest in Governing Adamawa state.
However, some may wonder why will those fighting on behalf of these two leaders hid their faces seeing both happy with each other in public.
However, the fact remains that neither Messrs Fintiri nor Bindow has ever engaged each on verbal assault, but the former’s followers rant and insult the Governor calling him all sorts of names to demean him.
I am happy today that Garba Shehu and Adesina, the people, must understand that in all ramifications, media aide are image-makers that defend their principal in the case of any media attack and reckless outbursts from the oppositions; I now acknowledge that Kummangar is a professional to protect and project the Governor.
These opportunistic parties possess little more than their acronyms, subsisting daily by selling endorsements or renting themselves out to defeated PDP primary candidates seeking a second chance to run in the general election.
We know that some politician plans to use the former Governor to build up sufficient voting strength to be co-opted by one of the significant aspirants.
However, more damaging to Fintiri is the high-profile defection of a cadre of PDP rebels—the so-called aggrieved politician that the Governor refuse to share the state resources with to massage their ego.
These rebels, which include a former Fintiri confidente and townsman, reportedly enjoy the support of two APC bigwigs and known ‘frenemies’ of the Governor: Bala Ngillari and Chubado Babi They think that the former Governor’s emergence as a prospective candidate of the APC in 2023 is becoming increasingly complicated.
While still the odds favours Fintiri to win reelection, the opposition APC political power is visibly waning. Fintiri continues to get mileage out of many political weaknesses of prospective APC aspirants, including their aloof leadership style, many unmet campaign promises made by the party in 2015, and failure to address worsening violence between farmers and livestock herders.
As a result, many view APC as a party that lack any discernible ideology or set of values other than a desire to hold on to power: a situation that begets poor governance and corrupt political culture.
Finally, no spokesmen of any government is hired to keep silent; as such I don’t expect anyone to view Bindow or Fintiri’s spokesmen as an enemy of any individuals they lash at to defend their principals.
As elections approach, it will be increasingly difficult to keep track of APC’s shifting constellation of political elites whose favourite saying—”in politics, there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies”—should give their aspirants pause.