Governor Murtala H. Nyako's draft into the race of governorship election at the twilight of the PDP primaries in Adamawa State was seen as the last hope to give good governance to the people of Adamawa State. This is because of his character, and experience as a General in the Nigerian Navy as well as a former military administrator of Niger State.
After his retirement from the military,   Nyako has consigned himself mainly to the promotion of his farming activities which led to his conspicuous anonymity in the scheme of political activities both at the state and federal level, even though his relevance and standing is under no disputation. The seeming reticent disposition displayed by Nyako coupled with his military background seem to have been the attributes that made him to be the bride to be courted by the then former president, who made sure that against all odds Nyako has emerged the standard bearer of the P.D.P even in the wake of the imminent consequences that decision has on the unity of the party, in relation to its victorious outing against its most formidable opponent, Atiku Abukabar, who has established a strong political base in the state.
Even though the grand gamble has paid off, the repercussions of that decision was perhaps what led to the sacking of Nyako by the appeal court in Jos.
Before his ascension to the seat of power in the pre-election period, he has made a lot of accusations bordering on corruption, highhandedness and personal aggrandizement displayed by his predecessor, Mr. Boni Haruna, which in his submissions were the reasons for the backwardness of the state, in the wake of the huge resources that accrued while it lasted.
He even promised tough times against any corrupt individual if he eventually becomes the governor, and averred that “I will chase out all the rats that have siphoned our resources because I can't tolerate the sight of them.”
This position he reechoed in his maiden speech after his election as the new governor of the state. He promised to be fair to all citizens of the state irrespective of their political, religious, and ethnic inclinations. He also stressed zero tolerance against corruption and promised to work with men of proven integrity, excellence and professionalism so as to ginger unprecedented level of development that will make Adamawa State one of the most developed in the league of states.
After the inauguration of the government, the governor embarked on a reconstruction journey which led to awards of contracts in the areas of roads rehabilitation, water projects and reconstitution of chairmen of boards and parastatals with the mandate to pursue aggressive developmental goals of the administration. This, according to general expectations, will ensure a speedy accrual of democratic dividends to the hapless citizens of the state.
Immediately, the major opposition party in the state, Action Congress, through its secretary, Saidu Halidu, cried foul over the way and manner the contracts were awarded which they say fell short of due process and were corruptly inflated.
But the first major litmus test of the Nyako's regime started when some media outfits reported that Nyako has allocated the sum of forty million Naira to open and furnish four offices allegedly for his four wives from the state coffers so as to facilitate their operations as first ladies. This reportage led to a protracted altercation between the media on one hand and the governor on the other hand, with the governor vehemently denying the accusation. The altercation reached its crescendo when the governor issued a press statement through his Press Secretary, Mai Jama'a Adamu, debunking all the accusations saying, that they were the handiwork of opponents of the government, who are bent on ensuring the collapse of the government because of its achievements, which has surpassed the achievements of the previous government in a small space of time. Not done with, the governor invited journalists in what seems to be a parley for a smooth and flawless relationship with the media, but that meeting happened to be the greatest gaffe the governor will ever commit in the course of his new carrier as politician and a democratically elected executive Governor of a state. There, to the disappointment and consternation of the journalists, he mentioned that the media has been co-opted in the inglorious war to smear his name and reputation through spurious unfounded and unsubstantiated reportages against his person, and thereby incurring the wrath of Allah against the Journalists by saying “Allah Ya isa.” He later walked out on the Journalists living them flabbergasted.
The Journalists, incensed by the shabby and disgusted manner they were treated, went ahead and displayed to the general public the treated memo which emanates from the office of the Chief of Staff which was duly   approved and signed by the governor. The approval was for the sum of Forty Million naira for the opening and furnishing of four offices for the four ladies of the State. The no love lost relationship between the Journalists and the Governor continued to degenerate to an extent that the Governor ordered the stoppage of adverts to selected media outfits as a punitive measure against the 'recalcitrant' outfits.
While the sour relationship between the Journalists and the Governor lasted, another war of wits was brewing between the Governor and members of the State House of Assembly. The no love lost started when the Governor's Candidate for the Speaker ship position from Yola North, Hassan Turaki, was unanimously rejected by the members and in his place the member representing Hong Local Government, James Barka, was elected. The members, who are largely non-Flulanis, perceived a grand ploy to marginalize them through the appointment of a political poodle that is certainly going to make the House an extension of the executive arm and possibly become a willing tool in the hands of the executive.
