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FEEDBACK: TPI To Gongolans
…Adamawa State was a simple return to the old Adamawa province, which had earlier existed during the colonial era…
…The famous lady Senator who worked towards converting MAUTECH to a conventional university was the same politician who spearheaded the establishment of FMC Mubi, which is yet to be named after anyone…
The Periscope Global Mood of the Moment
It is likely that tomorrow when someone suggests that the medical center be named after her (Binani
TABITAL PULAAKU: Tabital Pulaaku International (TPI) is not a local organization. It’s an international NGO and is not solely founded or funded by Nigerians talk-less in Adamawa. The first President of TPI was Engineer Kadry Yaya from Cameroun. Alpha Amadou Diallo from Guinea took over from Mr. Yaya.
The first time Nigeria ever contested for the global TPI presidency was in 2022, when Muhammadu Sanusi II was elected president in Abuja.
Lamido Adamawa is only one of the many patrons of TPI. One other patron is a high ranking traditional ruler from Sierra Leone.
The headquarters of TPI is neither in Cameroun, Guinea or Nigeria but in Bamako, the capital city of Mali.
Because TPI is primarily an international NGO, the organization hardly has local chapters. Apart from the cross national executive, TPI is mainly driven by a national leaders council.
The first Nigerian President was the late Galadima Adamawa Alh. Murtala Aminu. He handed over to Governor Umar Ganduje until 2022 when Governor Isa Yuguda took over as National President.
PULAAKU FM YOLA: The launch of Pulaaku FM in 2017 was open to everyone. Invitations were sent out in all directions. Workers were drawn from various ethnic groups within and beyond Adamawa. Programming is not merely in Fulfulde but in Hausa, English, etc.
TEACHING HOSPITAL AND YOLA AIRPORT: Like other similar hospitals, Modibbo Adama Teaching Hospital got its name from Modibbo Adama University. I have not seen any teaching hospital in Nigeria, which bears a different name from its mother university.
The institution was named in the same pattern with ATBU after Tafawa Balewa, AKTH after Aminu Kano, JS Tarka University after Joseph Tarka, Nnamdi Azikiwe University after Zik, OAU Ife after Chief Obafemi Awolowo, etc.
I am not sure that other ethnic groups in Niger State for example, were ever consulted before naming IBB University Lapai after Former President Ibrahim Babangida.
I am also not sure there was a meeting of ethnic representatives in each circumstance before a decision to honor a deserving statesman or hero was ever taken.
CHANGE FROM GONGOLA TO ADAMAWA: This was rooted in history. If the name Adamawa was not adopted, it would have been Fombina (the Land South of the Caliphate), which was the original name, which Sheikh Danfodiyo gave to the largest and most heterogenous emirate of the Sokoto Caliphate.
The old Adamawa stretched to four countries namely: Nigeria, Cameroun, Chad and a sprinkle into Central African Republic. This makes it the most diverse concentration of ethnic nationalities, which the Gongola nomenclature cannot suitably cover.
If the Fombina name was ever retained, it would have raised more dust from the ethnic nationalities, because it is also in Fulfulde. But considering that the geographic expression called Fombina is the most diverse composition of people in the Sokoto Caliphate, suggests that our friends should have been more at home with Adamawa than Fombina.
Remember also that Adamawa State was a simple return to the old Adamawa province, which had earlier existed during the colonial era. Why was there no protest about naming the defunct Sardauna province after the late Ahmadu Bello who led the plebiscite in 1961?
And long after the era of provincial administration in the northern region, the name is still being used by a major local government area in Taraba state, which houses many ethnic nationalities including Mambilla, Kaka, Kambu, Pamso, etc?
CONCENTRATION OF INSTITUTIONS IN YOLA: Concentration of federal institutions and federated government departments and even major state MDAs in a state capital is not an aberration.
In all parts of Nigeria, state capitals usually have some form of edge over other parts of the state in this regard. However, when MAUTECH became fully established, the Federal Polytechnic was moved to Mubi. Only a skeletal city campus was left in Yola.
Before Tinubu, Buhari approved the establishment of the University of Agriculture Mubi. And the famous lady Senator who worked towards converting MAUTECH to a conventional university was the same politician who spearheaded the establishment of FMC Mubi, which is yet to be named after anyone.
It is likely that tomorrow when someone suggests that the medical center be named after her (Binani), many would say that another “descendant”of Modibbo Adama is influencing the naming of critical public institutions in her name.
The main headquarters of the National Open University for states are usually located in the state capitals. Study centers could be sited in other locations within a state.
It’s also instructive to report that the late Air Marshal Alex Badeh was primarily instrumental in influencing the siting of the Air Force Comprehensive Secondary School in Yola and nowhere else in Adamawa. Such schools are usually sited in locations where a major airport is available.
MURTALA NYAKO: Admiral Nyako did not import anyone into Adamawa for the sole purpose of changing or altering any demographics. When insecurity was heightening in other parts of the north, some citizens sought for shelter in other parts of the region.
Many also fled Boko Haram from Borno including ethnic groups from Gwoza, Biu, Chibok, Damboa, and many Kanuri tribesmen, who eventually settled in different parts of Adamawa. Long after the crisis had subsided substantially, many of these Nigerians refused to return to their original bases but opted to continue with their lives in Adamawa.
JIMETA AND YOLA AIRPORT: Jimeta was not renamed Yola South. It’s Yola North, because historically, both are two settlements but one city. Just like Mubi was split into Mubi North and Mubi South instead of having just Mubi LGA and Sabon Dale LGA. That did not happen.
Yola Airport was not named after Modibbo Adama but after Lamido Aliyu Mustapha. This is the same way Abuja Airport was named after Nnamdi Azikiwe, Lagos Airport after Murtala Mohammed, etc. And ever since, Abuja indigenes and Yorubas never protested against these national decisions.
Muhammad Tukur
