As the election in 2023 approaches, Mrs Aisha Buhari, the President’s wife, has perfected a strategy to install her younger brother, Mr Mohammed Halilu Modi, as the next Governor of Adamawa State. It had been gathered.
It has been learned that the First Lady’s machinations, which have splintered the Adamawa chapter of the All Progressives Congress, have the full support of Malam Mai Mala Buni, the Yobe State Governor and Chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).
Aisha Buhari is the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Comrade Mustapha Salihu, the former Vice-Chairman of the North-East Zone, and Mr Saidu Naira, the party’s Financial Secretary, have been identified as the foot soldiers manipulating the Adamawa State congresses to facilitate the emergence of the First Lady’s brother as the APC’s governorship candidate in the state.
According to a source, the First Lady’s brother has never held a public office or worked as a civil servant in his life.
According to reports, Aisha recently sent Modi to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, near Jos, Plateau State, to study, while the President’s wife perfected the taking over of the APC’s structure in Adamawa as part of her preparation to ensure that her brother was tutored for the job of governor.
Concerns have been raised that the first lady’s desperate attempt to seize complete control of the party’s structure in Adamawa State is causing resentment among aggrieved stakeholders.
The First Lady used her influence to intimidate perceived political opponents of her brother, Senator Dahiru Binani, Senator Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow (former Governor of the state), and Senator Ishaku Abbo (who represents Adamawa North Senatorial zone) in the Senate, at the recently concluded APC Local Government Congresses in the state, in order to hijack the party structure in the state.
“There is a serious problem brewing at the Adamawa APC,” a source familiar with the situation added, “which, if not resolved quickly, may cost the party the governorship again, as it did in 2019.”
“Remember that the party lost the governorship election in 2019 to incumbent and member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Ahmadu Fintiri, over the same power struggle between Mrs Buhari, Bindow, Binani, and other opponents in the quest to have her brother become governor.
“In a similar vein, state security chiefs were threatened with dismissal if they did not help Modi achieve his goal.”
It was also revealed that the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Aliyu Adamu Alhaji, was the first victim of the threat, as he was said to have insisted on fully supervising the Yola South congresses.
As a result, Senator Binani’s candidate defeated the First Lady’s candidate.
Enraged by the turn of events, Aisha was said to have ordered the CP to be transferred out of Adamawa right away.
Mr Mohammed Ahmed Barde, a new CP, had since taken his place.
“As things stand today, all heads of federal agencies in the state whose line of duty involves supervising party congresses are living in fear of the unknown if they try to work against the First Lady’s brother’s interests,” another party official said.
According to sources, the quartet in Abuja changed the majority of the names from the ward and local government congresses that were sent to the APC national secretariat, resulting in a slew of lawsuits challenging the changes.
“I will not repeat the mistake of 2019, where we allowed Governor Bindow to have total control of the party to the detriment of many of us,” Aisha, who is not hiding her deep involvement in the ongoing manipulation, was quoted as saying.
According to sources, Aisha vowed that she could not afford to leave the office with her husband in 2023 without a member of her family taking over Adamawa State to ensure their political relevance in the years ahead.
“Unless something is done quickly to resolve the grievances of the ward and local government congresses amicably, many stakeholders may defect to the PDP, especially since the state congress is close by.
“If this is allowed to happen, the APC will once again be the big loser in 2023, just as it was in 2019. They can only help the PDP and governor Fintiri win re-election in 2023 if they keep going in the same direction “, according to a senior party official.
In addition, the current manipulation in Adamawa is taking place at a time when the general sentiment in the state is that the governorship seat should be rotated to another zone outside of Adamawa Central in order to ensure fairness and a sense of belonging to all of the former Gongola State’s geopolitical zones.
Despite the fact that the First Lady believes the Central Zone has yet to produce a governor and that it will do so in 2023, APC stakeholders oppose her position, claiming that her zone has produced the Secretary to the Government of the Federation since 2015.
“Additionally, because Aisha is the First Lady of the Federation and hails from the Central Zone, the zone has had its fair share of power and should hand off the governorship seat to another zone in 2023,” the source added.
Similarly, the Northern Senatorial Zone had produced a governor six times in a row, and the feeling is that the zone had reaped sufficient benefits.
Another party source added, “Such fairness can never be achieved if congresses are manipulated against the wishes and aspirations of the people.”
“This is what happened during the local government congresses. While the election of party officials in Yola-South, Sen. Binani’s and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s home local government, was held at the party’s state secretariat in Jimeta amid heavy security operatives as opposed to the Yola South party secretariat, Sen. Bindow and Sen Abbo had no idea where the Mubi North and Mubi South congresses took place until now.”
When contacted on the phone, the First Lady’s spokesperson, Aliyu Abdullahi, who said he was in New York, declined to comment, simply saying, “Please, I have nothing to comment on that story.”