Another reason advanced as a likely cause for the rejection of Hassan Turaki was the promotion of Fulani agenda. With the Governor as a Fulani man, the PDP linkman, Professor Jibril Aminu, also a Fulani man, the Chief of Staff Bello Tukur another Fulani man, the election of Hassan Turaki is seen as the seal of the Fulani dynasty in the state which will definitely defy all resistance by the non-Fulanis and also throw the ambition of the non-Fulanis to the precipice. The combination of these Fulani men on power, political pundits suggest, will further compound the woes of other minority tribes because Nyako is likely to prepare the candidacy of Bello Tukur, a political compatriot who enjoys a substantial camaraderie and political patronage from the Governor, living Bala James Ngilari, the deputy governor in the cold.
In order to achieve the strategic plan of ousting the Speaker, the executive arm was alleged to have master minded the ploy to impeach the Speaker, James Barka, on several occasions. But the Speaker seems to have acted like the proverbial cat with nine lives who weathered the entire onslaught against him. The plan and counter plans to remove him snowballed into a subtle war to an extent the members deemed it fit to generate a clear signal to the executive that they are loyal to their leader by passing a vote of confidence on his leadership.
Emboldened by this show of solidarity, the Speaker further consolidate his grip on the legislative arm by making sure that all benefits accruable to the members are vigorously pursued.
The nullification of Nyako's election at the instance of the appeal court has brought another dimension to the intractable and complex political scenario of Adamawa State.
“It has further fuelled the embers of discord and disunity between the executive and the legislative arm. Even though on the surface the Speaker appears to be inclined to the return of Nyako, some hawks close to the embattled governor especially former commissioners and other members of the state executive appears not to agree with that. They aver that all actions of the Speaker during his short stint as the acting governor were characterized by disloyalty, stark indifference towards the return of Nyako and wanton corruption,” contributed a renowned politician in t state who does not want his name in print.
It may be recalled that immediately James Barka was sworn-in as the acting governor, he dissolved all existing commissioners and the caretaker committee chairmen in all the twenty-one local governments of the state. This, according to reports, did not go down well with the embattled governor let alone his subjects. The only person that was spared from the Nyako's regime was his SSG John E. Manassah. The maneuver continued unabatedly up till the time the re-run election was conducted and Nyako was returned elected for the second time.
Immediately Nyako returned to power he announced some strategic appointments into his cabinet which include Chief of Staff, Press Secretary and two other appointments, but the governor remained mum on the position of SSG, who was later sacked due to alleged financial impropriety. Observers believed that his sack was due largely to his involvement in the interim government which was perceived to oppose Nyako's return. Others believe that his sack was as a result of his fallout with Bello Tukur, the most powerful element in the Nyako's administration, who nurtures a gargantuan appetite to succeed Nyako. To Bello Tukur, the mere presence of ambitious people like Mannassah's is a serious threat to his ambition and must therefore edge them out. Because of that, phantom allegation against Mannasah for corruption was hatched and with Manannah's involvement in the interim government, selling the idea to Nyako was not a yeoman's job.
As members of the executive cabinet exult at the success of Nyako's return, they started making uncomplimentary remarks on the legislators, claiming that they played no role towards the return of Nyako, only falling short of calling them traitors.
In the midst of this political brouhaha, the Governor submitted the commissioner nominees, but the legislators rejected six among them on the account of dearth of qualification and what some commentators called 'character blight.'
The governor was nonplussed by the effrontery displayed by the legislators to dare his decision. Not mindful of the earlier rejection therefore, the governor re-presented the rejected nominees for the second time. This action infuriated the legislators who believe the scornful approach is a serious denigration of the legislative arm and therefore decided to take the governor head on. This led to the impeachment saga that nearly rendered the governor's seat vacant save for the intervention of the presidency.
Another reason for the impeachment move was the failure of the governor to conduct fair PDP local government primaries which was believed to be skewed in favour of Nyako's lackeys. Even though the resolution of the impeachment saga has created an avenue for the conduct of rerun primaries, complaints still dogged the aftermath of the exercise.
