Why Nggilari lost Senate bid
he major casualty of the senatorial election in Adamawa State is the incumbent governor, Bala James Nggilari, who lost his bid to represent Adamawa North Senatorial Zone in the Senate.
Binta Masi Garba of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated Governor Bala James Nggilari with wide margin to emerge as the senator-elect for the zone which comprises of five local government areas.
APC has swept all the three senate seats and six out of eight House of Representatives seats in the state, while the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) got one seat. Results for the other federal constituencies remain inconclusive.
Pundits believe that the governor was primarily affected by the failure of the PDP-led federal government to contain Boko Haram insurgency in good time and the Buhari factor.
All the five local government areas in the northern part of the state were captured by Boko Haram before they were later liberated by soldiers.
The insurgents killed hundreds of people, while thousands fled their homes to Yola, the state capital, and other towns where some live with relatives and others in refugee camps.
Thus, people were angry with the government for its inability to deal with the insurgents decisively, a development that made them resolved to oust the PDP-led government at both federal and state levels.
However, the attorneygeneral of the state, Tahir Shehu, said the poor performance of the PDP at the polls was due to the fact that many displaced persons could not take part in the election.
“Well, we must accept the fact that in politics, you can win and lose. The issue of insurgency may be one of the factors, because many people could not cast their votes, especially in Michika and Madagali.”
Shehu called on voters across the country to support winners, including the President-elect Muhammadu Buhari for betterment of the nation.
Although Nggilari got the highest votes in Michika and Madagali where there was very low voter turnout, he lost woefully in Mubi North, Mubi South and Maiha, where Buhari is particularly popular.
Another factor that contributed to Nggilari’s loss, analysts say, was the internal crisis within the PDP, especially between him and the Speaker of the State House of Assembly Ahmadu Fintiri, a former acting governor of the state, who is also from the zone.
Many believe that the fight between the heads of the executive and legislative arms of the state government reflected on the senate elections, leading to Nggilari and the party’s disastrous performance in the state.
A week before the election, chairman of the state’s assembly committee on information, Adamu Kamale, accused Nggilari of sponsoring 11 legislators to impeach the speaker on the allegation that he was plotting to remove the governor from office.
Many say that this apparent disagreement between the two top public officers in the state was responsible for Nggilari’s defeat.