Adamawa governor threatens to dump APC

The Adamawa State Governor, Jibrilla Bindow, has complained against the way federal appointments and projects concerning his state were being handled, warning he and his officials may be forced to dump the All Progressives Congress if the complaints were not addressed.

The Chief of Staff to the governor, Abdulrahman Jimeta, made the complaint on Thursday, in the presence of the governor without any rebuke, while addressing a team from the APC National Secretariat which was in the state to conduct the north-east mini convention of the party.

The team headed by a senator, Abdulkadir Jajere, was in Yola to brief the governor on arrangements for filling vacant party positions in the zone created by appointments in Adamawa.

“We here are loyal, but tell the leadership of the party that there is limit to loyalty and that party business is optional. In fact, even religion, you have the right to change it because of pressure.

“So, tell them we are loyal, but there is limit to that, especially if they are not recognising us, since we are the army of the party that is supposed to enjoy the fruits of the party; or out of frustration we join the opposition enemy party,” Mr. Jimeta said as the governor looked on.

Mr. Jimeta said various appointments were made without consulting the state government, adding that many of the appointees were not known to the government.

“Unfortunately, there is no difference between an opposition state and APC-led state like Adamawa because even appointments at the federal, we are not consulted.

“Some of them, we don’t know them neither were we consulted before their appointments as indigenes of Adamawa State,” he said.

The governor’s top aide said even some of the federal projects that the state was supposed to enjoy were being “hijacked by some people in Abuja”.

“Even our own rights that we are supposed to get through some agencies like UBEC (Universal Basic Education Commission) and MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) were hijacked and (when) we contacted them, we were told that somebody somewhere has collected the money and is doing the contract somewhere.”

Addressing the delegation, however, Governor Bindow spoke in a more conciliatory tone, as he pledged to co-operate with the team in the discharge of its assignment.

He commended the leadership style of the APC National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, and pledged his government’s loyalty to the party.

Responding, the leader of the delegation, Mr. Jajere, said he was keen to interface with the party structure in the state.

Mr. Bindow has a knack for delegating to his Chief of Staff the responsibility for making volatile political statements on his behalf.

Last year, the top aide had declared at a public gathering attended by the governor that the state government would support former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, for president in 2019.

Mr. Abubakar, who is from Adamawa State, challenged President Muhammadu Buhari for the APC presidential ticket prior to 2015 election. Although still a member of the APC, Mr. Abubakar is expected to run for the 2019 presidential election, even if he has to leave the party. The former vice president was one of those who bankrolled Mr. Bindow’s election as Adamawa governor.