As the gale of declarations by the prospective candidates to contest or re-contest at various levels in the 2023 general elections continues, it’s imperative for the electorate to focus on the credibility, pedigree and antecedents of those seeking their mandates.
Thus, the decision we make in just a day at the poll in 2023, will surely make or mar our future, depending on the side we choose to belong – either the way of credibility and development or implausiblity. So, the need for the electorate to put on their thinking caps in order not to end up making a wrong decision cannot be over-emphasised, especially as some desperate politicians are in the game to amass wealth.
Of those who have already declared, we have seen some of them brandishing physical fitness as their major political selling point by just running in an open space with much media hype.
This is very strange to our democracy, I don’t know when one’s ability to run physically has become a criterion and pre-requisite quality and credential of his leadership acumen. In sharp contrast to the recent ploys of running to run introduced by the All Progressives Congress, APC, the 32nd American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR, could not run on his legs as he was physically disabled due to paralysis he had suffered.
But because he was mentally sound, administratively upright and had what it takes to be a great leader, he was the only president of the United States to be elected four times. FDR led the US through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the great depression and World War II and expanded the powers of state through a series of programmes and reforms known as the New Deal.
Like the FDR, the selling point of any political office seeker should be his mental and leadership capacity and not the other way round.
In an absolute demonstration of capacity in leadership, Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa state is redefining the art of political practice and governance. The brewing politics of 2023 is genuinely taking shape to sustain the phase and path of transformation and development put in place through purposeful leadership in the past three years of his administration.
In fact, while others are trying to use all sorts of lies and stratagem to hoodwink the electorate for their selfish gains, for Governor Fintiri, his reputation and enviable record of achievements are speaking volumes for him. His people, who have genuinely seen and witnessed his good hands in politics throughout his sojourn from being a member of the state assembly, speaker and later governor, are now mounting pressure on him to seek re-election. Luckily, for the state and its entire population, he has decided to throw his hat into the ring again in 2023.
Endeared in his people, recently, a group of friends of Governor Fintiri bought the expression of interest and normination forms for the governor to contest for a second term in the 2023 governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
After obtaining the forms in Abuja, the group, Special Committee for Fintiri 2023, in the company of numerous political organisations, presented the forms to the governor in Yola, the Adamawa state capital, on Friday, April 8, 2022 The group said it decided to buy the forms for Fintiri due to the ‘extraordinary’ achievements recorded by the governor in various sectors of the state’s economy.
The highly impressive and colourful event came on the heels of the massive endorsement and subscription to the PDP led administration in the state where the people of all the 21 local government areas and 226 wards of the state trooped out en masse to vote for the oarty’s candidates in the just concluded local government elections.
In his determination to test the strength of the party, Fintiri went toured all the nooks and crannies of the state to campaign for the PDP and, as envisaged, the feeble opposition in the state had a devastating defeat. Of course, PDP won all the contested seats through a well contested polls unlike the new normal in some states where the process is usually manipulated in favour of the government in power.
It’s no doubt that the state in the last three years has witnessed an unprecedented approach to governance, a radical departure from the era of deceit and indifference on the plights of the people by those who called themselves leaders but desperately occupied the seat of power to enrich selves.
Governor Fintiri, from his speech during the inauguration of the newly elected local government officials and by heeding the yearnings of the majority to submit himself to the service of the state for a second term, one would be further convinced that the state will be piloted to greater heights .
Equally, after reeling out his remarkable achievements, Fintiri said, “Mr Chairman, party leaders, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is no longer news that the nomination form for Adamawa gubernatorial race of our party has been picked for me.
“Because we have done so much and there is more to be done to better the lots of our people and our dear state; because we have built a trusting relationship with the electorate, majority of whom are the masses where our support (both in votes and prayers) is derived; because our party needs to continue on the path of victory; after a very wide consultation within our great party and outside it; within the state and outside it; with my family, friends, associates and leaders, I wish to formally inform you that I have accepted to offer myself yet again, to seek for the endorsement of our great party, the PDP, to carry its flag in the 2023 governorship race of Adamawa state. I believe you can trust me again as you have done before.
“There is indeed nothing about me that either you or the entire citizens of Adamawa state do not know. And there is nothing on the shelf of your developmental needs that I do not know. I have started the crusade for reinventing a new Adamawa where no one is left behind and nothing is left untouched. We have done so much in physical infrastructure and moving forward, stomach infrastructure will take precedence.”
To those who know how he transformed the state including his commitment to the welfare of civil servants, free education and free feeding in schools, building of roads and hospitals and other critical sectors of development, with the declaration of his intention to run, the embryo of his second term has begun.
Kera writes from Kaduna.
