4 fatal mistakes that led to Murtala Nyako’s fall

There is a general belief that President Goodluck Jonathan is responsible for the downfall of Vice Admiral Murtala Hammanyero Nyako, but the former governor of Adamawa State did not make things easy for himself with the way he conducted his local politics. He consistently played poor politics. TheCable lists the major mistakes of the man called Baba Mai Mangoro

1. His son’s governorship ambition

Nyako supported President Jonathan heart and soul in the 2011 presidential election at a time many northerners felt presidential power should return to the north. For his effort, he was labelled a “Christian” and a “kafir” (infidel) in messages circulated through SMS and on social media. This was also at a time former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, from Adamawa State, was seeking to be president. Violence broke out in parts of Adamawa after the poll. However, things went sour between Jonathan and Nyako the moment Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, also from Adamawa, was made national chairman of the PDP. Clashes were inevitable.

Why? No governor wants a nationally powerful party figure from his state because of power tussle. This exactly turned out to be the case. Tukur, it was rumoured, wanted his son, Awwal, a former member of the house of representatives, to succeed Nyako as governor in 2015. Nyako too wanted his son, Abdul-Aziz, to succeed him. This led to a fall-out between Tukur and Nyako. When Jonathan declared a state of emergency in some north-eastern states over the Boko Haram insurgency last year, the belief then was that Adamawa was included at the instance of Tukur just to cage the governor. Nyako eventually left the PDP for the APC and gradually lost control of his state ─ just because he wanted his son to be governor.

 2. The Atiku snub

Although he left government in 2007, the former vice-president remains a political figure that commands respect across board, even if that does not automatically translate to votes. When Nyako moved to APC, he made to take control of the party completely. He ignored those he met on ground, such as former military administrator of Lagos State, Brig-General Mohamed Marwa (rtd), and moved to muscle them out ─ again allegedly because he did not want strong opposition to his son’s governorship ambition. When Atiku joined the party, Nyako still held on tightly to the structure without yielding much ground.

When APC held its ward and state congresses to elect officials, Nyako only yielded one local government chapter chairmanship to Atiku, making sure he controlled the rest. In the state party executive, he also did not give slots to other political heavyweights in the state. Atiku is said to have been allocated only one slot. Nyako made Mrs Binta Massi, a former member of the house of representatives, the state chair of the party. Effectively, all the political figures that could talk to the house of assembly members not to go ahead with their impeachment move against Nyako had been alienated and they did not have any incentive to fight for him.

3. Choice of Chief Judge

Nyako ran a very intriguing home front as governor. He is married to four wives who are all educated and accomplished: Hajia Zainab, Dr. Halima, Justice Binta and Hajia Asmau. He could not make up his mind on who should be the first lady and eventually decided that all of them would be. He created one “zone” for each wife: Justice Binta, first lady in charge of Abuja Affairs; Dr. Halima, first lady in charge of health; Hajia Zainab, first lady in charge of political affairs and mobilisation; and Hajia Asmau, first lady in charge of the home front. Each first lady had monthly allocations thought to be N50 million. But that was not the problem.

When it was time for him to appoint the state chief judge, Nyako was too political for his own good. In 2012, he wanted his wife, Justice Binta (a respected judge, by the way), to be CJ, but the National Judicial Commission (NJC) turned him down. Effectively, Adamawa has not had a substantive chief judge in ages. At a time, there was no acting chief judge ─ just because he wanted his wife to fill the position. The last substantive CJ was Justice Bemare Bansi who retired in 2011. At various times, he had different acting CJs: Justice Nathan Musa, Justice Bathimawus Popo Lawi (now late) and Justice Ishaku Banu.

Justice Ambrose Mammadi, who set up the panel to investigate the impeachment allegations against Nyako, did so in acting capacity. In summary, Nyako’s dilly-dallying with appointing a substantive CJ did not help his cause as most senior judges in the state were displeased with him. A friendlier CJ would have constituted a favourable panel which would most likely declare Nyako innocent of the allegations ─ and, constitutionally, end the impeachment move.

 4. The confrontation with Jonathan

Not to forget, then, that the former chief of naval staff underrated President Jonathan when he decided to take him on publicly, writing a letter to northern governors to accuse Jonathan’s government of carrying out a genocide against northerners in the war against terror. That was not the mistake. The mistake, it would appear, was that he was not politically strong enough to engage Jonathan in this fight. His various misdeeds had weakened and undermined him at home, and if Jonathan  decided to go after him, he had no bullet-proof vest to protect himself.

Governors who have successfully taken on the president are those who have the backing of their lawmakers. Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State is fully in charge of the state house of assembly and does not have to fear impeachment. Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State has the backing of his lawmakers in his fight with Jonathan. Nyako could not make the same claim. If anything, only a handle of lawmakers followed him to APC ─ and they soon returned to PDP. Even his deputy, Bala James Ngilari, remained in the PDP. For someone who wanted to confront the might of Abuja, his backbone was quite weak.