Mixed reactions trail Adamawa acting Gov.’s decision to contest

The decision of the acting governor of Adamawa, Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri, to seek for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket for the 11 October governorship bye-election has attracted mixed reactions across the state.

NAN reports that Fintiri had on Friday told newsmen in Yola that he had picked PDP’s “Ëxpression of Intent” form for the by-election.

A PDP chieftain in the state, Alhaji Abubakar Kari, told NAN that the development was welcome as the acting governor would be a popular candidate, if picked by the party.

Kari said the emergence of Fintiri as acting governor enabled PDP to recover “its stolen mandate” from former Governor Murtala Nyako, who was elected on the party’s platform but defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said that the actions of Fintiri had been attracting goodwill from people in the state since he assumed office as acting governor.

Also commenting on the development, some civil servants, including Bello Abubakar, Janet Ibrahim and Emmanuel Danlami, lauded the development and called for support for the acting governor’s ambition.

In his contribution, a legal practitioner in Yola, Mr Sunday Wugira, said that though Fintiri had the right to contest for the position, it was morally wrong for him to do so while in office.

Äccording to him, if the acting governor wants to contest, he needs to resign.

On his part, an aspirant in the race, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, also said that it was morally wrong for the acting governor to contest.

“He has no moral basis to contest. He is supposed to be an impartial umpire as the acting governor,” Gulak told NAN on telephone.

He, however, urged PDP to ensure a level-playing field for all aspirants in the primaries.