‘Nyako won’t get away with misgovernance’

[Mirror]

Engr. Albert Stephen is the chairman of Save Adamawa State Movement, SASM. The group has taken on Governor Murtala Nyako over his style of administration. In this interview, he speaks on the controversial $24 million Islamic Development Bank loan the Adamawa State Government is seeking. To him, the loan is to further enslave Adamawa State. OBIORA IFOH brings excerpts:

Why did you go to court over the proposal by Governor Murtala Nyako to secure $24m loan from Islamic Development Bank, IDB?

We are concerned because it is not in the interest of the people of Adamawa State. I think the fact that he is a governor does not give him the right to do something that is against the people. It is a privilege for him to serve, and he should be concerned about giving good governance. We felt at this point in time that he is no longer wishing the people of Adamawa anything good.

Taking the Islamic Development Bank loan would further impoverish the state for many years and the interest of the people is not taken into consideration. He is mortgaging the entire future generation of Adamawa, and therefore we cannot fold our hands because we are citizens of the state. We are concerned and therefore we cannot watch him mortgage the future of the people of the state.

The next generation, our children and our unborn children will go through a lot of hardship and left to him, he doesn't care, that is why we are doing whatever we can to stop this loan.

Another reason is that loans that have been taken in the past, how judicious have they been used for the benefit of the people of the state? This question begs for an answer, because no single project in the state has been commissioned. Yet, the governor is collecting money right, left and centre, what has the money been used for? We have abandoned projects. We cannot sit down and watch a single person throw the entire state into problem. That is why we want the court to stop the loan. We are speaking on behalf of the people of Adamawa who are affected, the poor people.

Why didn't you pressurise members of the State House of Assembly to stop him from securing the loan?

The law passed by the House of Assembly was anti-people. These lawmakers are no longer representing their people, but only representing themselves. They don't understand what it means to represent the people. They are only interested in what they will get for themselves from the governor. So, there is no law they are passing that is in the interest of the people. I don't have confidence in them.

What would be your next move should the court rule in favour of Nyako on the loan issue?

We will appeal the judgement. We're willing to go to the Supreme Court as far as this case is concerned. We have faith in the judiciary. We have no reason to doubt that we will get justice. There are problems in the judiciary in Adamawa State. You must be aware that Adamawa State till date has no substantive Chief Judge, as a result of the activities of the governor, who obviously wants to appoint a particular person; his wife, as the Chief Judge of Adamawa State. Being that as it may, we have no reason to doubt we will get justice, and we want to make it clear that this is a battle that we are ready to go to any length, and that includes the Supreme Court. We believe that there are fundamental issues that the court has no choice but to listen to us and if they listen to us, it will have no other choice but to grant us the reliefs that we have sought. That's our conviction. We are very confident that we will get justice. If there is any reason, we will appeal and it will improve our legal jurisprudence. The bottom line is that things have changed now. The era of Nyako getting away with misgovernance is past. We are going to challenge every action of his that is anti-people.

The Save Adamawa State Movement is representing nearly 98 per cent of the Adamawa citizens, who are solidly behind this case, who are excited that something like this on the long run is coming to pass, because ever since the governor has had the impunity of doing whatever he feels like doing without being challenged. This time around we say it is not going to be like that; every step of his misgovernance is going to be challenged. This is just the beginning.

Its better late than never. The fact that we have started, at least, is something. We still have almost two years and the battle has just started because more garbage could still be on the way. He should tread with caution from what has happened now.

One of the principal characters who actually master minded bringing Nyako to governance in Adamawa State was one of our respected elder statesmen, Prof. Jubril Aminu. Not long ago, this former minister came out publicly to apologise to the people of Adamawa for that singular act of bringing Nyako, which has become a disaster to the state now. Prof. Aminu went the whole length to apologise to the people of Adamawa State for bringing in the same gentle man who is misruling Adamawa State. Aminu has all the experience and qualities any elder statesman would have. For him to go as far as apologising to the people, shows that any misrule or failure on the part of Nyako is disapproved by him.

In all areas, we're not talking only about politics, we're talking about education, health, infrastructure, we're talking about everything in the state, Nyako is a disaster. It is well documented that he is a disaster.

Secondly, for some of the so-called projects he wants to embark on, there are functional secondary schools that are dilapidated, why can't he renovate some of these schools to acceptable standard so that whatever he feels like doing to education he can do it in that sector.

Thirdly, about a year or two, he employed a sizeable number of teachers. As I'm talking to you right now over 4,000 of them have not been paid salaries for the past one year. I have the statistics in every local government. So, would you call that a governor that has the progress of the state at heart?

But the Nyako administration is believed to have embarked on road construction in the state.

Well, he started some projects from Maiha to Paila, from Gombi to Ganda, these are the ones I know. There is one from Michika now to Garta, which he just started. These roads have been there for almost six years. These are seven to 10 kilometre roads. In the past six years, work has been going on these roads and they have not achieved or finished up to 30 per cent of the work.

Since 2007, he has not completed these roads. When you look at the cost, like Maiha to Paila, we heard from reliable source that they have spent more than N4 billion so far and not up to 30 percent of the work has been done. So, there is virtually nothing to write home about when it comes to the projects. On health, most of the doctors have resigned their services, because a newly employed doctor today is being paid between N120,000 to N170,000, while in Gombe State, the doctors there receive up to N200,000. Those that left didn't have accommodation. If you go to the clinics, the chairs the doctors sit to consult are very bad, even in the market you will not see that type of chair. So, the staff are not well compensated, the entire state is just in a state of mess.

I think the governor is only using the road construction as an excuse to drain the resources of the state. In Adamawa, Nyako administration is referred to as the government of the family and friends. His nephew is a civil engineer, and he is the consultant to all the projects. What do they do? Once they initiate a project like that, the substantial amount that is meant for consultation is paid straight to his nephew. When you talk about infrastructure, I come from the same local government with Nyako, so when you're talking about the nitty gritty of all these things, we've seen it all. The only hospital; they call it cottage hospital was upgraded during Haruna Boni's era and all he needed to do was to take off from there. As I'm talking to you right now, once it is raining, even the patients have to leave the hospital.

Because he's just playing with the resources that is meant to develop Adamawa and he thinks it's for him, his family members and friends. These are some of the problems that we have. That is why we would do what we can to stop this loan from being taken. In the first place, he has less than two years to leave and he doesn't care what happens after he leaves. The previous governor almost offset all the loans he met and took, but Nyako instead has been accumulating. I don't envy the person that is going to take over from him, but then what do we do? We still have to redeem the situation and that's why we went to the court.

[Folami David]

Misgovernance is something that must end once and for all in this country.
We want credible ans authentic leaders!