Leader Leneke, Principal Special Assistant on legal Matters to Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State speaks on “Frontline”, a political platform on Eagle 102.5 FM Radio monitored by SOLA ADEYEMO

Why was Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, stripped of his Waziri Adamawa title?

I am sure that the world and indeed Nigerians and anyone else need to know the truth, and the truth is, the way the people make it sound is totally wrong and totally not correct. People make it sound like there was a deliberate attempt, to particularly and specifically target an individual with the current law that is being made by the state government of Adamawa, and this is not true. It has nothing to do with any particular individual, and a statement has been issued by the Honorable Commissioner of Information and Strategy in that direction to correct it. It is to correct the impression and the wrong insinuation that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is targeted. He is a very reverted man and a very highly respected son of Adamawa state. He is a distinguished Nigerian. A patriot, I can say that without any doubt.

Indeed, it might be true that currently the governor of Adamawa State, His Excellency Ahmadu Fintiri and the former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, may not be pursuing what seems to many to be same political path, but that does not mean that they are on the path of war. Recently, the Organizing Secretary of our great party in Adamawa State, Alhaji Hamza Bello, came out to clearly correct this notion that Alhaji Atiku and Governor Fintiri are at loggerheads. He said no, there is nothing like that. Everyone in Adamawa State, including the governor, holds Alhaji Atiku in high esteem. He will never make a lie of Atiku Abubakar, and nobody has done that.

With regard to this current law, laws and rules are made for proper governance; for proper coordination and proper administration. And you must remember that recently certain Chiefdoms and Emirates were added in Adamawa State. Previously, we had eight existing, and seven have been added. This brings us to a total of 15 emirate councils and chiefdoms across the state. In other words, the traditional class is expanding across the state. And to properly coordinate the affairs of these traditional councils, there are certainly some administrative directions that must be put in place so that there will be no confusion, chaos or rancour or any misunderstanding here or there. So, it is only in that direction that the governor has issued a policy direction through the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs as signed by the Permanent Secretary.

It says, ‘in all the chiefdoms and Emirates now there will be a new rule that focuses on those who are kingmakers, not those who are title holders. Those who will be kingmakers in every chiefdom must be people who are an extraction of that domain; of that chiefdom or that emirate’. You cannot therefore appoint somebody to be a kingmaker in a particular chiefdom, in a particular domain, who is not an indigene of that place. The issue of indigene is now there and that is why we have an indigenes letter. In any local government you come from, you must possess an indigene’s letter. That is one of the requirements for whatever we do in this country. When you want to apply for a job or even when you want to contest for any position in politics, you have to show that you are an indigene of where you are coming from.

Since in Adamawa State, more chiefdoms have been created, it is now more important we realign the composition of the kingmakers and this is different from one area to the other. The number that they comprise also differs. This is only to make administrative rules that make administrative convenience, and that is able to make things work well. So, there is no rancour.

Let me also quickly point it out at this point that Adamawa state is one of the states that has been bedeviled by security crises in the past, especially the Boko Haram insurgency. You will remember that Adamawa was one of the states that was placed under a state of emergency. Apart from Boko Haram, we have other security threats like the herders and farmers crisis. We had this issue of unknown gunmen and kidnappers that had been very rampant in the past, and had become almost a day to day affair that we wake up to in this state. But today, I can confidently tell you without fear of any equivocation that all these have become a thing of the past. They are now stories of the past. They are now history.

But how did we get to this point? We got to this point because of deliberate, careful, purposeful planning; purposeful policies of the government of the Rt. Honorable Ahmadu Fintiri who decided to call all the stakeholders across the spectrum, across board: from traditional rulers; from critical stakeholders; from religious leaders; from all stakeholders who have a stake in our security enterprise and are beginning to plan out modalities and plans on how things should work. And today, this insecurity is heard across the Northern states of Nigeria. But I can tell you with all pride that Adamawa is no longer one of those states that go through this insecurity.

