So, who finished Fintiri?

9 years ago

So, who finished Fintiri?

Speaker Umaru Finitiri had trudged on the political planes of Adamawa State almost like a bull in a china shop, having his way now and then.
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Adamu Fintir
He is on record as serving as acting governor on at least three times. His last act in which he sought to transform a temporary brief into a permanent stay as governor, however, turned into an anti-climax.

The way and manner, he and some few collaborators set aside agreements had brought him out as one who was almost untouchable.
The tradition of acting governors not participating in elections to fill the office of governor was rubbished by Finitiri who to the consternation of many stakeholders insisted on participating in the election scheduled to replace Murtala Nyako as governor.

The Ibrahim Mantu committee constituted by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to screen the aspirants disqualified him but for whatever reason, President Goodluck Jonathan was said to have asked that he be reinstated on the understanding that he would remove himself from next year’s election.

Having scaled that hurdle and even before today’s election that was aborted, there were insinuations that Finitiri would not honour that agreement. With the way it was going there were also indications that the PDP could have lost the election had it been held today as earlier proposed.

It was as such not surprising that on the eve of last Wednesday’s judgment that there were fears in the camp of the opposition that the PDP could be going for a judicial solution to what they saw as the Finitiri problem.

Governor Bala Ngilari’s claim to the governorship was, however, never in doubt given the proven claim that he did not submit his resignation to the former governor, Murtala Nyako as constitutionally required.

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The question among many now is, was it the PDP hierarchy that moved against Finitiri in a face saving act or it was a coincidental judicial pronouncement that was easily welcomed by the party?
How judgement spared Atiku
The Abuja court pronouncement that removed Finitiri from office as acting governor would have been received with mixed feelings in the camp of the All Progressives Congress, APC, especially in the camp of Atiku Abubakar who is from the state.

For the former vice-president who is now seeking the presidential ticket of the APC, delivering the state at the aborted by-election had become a sort of credential required of him to vie for the presidency. The cancellation of the election inevitably spares Atiku of any constraint and takes the battle between him and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to the convention ground.
Fingers crossed for Fayose
Many eyes are looking forward to next week’s inauguration of Mr. Ayodele Fayose as governor of Ekiti State.
Fayose would become the second governor to have returned to office in the Fourth Republic after an interregnum. The first was Governor Rabiu Kwankwanso of Kano State. However, the difference between Kwankwanso and Fayose is that Fayose was impeached from office, an act that is now at the centre of a judicial dispute over his eligibility for re-election.
Fayose’s first term even by his own admission had its excesses and it is no surprise that the governor-elect in the days leading to the last Ekiti election claimed to be a new man. But with the developments in the Ekiti judiciary and the tension heralding the inauguration of the governor-elect into office, the people of Ekiti can only cross their fingers.