2007: Technocrats Eye Bauchi Guber Seat
Though 2007 is still about four years away, those aspiring to succeed Governor Adamu Mu'azu are not leaving things to chance as they have started repositioning themselves for the state's topmost political seat, writes Segun Awofadeji
Bauchi State, located in the North-eastern part of Nigeria, has a place of pride in the nation's political history. Its people would keep in view the glamour and splendour that earned the former Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, of blessed memory, the 'Golden Voice of Africa' sobriquet.
Today, the incumbent Governor, Alhaji Adamu Mu'azu, however, has demonstrated that he has the spirit and will of the late statesman, especially when the dividends of democracy in the last five years are placed side by side with those attained before he assumed the leadership of the State in 1999.
Contrary to fears raised by cynics in 1999 that Mu'azu, being a businessman of international standing, would consolidate his business empire at the detriment of the state, the governor has, in the last couple of years, raised the status of the State through unprecedented road networks, which at the end of his first term, attracted commercial banks to Bauchi and increased business activities in both urban and rural areas. Again, within the space of four years, the governor took statistics of all the communities in the State and got them connected to the national grid, apart from overhauling of the educational, health, agricultural and social infrastructure.
Against this background, ThisDay gathered, aspirants in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are being tactical about their campaigns, which have kicked off in the three senatorial districts of the State. As for the opposition parties, they are largely non-existent, as at today. Most of the outspoken members of the All Nigerian Peoples Party(ANPP) which could not make any significant impact in the 2003 governorship race, have decamped to the ruling PDP, and there seems to be no challenge from any other party.
As would be expected, the battle in the state would be a straight fight in the PDP amongst those presently aspiring to occupy the gubernatorial seat. They include Adamu Aliyu, presently an Ambassador to Morocco; Isa Yuguda, Minister of Aviation; Muhammad Nadada Umar, Secretary to the State Government; Abdulmalik Mahmoud, Deputy Governor; and Suleiman Nasif, Deputy Chairman, Water Resources Committee, Federal House of Representatives.
Based on the principle of zoning and the spirit of fair play, Bauchi-south, which produced the governor in 1999 and 2003 elections is not in contention for the seat in 2007, at least under the PDP. That consequently, bars Alhaji Isa Yuguda from the race. Yuguda was persuaded to contest the post in 2003 but dropped the idea for personal reasons.
Indications are that, Bauchi North and Central have more stake in deciding where the governorship pendulum swings in 2007, especially given that the two zones have not occupied the office for some time now. Athough, the Northern zone had its slot in the person of the late Tatari Ali, the man's illness gave the responsibility of running the government between 1979 and 1983 to Alhaji Adamu Tafawa Balewa, his deputy.
Against this background, Alhaji Adamu Aliyu and Abdulmalik Mahmoud may have to slug it out for the PDP ticket. Analysts believe that, Aliyu, who was frustrated by supporters of Mu'azu in the past gubernatorial race, has the political wherewithal to rule the State. He was a former Secretary to the State Government and later Group Managing Director of the Northern Nigeria Development Corporation(NNDC) with Headquarters in Kaduna. His weakness, however, will be his new posting as an ambassador, a duty which has taken him away from the grassroots with the consequence that he may lose touch with his political machinery.
And this leaves the deputy governor (Abdulmalik) as the most visible choice of the zone. Quiet principled and yet pragmatic, Mahmoud ruled his local government, Itas/Gadau, thrice as Executive Chairman before he was picked by the PDP in 1999 as Mu'azu's running mate, on neutral ground.
Since then, Mahmoud, whose grassroots support is quite overwhelming, has continued to maintain a level - headed relationship with his boss, most of the times with excellent display of charisma. In the run off to the 2003 polls, Mu'azu was persuaded to drop his deputy, but the governor would not let go his running mate; he had found a soulmate, almost indispensable to his transformation machine.
And the governor has reasons to do so in the last couple of years, Mu'azu would travel outside the country and return home to meet the State intact. Even during the heat of the sharia controversy, the deputy governor remained an unbiased umpire. But he does not seem to have the kind of money required for such an aspiration. This is a weakness if considered against the background of money politics in Nigeria.
THISDAY checks revealed that Mu'azu is the only gap between Mahmoud and the plum job in 2007. The view is that he is in a dilemma sticking to his deputy and abandoning the Muhammad Nadada Umar, the SSG, whose bill boards and posters hit the streets on July 24 this year, signifying the beginning of his campaign.
Umar has many things working for him. He is from the central senatorial district, a zone which has never produced any civilian governor, and this is the number one sentiment that would work in his favour. Also he is close to Mu'azu as the Secretary to the Government as well as business partner. They have been in business for a long time.
Apart from being close to party chieftains in the State, which is an added advantage to his political aspiration, he is a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria with 19 years post call experience. Although a lawyer by profession, between 1990 and 1996, he became a successful banker, rising up to the rank of General Manager. The transparency exhibited by Umar also earned him the rare opportunity to be in charge of the Service and Operations Division, which is second to the position of the Managing Director/Chief Executive of New Africa Merchant Bank Ltd. The position, he was said to have held brilliantly and those qualities exhibited earned him commendations and an award of over N1 million from the Management of the Bank.
The success of Nadada at the New Africa Merchant Bank Ltd., made the owners of Cotton and Agricultural Processors Limited to invite him to help reactivate the Company, which was almost dead at the time. Umar became the company's General Manager/Chief Executive and, within a short period, transformed the Company. His first year performance recorded a profit of over N26 million for a Company that hitherto operated at a loss.
Nadada has proved to be a formidable force in the political equation of Bauchi State, having delivered his Local Government and actively assisted in delivering about four more Local Governments to the ruling party.
Political analyst in the State are of the opinion that only an insider and experienced technocrat can carry on from wherever Mu'azu stops in 2007, on the ground that only continuity is needed to sustain the tempo. So, who will wear Mu'azu's shoe in 2007? The answer lies in the womb of time.
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