Fintrified by Baba yola Toungo

On July 15th, 2014 a revolution took place in Yola, the Adamawa
state capital courtesy of the state’s legislators. Sadly, the
revolution was truncated eighty-six days later by forces who
felt threatened by the success recorded within this short
period of time. This period can be likened to an era of
enlightenment for a people and a state long held hostage by a
few self-serving individuals whose concept of governance is not
beyond the subjugation of the people, self-aggrandisement
and self-glorification through recourse to ethno-religious
divide and the pillage of state resources. These people have no
sense of rights or responsibilities – their responsibilities begin
and end with their immediate families and cronies. While a
whole state suffers and stutters, they rejoice and swim amidst
ill-gotten wealth; the tears of the poor are the oil for their
seamy lives.
On this day, a relatively unknown quantity (unknown by their
weird standards) ascended the seat of the governor of the
state by providence and thereby “distorted” a succession plan
laid before the impeachment. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, the
Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly was never
in the loop as far as the powers that be are concerned and was
considered an interloper by the mandarins holding the jugular
of Adamawa State. On taking the oath of office, he hit the
ground literally running. He tinkered with the administration
of the civil service, lighted up a fourteen kilometre stretch of
road which was earlier awarded at a cost that was 200% the
cost at which Fintiri awarded, completed, equipped and
commissioned hospitals in Numan and Jada and paid the civil
servants their salaries withheld since 2011 for sadistic reasons.
In the short time that he spent holding the reins of governance
in the state, he succeeded in restoring hope to a people who has
given up on government and politics. He has shown that
government can work when there is the will and the
commitment. After taking over from a government that has all
but killed the civil service, he revitalised the civil service and
made it the fulcrum of administration and the arrowhead of
his rescue mission. He embarks on projects that are people-
oriented. The sum of it all is that Fintiri demystified the myth
that government cannot work or be sensitive to the needs of
the people. That governance is no rocket science. All it takes to
run a successful government is the commitment, sincerity of
purpose and the fear of God. These actions, small as they may
appear, scared those whose stock in trade has always been
deception.
The campaigns of calumny began on all fronts with a single aim
– bring down Fintiri before he disrobes us. With a gullible
audience, a malleable judiciary and a conniving presidency,
they succeeded in bringing his government to an end. But did
they succeed in bringing him down? I don’t think so.
The campaign was so childish, insensitive and beggars believe
with the calibre of those involved in the whole mess. Unsavoury
comments were attributed to him in an effort to demonise him
and make him a hated figure. Comments like “I have broken
the calabash of the Fulani’s”, “my mother is a Christian and
therefore I will convert to Christianity once I am elected to
the office of the governor of Adamawa State”, and many
more crazy things. After the court terminated his acting
tenure, allegations of stealing N18billion was bandied around
the cyber world by people I thought were too “educated” to
believe, let alone circulate such crap.
After sifting the multitude of allegations, those I mentioned
above appear to me the most mundane among them. They also
diminished our status, in my opinion. Assuming Fintiri’s mother
is a Christian (which she is not) how does that disqualify him
from being the governor of the state. Am I to infer from this
mindless allegation that Christians are precluded from
ascending the governorship position in Adamawa State? When
has it been criminalised to practice one’s choice of religion and
practice it free from any discrimination? Was the constitution
of the federal republic amended to expunge the section
guaranteeing the freedom of worship? The allegation of
stealing N18billion in eighty-six days is the most idiotic of all.
Before making assholes (excuse the language), why don’t we
use our common sense (I agree it is not common) to make some
informed comments? Did we care to find out how much accrued
to the state within the period Fintiri was holding fort? I
believe with the Freedom of Information Act (FOA) one can
easily get the details of all financial in-flows to any state
government in the country. To go ahead and make such wild
allegations is the height of irresponsibility in my book.
The investigations conducted by the Fintiri led administration,
with the assistance of consultants, on the state of the
government’s finances and its relationship with its bankers,
opened a can of worms and provided a bird’s eye view on how
the impeached government in collaboration with its bankers
have been milking the state dry. While the state was wilting
and dying inch by inch, they were living fat off its skeleton.
The financial recklessness unearthed by the consultants has no
reference in the history of financial administration in the
state’s chequered history. A whopping sum of N72billion has
been systematically stolen while an overdraft of another
N12billion was serviced every month to the tune of over
N1billion. Instead of explaining how N72billion was frittered
away, they resorted to painting Fintiri with the same brush
they painted themselves in the hope of obfuscating their
crimes.
I feel ashamed that people that I know and count among my
associates could descent to this level just to remain “relevant”
or attempt to destroy someone else’s career simply because he
refused to be identified with any “godfather” and choose to
hold on to his God as his “Godfather”. Have we so lost our
sense of propriety to the extent that we are willing to tell lies
against others and invite the wrath of God on us for a pot of
porridge? I have mixed emotions for this crowd at the moment
– are they to be shunned or pitied?
Fintiri’s tenure as acting governor was brought down – yes; his
ambition to contest for the residual tenure of Nyako was shot
down by the enemies of the state – yes; but was he brought
down? No. it is our collective lost. I pitied the people of
Adamawa, who were the primary beneficiaries of the policies
and programmes designed to be implemented by Fintiri. The
beginnings of a template on good governance was about to
manifest, when the forces of darkness struck but I believe it
may not be easy for anyone to deviate substantially from the
path charted by Fintiri without inviting the wrath of the poor.
Kan mage ya waye.