How did that happen? It is because there was a purposeful plan. There was purposeful policy direction. And this is one of such plans. Now let me tell you that there are more chiefdoms. And what are the works of Chiefs and Emirs. It is to maintain security; to maintain decorum; to maintain order and laws within their domains. And for those laws and orders to be maintained, there are some administrative policies for it. In these laws, there is no intention whatsoever and it was not targeted at anybody in particular, and not Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as a person in particular.

Was Alhaji Atiku Abubakar consulted before the action of amending the law was done?

This is an Executive Bill of the government of Adamawa state and it was sent to the House of Assembly for deliberation. When a traditional rule or a Chief or emir is unable to perform his functions due to incapacitating ill health within that period, the governor will be empowered through consultation and will choose one of the princes of the land to act in place of that emir until the emir or chief is certified as fit to continue with his duties. And I can tell you that in this state, something of that happened, and currently, some of our emirs; some of our traditional rulers, naturally, of no fault of theirs, but for age and ill health, have been prevented from performing their functions and government functions as required. But they would send representatives.

But the governor is saying that in that direction also, there should be clear provision in the traditional role to provide that if a Chief, if an emir is unable to perform at such time, the governor in conjunction with the kingmakers and the traditional council and the other stakeholders can be able to rise and say this Prince should act on behalf of his traditional ruler for main time before the traditional ruler is certified as fit to continue. So, there are all of those plans that are on ground.

The only law that has been tampered with is this one. And I can tell you that before this, some of these laws were not clearly, properly provided for. So, when a situation like this arises, people are thrown into chaos, into confusion on what will happen. For example, where I come from, few months ago, our paramount ruler, the Murumbula as we call him, the JJ Fuah who is now late, was incapacitated. He was sick and had to be flown abroad for medical treatment, and he stayed in the UK for a very long time. And when he returned to the country, he stayed again in Abuja for a very long time. Because of that void and because there was no special provision how the void would be filled, the Kingmakers decided that one of his younger brothers be appointed to act in his place. So, that opened the eyes of the government to the fact that there should be this kind of provision in the future.

Going forward, it could also arise. So, if similar situations occur, what do we do? So, we should make proper provisions, planning to take care of such situations. So, what is happening in Adamawa State is that the governor is being a proactive governor; a responsible governor; a responsive leader who wants to act ahead of time so that such a situation would not bring chaos and confusion.

But, was Waziri consulted?

In all sincerity and in all honesty, I wouldn’t know whether Waziri was consulted about this matter or not. But I will say this that there are more than a hundred Kingmakers across the various traditional councils of Adamawa state, and various Emirates. But there were several other people who would have been affected by this provision, by these new laws and these new rules, and not only the Waziri. But if he wasn’t consulted, I can assure you he wasn’t consulted also because it was not directed at him. It was not made to slight him. It was just for proper coordination; proper policy making; proper administration of our traditional council.

Aside from this, my governor remains a very committed member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). As you may be aware, he is the Chairman of NEC Convention of the party. He is committed to strengthening the party; rebuilding the party; bringing the party to reclaim its pride of place, and he is committed to bringing the party to where it has been. The Waziri Adamawa, who before now was in fact the immediate past presidential candidate of the party in the last presidential election, seeks a new direction through a coalition they are trying to bring together. And that is also very okay in a democratic setting and in a democratic society. That is what democracy is all about. The two are pursuing different directions with regard to the present political arrangement; the current political trajectory. That is what I am saying. I am not saying that they are at loggerheads or they are on a war path. And because of that direction, each of them seeks, I am sure that is the reason why people seem to see it as an attempt to slight Waziri Abubakar or to fight him.

But I can tell you Ahmadu Fintiri is one of those governors who don’t do this. And you can testify to this that he is not a controversial governor. He is a performing governor. He is not a governor who is in the news without reasons. He is not the kind of governor who will hear something and fight this, fight that to cause controversy. He is a governor who is performing his functions as the elected governor of Adamawa state. Those functions he swore to discharge until May 29, 2027 when his allocated tenure, constitutionally, would be over. This is what he is focused on. And I can tell you; Adamawa is one of the fastest economy states in Nigeria today. And arguably the fastest economy in Northern Nigeria today. And I can assure you, that is what the governor continues to do till today, but not to create fight or controversies.