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As we go to the polls once more to elect a governor for our dear state, I am writing this piece with a heavy heart because of the toxic environment endangered by our politicians and their Vuvuzelas. This is because using all available channels of (dis)information, politicians are falling head over heels to outdo one another in trying to portray opponents in bad light, which in turn toxify the political landscape. The deliberate polarisation of the people along ethno-religious fault lines is deepening the chasm between our people. We have become increasingly suspicious and distrustful of “the other” to the detriment of our “togetherness”. We have been conditioned to always assume that our interests are mutually exclusive.
In an era when the benefits of wealth creation, economic growth and common development for the benefit of all and the state, we often perceive that we are competing against each other for our share of a dwindling pie instead of coming together to bake a bigger and more succulent pie that will be more than adequate for all. We have allowed unpatriotic politicians to lock us up in a zero-sum mentality, in which what is good for me and mine cannot be good for others. These divisions, exacerbated by self-interested leaders – this presumption of “us” versus “them” – has become more pervasive and pernicious.
We have allowed rentier politicians to weaponise our differences to their benefit and our peril. We have allowed merchants of hate to make us lose faith in our core values as a people brought together by the Almighty to coexist in the same geographic space. None of us has a say or choice in where he was born.
In magnifying our divisions, we are only laying the foundation for doubts of the legitimacy and utility of our existence in a common space. While we think we are denigrating each other, we only succeed in eroding the faith of the ordinary citizen in our institutions – be they democratic, economic or social. It only provokes conflict and devalue our humanity.
Since 2014 when he acted as governor of Adamawa state, the Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri has been striving to bring together the disparate people of the state to sit at the same table. This was one of the reasons he flew below the radar between 2015 when he left the House of Assembly until he resurfaced in 2018 to seek his own mandate from the people of the state. He stepped down his ambition so as to unify is party and his supporters He was massively voted by the people and got a ‘clear mandate’ to steer the ship of state for four years. The first term is coming up in about two weeks’ time. Sadly, those who feel he shouldn’t be governor keep pulling in the opposite direction using primeval methods. We have a coterie of people whose stock-in-trade is to demonise the governor through a social media that enables individuals to escalate information that is detrimental to the sanity of the society.
Civil discourse has suffered from our growing penchant to believe the worse of others. We select “facts” we want to believe and disseminate and discard those we do not, may be because they may portray our “opponents” in good light. I have seen some people who never admit to one good thing the Adamawa state governor did from when he happened on our political landscape. But is that true? Are we being fair to ourselves or to him? Between us – writers and social media content creators – and the governor, who has done more damage to our social cohesion and even political inclusion? We have been chiselling at the edges of the canvas that bind us together while expecting to not see a tear on it and in the process blaming the governor.
The good thing is that most of these problems are our own making and can be fixed by retracing our steps. We can choose to listen to each other and try to understand what animates those with whom we disagree. We also need to reach well beyond the confines of the familiar and challenge ourselves to know those we don’t, those we think we won’t need and don’t like and even those we fear. The time is nigh for us to step back from the brink, cool off and once more embrace each other. And I mean each of us as a citizen and not just our leaders.
I am just saying vote for Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri once more and shame those merchants of negativity. The ordinary Adamawa citizen deserves the right to reap the benefits of the wealth creation and economic growth sowed by his excellency. The people want to hear the last stanza of the Fintiri Symphony much to the chagrin of the naysayers. Let’s have the privilege of listening to the full Symphony to its logical end and not half of it.
