From Solomon Musa, Yola
Barely 48 hours after 46 House of Representatives aspirants and tens of thousands ofmembers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa state decamped to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), chieftains of both APC and Social Democratic Party ( SDP) have declared PDP governorship candidate in the state Alhaji Ahmadu Umaru Fintri, as unity candidate.
The spokesman for the group, Alhaji Abubakar Mubi Seriki, told journalists Wednesday in Yola after eight hours of a meeting behind closed doors of chieftains of the two political parties, that after reviewing the administrative and other credentials of the governorship contestants in the state, Fintri stands heads and shoulders above others.
He said that their decision to adopt Fintri from another political party was based on the grounds that party politics has failed to bring development in the country, and that they decided to support contestants strictly based on their personal merit .
“We chieftains of APC and SDP in Adamawa state after carefully observing how political parties are running the country as their private estate to the detriment of the people, we in Adamawa state have decided that 2019 general elections voting will no longer be on party affiliation, but strictly on the merit of the individual candidate. PDP has not helped us and APC has worsened the situation, so now we decided to put party politics aside and assess contestants on their personal track records,” he stated.
He said further, “we looked at Governor Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow, the governorship candidate of APC records as a former senator and governor now, but he got ‘F9’; Senator Abdullaziz Nyako, a serving senator and governorship candidate of ADC party also got ‘F 9’; Mr. Emmanuel Bello, a former House of Representatives member representing Gombi/Hong federal constituency governorship candidate of SDP, could not meet the basic requirements for admission into the governorship candidates cadre in the state. Fintri’s 87 days as acting governor earned him distinction in good governance, accountability and in character, so we adopted him in the interest of the Adamawa people.”
Alhaji Mubi who is from the governor Bindow’s home town Mubi, said that his group put aside politics of sentiments and beamed their searchlight on those that are not seeking political offices for their personal interest, but for the good of the people.
He urged the people of Adamawa State to avoid party politics and cast their votes in 2019 strictly on the track records of the candidates, since party politics has failed woefully to bring development to the state.
“Some of them are claiming that they will not share money to people, but they are building mansions in Yola, Abuja and Dubai, thinking we voters are foolish, but we will prove to them at next year general elections that for the fact that a goat does not talk does not mean a dog that always makes noise is the wiser,” he said.
Last Monday, Rev. Istanfus Habila, who contested for House of Representatives on the platform of APC led 45 other National Assembly contestants with thousands of members back to the PDP in Yola.
Habila who spoke for those that defected together with him said that APC is a cancer that Nigerians must avoid for the unity and development of the country.