Billy Graham Abel, Yola

With just three days left to the governorship and state houses of assembly elections, more trouble seems to be brewing for APC and Governor Bindo Umaru Jibrilla in Adamawa, as 10 governorship, 16 senatorial and 9 house of representatives candidates have stepped down from their contest in support for PDP governorship candidate Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri ahead of 9th March elections.
The candidates endorsed the PDP for the coming elections, saying Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri remains the best candidate to transform Adamawa State.
The ten candidates had earlier renounced their support for Governor Jibrilla only to throw their weight behind the PDP party candidate Ahmadu Umaru.
While speaking at the occasion in Yola, Fintiri expressed delight over the decision of the 10 governorship and other candidates saying the coast is now clear for PDP to win the governorship election considering the popularity of the candidates that joined his campaign.
He stressed that his government will be a government of unity where everyone that has good plans to move the state forward will be given the opportunity to contribute their quota to the development of Adamawa.
The former acting governor stated that workers and students welfare will be a priority in his administration.
“No government can bring development without involvement of civil servants whom he said are the engine room and the driving force for policy implementation,” Fintiri said.
“The only way to move the state forward is to vote for PDP saying that since PDP left office in 2015, there has not been any durable project undertaken by the government of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that has been able to have a direct bearing on the lives of Adamawa people.”
The 10 governorship candidates who took turns to speak at the occasion said that their decision was taken in the interest of the people of the state explaining that the only way to rescue power from APC government is to join forces with PDP state.
Lami Musa the governorship candidate of People’s Party of Nigeria (PPN) said, “It is time that we make sacrifices by putting aside our personal interest and to work for the interest of the state.
“Fintiri is the best governorship candidate that has the capacity to restore the lost glory of Adamawa State.
“Whoever wants the state to move forward will have no choice but to vote Fintiri, that is why we joined hands with him to retire bad leadership from Adamawa government.”
The governorship candidates are Danjuma M. Musa, Naziru Maiyaki ZIP, Ahmed Hassan DA, Salihu Danjuma APM and Abdullahi Usman NCP.
Others are Bappari Umaru KOWA, Lami Musa PPN, Elizabeth Isa CAP, Frank Simeon MEGA and Sadik Musa Kahlid MRDD.
Similarly, some chieftains of APC and members in Mubi-North and Mubi-South, Governor Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow’s home town, have decamped to PDP and vowed to dethrone the governor.
Speaking to journalists during the ceremony in Mubi-North local government, the leader of the decamped chieftains, Sajoh Gella, said that the failure of APC government under Governor Jibrilla’s leadership was one of the major reasons for him and other members to join the PDP.
He said that their decision was a plan to rescue the state from poor governance and divisive policies that the present administration has introduced dividing people along religious and ethnic lines.
Gella, a former member of Adamawa State House of Assembly and former Commissioner of Water Resources under Murtala Nyako’s government said their 45,000-strong members cutting across Maiha, Mubi-North and Mubi-South local governments will deliver PDP for Fintiri.
He assured the PDP candidate that the APC will be buried during the poll, saying that Governor Jibrilla has failed the people of the state and that they are prepared to recall him through the ballot box.
Gella stated that all senior APC stakeholders in the three local governments have agreed to work for Fintiri based on his past track record of three months as acting governor which, according to him, was more productive than the current governor’s four years.