Did a General flee from a clueless Civilian?
By Abubakar Galadima
It is hard to believe that a decorated, but obviously psychologically challenged, General, who boasted that he would distribute Kola nuts (some suggest it was AK rifles) to his Fulani brothers to join the All Progressives Congress (APC), has decided to travel to Europe to take a well-deserved rest (some insist he is running away from the long arm of the law.)
Other mischievous commentators at the newspaper vendor stands that dot Nigeria maintain that the Navy General is fleeing from the 'clueless' civilian in Abuja, having been fingered in subversive activities, kicked out of office, and unable to bear the attendant public disgrace.
Is it true that he fled to Europe? This writer agrees with commentators that he may have circled round to Sambisa Forest where his partner, Shekau, needs his knowledge in warfare. But jokes apart, the Federal Government should ensure that every air he breathes, every call he makes, every kobo he moves, either directly or through his numerous fronts, is monitored.
Many are ready to swear that his brother, Atiku Abubakar, has a hand in his fall, but I doubt. Reason? Even among thieves, there is honour. It doesn't matter if the honour stinks; there is still honour. Atiku must be a lucky guy, with his political foes crumbling right, left, and centre. Perhaps, the next on the line is the abusive Yoruba leader who stole his Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and proceeded to rub his nose in the mud.
Buoyed by the success achieved by their Adamawa counterparts, Nasarawa lawmakers are making a go for their own governor, another APC man, who actually is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) acolyte, who was forced to move to the opposition when his predecessor frustrated his ambition weeks to the 2011 election.
While Lai Mohammed and APC jingoists (apologies to Nyako's traditional ruler and another drummer of war) see a pattern in the removal of governors, it is emerging that indeed Abuja has no hand in Al-Makura's travails, because he has always been loyal to his former party. Unfortunately for him, however, he has strong PDP enemies from the Information Ministry and Senate who want to see him down so they take his coveted seat.
Analysts think his master-stroke may be to play the returning prodigal son and break the back of ambitious Abuja men. After all, even Ali Modu Sheriff was accepted into the fold. May be if Murtala Nyako was not as proud and as clueless as he was, he should have crawled back on his knees, and perhaps, just perhaps, may have had his son succeed him next year. Now he has left the field open for the son of his sworn enemy, Bamanga Tukur to have a shot at leading the State Nyako ran like a personal fiefdom like his farm.
Speaking on the disgraced governor who penned a letter that looked like it was prepared by Boko Haram chief, Abubakar Shekau, Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to the President, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the disappearing act of the governor should shame those blaming his boss. Read him: “There must be a reason for his running away and this means that those who accused him of mismanagement of funds are correct; the fact speaks for itself and it is now clear that those accusing the president of having a hand in his impeachment are lying.”
But perhaps the best analysis of the governor's predicament was done by an Adamawa indigene and watcher, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo. Below are excerpts: “For the civil servants of Adamawa State, their sleepless nights are finally over. Governor Murtala Nyako has finally been impeached and only a miracle will #bring him back to Dougirei. It had been two weeks of intense gerrymandering. From the speculation that some legislators were ferried to Akwa Ibom State to have their palms greased for the impeachment exercise to Nyako's brazen appearance at the National Council of State meeting, where he was said to have been, to seek the president's intervention or permission to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a report which was later denied, culminating in the action-packed cat-and-mouse game between the admiral and the postman, all provided pensive frenzy.
“But like a fugitive, Nyako's flight of fancy is all over. It is also all over for Abdulaziz Murtala Nyako, the son, who abandoned his naval career to return to Adamawa in search of power. For father and son, therefore, it is the end of a beautiful dream. Some Adamawa indigenes had opposed Nyako's impeachment for the simple fact that it was Aso Rock-induced. Two wrongs, they argue, do not make a right. But even as this thinking may be right, it also lacks objectivity. To the extent that Nyako's handling of the public's trust cannot be justified, he must go. In a million years to come, only a fool can proudly associate with Nyako's actions as governor.
“The impeachment charges apart, a picture of Adamawa under Nyako brings tears; workers have not been paid for months; the state assembly was cordoned off to deny it regular democratic proceedings; and contracts were allegedly awarded to family members, most of whom do not understand the need to execute the jobs, as a result of which Yola, the state capital, remains one of the most backward and most neglected cities in the country. In this overall view, Nyako was simply bad news.
“There are those, on the other hand, who argue that Nyako is only being witch hunted on primordial sentiments, religious irredentism and bigotry by those who see nothing good in the Fulani stock and even think worse of Islam. This group is populated mostly by Nyako-apologists who try, tooth and nail, to reinvent the wheel. But regardless of how hard they try, the evidence on ground, at least in Adamawa State, disappoints them. Adamawa is perhaps the most appreciable tribal and religious rainbow in the whole of Nigeria. There are Muslims and Christians in virtually every family in the state, including the Lamido's and Nyako's himself. So who is hating on tribal and religious grounds? What about recent records of erstwhile Senator Grace Bent, a Yoruba woman married to a Bachama soldier who had represented the state at the highest political chamber as a sign of Adamawa people's tolerance of tribes other than theirs? So those who argue that Nyako was removed for any reason other than incompetence and corruption are simply playing the ostrich. He deserved to go.
“The bottom line in this absurd drama is that Murtala Nyako rode to power on the crest of a sound public appeal. He was once fanatically loved and admired by the same people who are jubilating over his removal today. When Nyako came to power, the tribal and religious colour-bars were nowhere. I remember his rerun election of April 2008 against Ibrahim Bapetel who was then backed by Atiku and Boni Haruna with this fond anecdote. Atiku had arrived at his polling booth to vote. One of Nyako's sympathizers, a young man, perhaps in his twenties, brought out a huge mango and started shouting 'Adamawa Sai Baba Mai Mangoro'. He shouted so hard that he got on Atiku's nerves….”
Bello-Barkindo's lucidly-woven treatise is an apt summation of the making of Nyako's political ascendancy and his ignominious descent: how a retired General turned loose cannon resorted to fleeing from a Civilian President, he hitherto considered as clueless. But is he really fleeing from a clueless civilian?
Abubakar Galadima sent this piece from Abuja via [email protected]
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