By Makpa Malla
Nasarawa State, ever since it’s birth in 1996 and it’s eventual entry into democratic governance in 1999, has had its fair share of political theatrics. Drama is a normal feature of politicking. Infact, it is it’s life-blood. Take shenanigans, dust-raising and gimickry out of the purview of the game and it loses it’s flavour. It becomes bland, unsavoury, tasteless.
Like the cunning game of chess, a shrewd and intentional interplay of wit and tact can be palpably felt in the polity in full swing. Some of the aspirants were easily predictable right from the onset of the incumbent Governor’s 2nd Term, which took-off on May 29, 2023. This is so because they had long nursed this ambition, having hitherto given a shot at the No. 1 seat in previous election(s). Others waited a year or a year and a half thereafter before showing up on the scene.
The ace players had long gone deeply into play. Pulling every possible strings at their disposal; from name-dropping of high-end power brokers, to brandishing stage-managed photoshoots with governmental top guns, hoping to sway public opinion in their favour by so doing.
One name that even pundits never foresaw as a likely entrant into the murky scene of Nasarawa State’s turbulent political waters is a retired Police Chief, IGP Mohammed Abubakar Adamu (Rtd). A fine Policeman who spent the most of his working life in a highly regimented endeavour like policing, his swift, smooth and seamless transformation into civil life and moreso, politics, has held many spellbound.
He walked in to the political equation of the state, ready to take the bull by the jugular. A man of contagious charisma and charm, his intelligence is not any less. From the very moment his name was muted amongst aspirants to the governorship seat of the state, the state’s political climate never remained the same.
A deeply intelligent and clear headed gentleman, Abubakar Adamu took the state by storm. Quickly spreading and extending consultations to the innermost recesses of the state’s rural dwellings, his name became loudly heard from the hills of Yanga and Ambaka in Wamba to the riverine settlements of Umaisha/Ugya in Toto, and the list goes on and on. His choice to interface on a one-on-one approach with the electorates, giving even the lowliest of them a deep and personal sense of ownership in the broader Nasarawa-state project, quickly endeared him to the people.
Many have hailed IGP’s style, (a name that has become his signature all over the state) as akin to the methodology which birthed the popular *ALMAKURA TSUNAMI* of 2011, a movement that witnessed the unseating of a powerful incumbent on the heels of an entirely new political platform, the CPC.
Whenever one gets the opportunity to listen to IGP on why he decided to throw his hat in the ring and vie for the seat of Governor of Nasarawa State, one always leaves with an indisputable and strong impression which is that ‘the man is very strong on policy understanding, policy analysis, policy formulation and policy implementation’. This is not unexpected because in the course of his sojourn in public service, he rose to such high-end positions both nationally and internationally which ordinarily places a huge task on ones intellectual prowess. Clearly, his public sector engagements as a Law Enforcement Officer, peaking with his position as IGP, Abubakar Adamu has undoubtedly been finely moulded into the deep *”POLICY MAN”* that is often felt during routine conversations with him.
If Nasarawa State really intends to sustain the gains of the strong multifaceted foundations laid by the Almakura Administration and the superlative all-round achievements of the present government of H.E. Engr. A.A. Sule beyond 2027, EVERY BASE, AND PRIMORDIAL CONSIDERATION MUST BE TRUMPED in favour of who can do the job and deliver on the high-expectations of the people, going forward. The answer isn’t far-fetched, IGP Abubakar Adamu was born for such a time and task as these.
*Hon. Makpa Malla*
a Lawyer, former public servant, former State Legislator and a trained HR expert writes from Wamba.
