A chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State, Alhaji Umaru Bello Jada, also known as Calculate has chided the member representing Guyuk/Shelleng federal constituency, Hon Gibeon Goroki over a recent interview he granted newsmen in which he accused governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of committing surfeit infractions.
The federal legislator has in the interview accused Fintiri of betraying Christians by reneging an agreement to make a Christian the speaker of the state house of assembly.
Goroki similarly alleged that the governor had secretly moved against electronic transmission of results just as he levelled the governor as arrogant and autocratic who take relish in imposing candidates while always working against the interest of former vice president Atiku Abubakar amongst other accusations.
In a chat with our reporter, Jada who dismissed the allegations of the lawmaker as rantings of a sinking politician, noted that from his infantile vituperation, it appears that Goroki is a total stranger in Adamawa politics or he lacks the capacity to understand what transpired during the politicking heralding the election of the speaker of the state house of assembly.
“It is unfortunate that such charade and utter mischief is coming from a federal legislator. But in doing that Goroki only shot himself on the foot as he is not fair even to himself nor the PDP and those whose cause he claims to champion.
“Goroki claimed that he won election in Shelleng and Guyuk Local Governments. But to underscore the fallacy of that claim, Guyuk is populated by christians while Shelleng is populated by Muslims but the lawmaker representing Shelleng state constituency in Adamawa State House of assembly is a Muslim.
“Since he is now hiding under the cloak of Christianity, how did he expect the people of Shelleng to vote for him again? Did he meant the Muslims of Shelleng are no more important or relevant to him? If he claimed to represent Guyuk/Shelleng federal constituency then he can’t sideline Muslims because that will be a huge travesty.
“Let me use this opportunity to educate the lawmaker about the events leading to the election of Muslim as the speaker of the state house of assembly in 2019.
“Adamawa State House of assembly has 25 members. Out of that number PDP has 13 and APC has 12 members. But 10 out of the 13 PDP members are christians while three are Muslims. But he forgot that eleven out of the APC members are all Muslims. So clearly the Muslims have numerical advantage over christians if voting is to be done based on religion.
“Goroki should know that both APC and PDP can contest for the speakership of the assembly and based on that, the former speaker of the assembly, Kabiru Mijinyawa who is an APC member with the support of the Muslim lawmakers throws his hat into the contest hoping to capitalize on the numerical strength of the Muslims to gain traction during the election.
“Initially, Fintiri wanted a Christian, Mr Japhet Kefas to become the speaker but on realizing that a Christian could not win the election based on the numerical strength of the Muslims, the governor has to device a strategy to ensure that the party produced the speaker so that the policy and programs of the government will not suffer undue hitches and sabotage.
“If election held between Mijinyawa and Japhet, Mijinyawa would have won not because of his party but because of his religion. So the governor understood that if he allowed an APC member to become the speaker, his programs and policies may be derailed. I believe if Goroki is the governor he will not allow an opposition political party to control the state assembly.
“To address the political logjam, the governor met with his deputy who is a Christian and convened a meeting with the leadership of CAN in the state and told them the situation.
“In agreement with the CAN leadership and the christian lawmakers including Japhet, it was resolved that a middle course should be charted by supporting a Muslim from PDP to superintend the house of assembly instead of allowing an APC man to lead the house.
“Based on that CAN leadership told Japhet to withdraw from the race and gave him the green light to support a Muslim from PDP so as to resolve the political riddle. That is why some APC members agreed to vote for the current speaker which nixed the chances of Mijinyawa of becoming the speaker. In the same vein, all the christians in PDP also voted for the speaker.
” When Mijinyawa saw what happened and the imminent defeat he is facing on the day of election, he withdrew from the race. Therefore, the rantings of Goroki is indicative that he is not aware of all the political permutations leading to the emergence of a Muslim which means he is not relevant even in the realm of religious politics, otherwise, CAN should have involved him in the horse trading in the build up to the election,” Jada said.
Jada also accused Goroki of trying to blackmail the governor by inferring that the governor had worked at cross purposes with former vice president, Atiku Abubakar during the election of the leadership of house of representatives.
“It is unfortunate that Goroki resorted to chief lies in his attempt to blackmail the governor as a result he has to resorted to cock and bull stories and falsely accusing the governor of pressurizing him to support the candidate of governor of Rivers State against the candidate of Atiku. But by this submission he has also shot Atiku on the foot. Can Atiku influence the decision of over 300 members of the national assembly to do his bidding?
“I challenge Goroki to produce ten names of politicians whom Atiku helped to win election in national assembly and I urge those lawmakers if they exist, to hold a press conference declaring their support for the former Vice President,” Jada added.
Also faulting Goroki over his claims that governor Fintiri has secretly worked against electronic transmission of election result, Jada said the submission was the most awkward statement ever made by someone who attained the status of federal lawmaker.
“Even the most undiscerning and most uncritical person will know that such submission amounted to standing logic on its head as PDP is the major beneficiary if electronic transmission of result is adopted being the opposition political party.
“The position of PDP, its governors including Fintiri on the issue was clear as the governors have never minced words during their various engagements with the press and civil society organizations to pressure the federal government to adopt electronic transmission of result, because, it is the only way to arrest rigging and to make the opposition parties to have a mileage and chances of winning elections,” Jada noted.
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