Nyako's pledge to work with people of proven integrity and excellence might just pass as a ruse, because some of the commissioner nominees, especially those that were rejected, have a serious blight that ought to have made them unqualified to serve in Nyako's Government if his promise to work with people of proven integrity and excellence is anything to go by. For example, Umar Bello Jada presented papers that were later confirmed to be false. Terry Vahyala, also a Commissioner nominee was indicted for corruption by a panel setup by Boni Haruna. Prince Medan Teneke lack sufficient educational background to undertake the challenges and onerous responsibilities of a Commissioner, because he lacks WAEC or its equivalent, which is the basic prerequisite for anybody to hold any political office. The dogged insistence of Nyako to get these people screened at all cost despite their palpable deficiencies leaves much to be desired. If Nyako is sincere he should make sure that people like Umar Bello Jada are not only dropped but prosecuted because his action is contrary to the laws of the land which the Governor swore to defend.
Another grey area in Nyako's government is the appointment of siblings and relatives to occupy various positions in the government. For instance Rabi Nyako, who is in the special projects units, is a daughter to the Governor. Abdulazeez Nyako, the eldest son of Nyako, has his wife also appointed by Nyako. Dr. Hassan Nyako, a relative of Governor Nyako, was appointed the coordinator NEPAD. Going by the principle of fair representation, the appointment of many people from a certain family or clique is nothing but a gross injustice which the governor promises to avoid. Equally, despite the despicable failure of Dr. Salihu Bakari as the coordinator of Special Assistant Programme one of Nyako's pet projects in the state aimed at empowering the Youth, he was promoted to chair the states Universal Basic Education (U.B.E). His promotion, despite his glaring failure to address some anomalies encountered by the former coordinator of the SA program, and which even became worst during his tenure, was not seen as paucity of ideas which is enough reason to send him packing, but was promoted to a more complex Unit which require higher experience and expertise to manage. This development may not be unconnected with the fact that Salihu Bakari is in a sizzling romance with the Governor's daughter, Rabi Nyako, which may even leads to marriage.
It was also revealed that the Special Assistant Programme of Nyako suffers a serious set back due to the appointment of dubious and unpatriotic elements to man the programme right from inception. The first coordinator was alleged to have dubiously siphoned huge amount of money through duplication of payments to specific individuals and the introduction of ghost beneficiaries. When complaints about the first coordinator became worrisome, he was fired, giving way to Salihu Bakari's appointment who succeeds him. Alas Dr. Salihu Bakari's reign proved to be more disastrous because after he has ordered for a screening exercise to verify authentic beneficiaries, the payment was completely erratic as only few received their allowances. Dr. Salihu Bakari's reign is symptomatic of either corruption or paucity of knowledge to correct the anomalies encountered or the combination of both. Therefore his ascension to his new position is seen as a bad omen to the state especially, since his predecessor was not fired due to incapacity or corruption. It was alleged that Dr. Liman Tukur, the sacked UBE chairman was fired because of his close relationship with members of the state House of Assembly who have been at loggerheads with the governor. Therefore the governor felt uncomfortable with him.
Desert Herald Weekly also gathered that after the screening exercise of the S.As, a database of all the beneficiaries was formed, but the irony was that the few, whose allowances were paid to, are beneficiaries who have close relationship with the coordinator or those who were backed by powerful politicians.
Another grave undoing of the Nyako government is its failure to provide an enabling environment for the election of local government councils to hold. The election which was slated to take place early this year was inundated with a bevy of crisis mainly due to primordial and pecuniary interests of some highly placed politicians in the state. PDP primaries were mainly the cause of disaffection between politicians because of the struggle by political Godfathers to nominate their lackeys so as to control the soul of the local governments. Amidst this struggle, the primaries were conducted. But immediately the results were announced, various groups alleged irregularities and in many instances election was allegedly not even conducted. This situation nearly snowballed into a huge crisis. It was the intervention of the House of Assembly through the purported impeachment served on the governor that resolved the crisis. The election was re-conducted later and complaints of irregularities still surfaced which led to some aggrieved persons to take their cases to court.With the court decision to suspend local government elections and with the rudderless local governments and with the huge resources allocated to the local governments which mostly does not translate to democratic dividends, then anarchy will surely continue to loom large in the state.■