CLEMENT EKONG writes on the political romance between Adamawa State governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which has seen him declaring interest to join the ruling party at the centre
As reports of a possible political realignment between Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) continues to circulate, a chieftain of the party, Abdulrahman Kwacham, has predicted implosion within the party. As expected of a politically sensitive state, the news of the proposed move has revved up conversations, rave reviews, speculations, anxiety and heated exchanges between proponents and opponents of such move.
This is sequel to affirmation by the state chairman of the APC, Barr. Idris Shuaibu, that Governor Umaru Fintiri has joined the party but he is only waiting for the ceremonial declaration at a short notice from now. Shuaibu spoke at the party’s secretariat, while receiving a governorship aspirant, Engr Diaulhaq Abubakar, who came to formally declare his intention. His words: “Already, Governor Umaru Fintiri is in our party.
We are just waiting for his formal decamping from his present Peoples Democratic party (PDP) to the APC. I am optimistic that Fintiri will formally and ceremoniously declare for APC between now and the middle of this month, things being equal,” he declared. The Adamawa APC chairman, who noted that party’s convention will come up any time from now, however stated that there plans are in top gear to receive Fintiri into the APC fold before the exercise.
He added that high level consultations and discussions have been finalized to receive Fintiri and his supporters, assuring that all new entrants into the party like Governor Fintiri has equal opportunity like those who formed the party. While a lot of APC chieftains and power brokers are anxious of Fintiri’s entry into the APC for its impending portents, hence plotting to drown it, the governor’s supporters, on the other hand, are projecting the move as an altruistic one aimed at aligning with the centre in order to curry favours in line with the developmental blueprint of the governor.
On one side of the conversation is the fear that some APC stalwarts who have remained faithful and loyal to the party for years and invested huge resources to ensure its survival against the inclement and scorched earth hostilities of the PDP government led by Fintiri may be robbed of their positions.
To members of this group, allowing Fintiri to take total control of party structures upon coming will be a great disservice which they vowed to forcefully resist. Before the APC became the latest political bride, Fintiri has exuberantly dismissed it as a dead party in numerous public spats and vitriolic screeds.
He then promised to ensure the party’s eternal burial in the state. His latest detour in romancing the party is therefore seen in the realm of attempts to secure a life-line. His sojourn into APC will also compel him to work with people with whom he had divergent political or real life ideologies and inclinations. However, a senatorial aspirant, Abdulrahaman Kwacham on the platform of the APC, has predicted a looming implosion within the party should Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri defect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and assume control of the APC structures in the state.
Kwacham, a long-standing stakeholder in the party, issued the warning amid growing speculation that Governor Fintiri may be considering a move to the ruling party ahead of the 2027 general election. According to him, any arrangement that hands over the leadership and structure of the Adamawa APC to the governor would trigger serious internal resistance capable of tearing the party apart. In a statement, Kwacham described Fintiri as “an opportunist who wants to reap where he did not sow” insisting that loyal party members, who have laboured for years to sustain the APC will not accept what he termed a political take-over.
“Fintiri has nothing to add to our party. If he truly loves the APC, he should join like any other member and take his place in the queue, as many of us have invested for over seven years building this party in Adamawa,” Kwacham fumed. He accused the governor of previously ridiculing the APC, recalling instances where Fintiri allegedly described the party in pejorative and in demeaning terms, and questioned the sincerity of any sudden interest in joining a platform he once eternally condemned. “Now that the party is considered viable, he wants to take charge.
That is unrealistic,” he said, stressing that the APC in Adamawa operates on a shared leadership structure among established stakeholders,” he said. Kwacham advised Fintiri to remain in the PDP, insisting that what he called “dictatorial tendencies” would not be accommodated within the APC framework.
Meanwhile, a critical stakeholder of the APC in the state, Dr. Umar Duhu, has described Governor Fintiri’s decision to align with the APC as a deliberate and well-thought-out strategic choice aimed at contributing to the party’s growth, fostering development in Adamawa State, and aligning with broader national interests. Duhu, who directly addressed claims in Dr. Ardo’s piece suggesting the governor is seeking APC shelter to evade the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) scrutiny, dismissed it as cynical and blatant lies, describing the EFCC matter as a politically motivated witch-hunt intended to damage the governor’s reputation.
Further dismissing such argument as rantings devoid of logic or weight, Duhu said proponents of Fintiri’s defection are of the view that the governor’s entry is an open blessing to the APC as he is coming into the party as a seismic force backed by a robust and invincible political structure. He claimed that Fintiri is coming into the party from a position of strength, powerful structure and goodwill of Adamawa masses that enabled him to contest and won the governorship election on two previous occasions.
They also claimed that the governor is coming with a huge political capital, including the support of the three senators, six members House of Representatives, 21 local government chairmen and 246 councilors as well as the huge compliment of the state government bureaucratic juggernaut. A candid and truthful assessment of the subject must however, take cognizance of Adamawa’s complex political context and the precarious position of PDP in the neo-political dynamics of Nigeria.
A simple, candid and unbiased assessment of the political scenario will reveal that PDP is a party in a prolonged comatose state with a near zero hope of survival. A number of the governors and other political office holders of the party left it for APC not because of love or principle but because of the susceptible nature of their party knowing too well that it cannot accommodate their political interests and aspirations.
In Nigeria, it is a settled matter that one can only hold a political office through the instrumentality of political parties. It is on this premise that the defection of the PDP political office holders becomes a matter of exigency to chart new political roadmaps for themselves before it is too late. And APC becomes their preferred destination not on impulse but because of the immense advantages it provides to them.
One of the fundamental push for the choice of APC has to do with the fear that in 2027, Tinubu, a master political strategist will use all his might to capture the non-APC states into his fold. That fear informed the rationale why most of the first time governors moved into APC. And for the second term governors, the need for soft landing and secured political future is the major push factor behind their defection.
With the above elucidation and clarification, it is pertinent to ask, between Fintiri and APC whose utmost interest will this purported defection serve? APC as a party in Adamawa State has established itself as a strong force capable of winning any election in the state. Sequel to 2019, the party was in control of levers of power following a landmark and comprehensive victory of its flag-bearer Senator Jibrilla Bindow in 2023 general election.
It must be stated here that Fintiri’s election feats in both 2019 and 2023 general elections came as a result of the widespread and intractable infighting in APC which made a number of the APC chieftains to openly engaged in anti-party activities. As it is now, APC under the leadership of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu in Adamawa State has just concluded its e-registration attracting into its fold no fewer than 450,000 members. That figure is glaringly more than the numbers that gave Fintiri victory in 2019 and 2023.
In the spirit of fair play, it will be apt for the party to extend its e-registration in Adamawa State to allow Fintiri the opportunity of bringing his supporters on board. This will indicate his actual strength and settle the anticipated rhetorics and power play that may ensue in the event of his arrival. Political pundits observed that Fintiri’s coming into APC may result in a new wave of internal strife, disloyalty, struggle for control and anti-party, then his coming will surely become a huge minus for the party. Adamawa APC stakeholders should know that this is not a time for rhetorics, public spat and vociferous mudslinging, it is a time for sober reflection and concessions if they really have the party in their hearts.
