The Executive Governor

RT. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri

Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri (AUF) was born on October 27th, 1967 in Gulak, Madagali Local Government area of Adamawa State. He grew up in a world that had become so conscious of the primacy of Western Education and Religious knowledge, both of which he struggled to acquire at an early age.

He had his early primary School in Central Primary School Gulak from 1975-1981, Government Day Secondary School Gulak and Government Secondary School Michika from 1981-1986.

AUF holds a post graduate Diploma in Policy and Strategic studies, from the University of Maiduguri 2004 after obtaining his first degree in History from the same University in 1992.

Most of his teachers, mentors and contemporaries know AUF as an outstanding Student and an athlete throughout his boyhood and adolescent years. After successfully running his private business enterprise, he was elected to represent Madagali Constituency in 2007 and re-elected in 2011.

Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri is the current Governor of Adamawa State and was Hon. Member of the Adamawa State House of Assembly. He was later appointed the Speaker of the House. He eventually became the acting Governor following the impeachment of admiral Murtala Hammmanyero Nyako in July 2014, handed later to Bala James Ngilari after serving for three months.

Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri has every reason to celebrate his fifty-three anniversaries as the Governor of Adamawa State. From every political calculation and calibration, the unequivocal conclusion is that he is a man of the people who emblematizes the divine injunction that “power comes from God alone.” Throwback to 2019: Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, then an ordinary citizen without federal might, without security, found himself in the eye of a raging political storm, contrived and fermented by treacherous forces that betrayed a political vision and threatened to completely overturn and dismantle a well-nurtured political agenda to achieve their own selfish power grabbing ambitions. Pitted against the backdrop of a manipulated and deviously translated zonal power-sharing arrangement and confronted by the real threat of political annihilation in the face of a viscous opposition that will stop at nothing to secure victory, Governor Finitri found himself literally and practically isolated and surrounded as the last man standing and the only hope for the redemption and protection of the political soul of Adamawa State.

The Unifier Governor

However, he was greatly loved, admired, and adored by the people of Adamawa State as their champion. Ahmadu Fintiri took on the opposition, both within and externally, battled them to a standstill, defeated them on all fronts, and won the election convincingly. Governor Ahmadu Fintiri ascended the throne, carrying the hopes and aspirations of the Adamawa people on his broad shoulders. Fast forward to 2023: The vicious, acrimonious opposition, emboldened with federal might and empowered with the added authority of directing their second term campaign, deployed the full weight of both mercenary and compromised might to the political battlefield. Traditional war songs reigned and echoed ominously at the venues of every campaign stomp, and the poisoned manifesto rhetoric reeked of bitterness, inciting anger, unbridled hatred, and images of political purgatory worse than Dante’s Inferno because of the event of political defeat in 2023. But Governor Fintiri was fully prepared and ready for them, and believing in his superior strategic plans and greatly buoyed by the resilient will of the people, the tide once again turned to victory in the quite remarkable life of this political colossus. The last straw was in the Supreme Court, Abuja, where they had all hoped that the court would give judgment in their favour, in a suit seeking to nullify the free mandate given to Governor Fintiri in 2019.

"Mr. Project"

In 2023, destiny would have it, the divine hand of fate, once again played another master stroke and the monumental miscalculation and failure of the opposition. Governor Fintiri has a plethora of reasons to celebrate his fifty-three anniversary, but in typical charismatic, all action fashion, the Adamawa governor, who was nicknamed “Mr. Projects” by none other than the former Vice President of the country, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, simply rolled up his sleeves and knuckled down to the business of delivering the dividends of democracy to the good people of Adamawa State.

At the end of our first four years in office, the gains of the first term will be solidly consolidated. But addressing Adamawa people in a town hall meeting to mark the first year of his first term in office, the governor honestly confessed that normally, the state should be celebrating this important milestone when all the projects he flagged off will be ready for commissioning and correlated social activities, but these are abnormal times and moments like this call for subdued feelings and thankful prayers to God for His abundant grace and mercy upon the state and on the lives of Adamawa people.

The scorecard of the last one and a half years has, however, been replete with outstanding achievements, ground-breaking events, and the initiation of legacy projects that have not only transformed the landscape of the state impressively but also ensured the comprehensive sustenance of the well-being of the people in line with the development blueprint that will be released for the second term in office.

Adamawa State That Works

A summary reveals that virtually every area and sector has been positively impacted in the last year. The urban renewal programme in the capital city has progressed at an amazing pace with the restoration works, including underground drains, sidewalks, green areas, and street lights on most of the roads. The construction of the two multi-billion-naira flyover projects at Total Filling Station Junction and the Police Roundabout, all progressing simultaneously, is an architectural wonder to behold and is expected to be delivered within schedule by Traicta Nigeria Limited. This is even as work on the construction of major roads within the city and the building of several cottage hospitals is also underway. The construction of several critical roads across the state, including Doctors’ Quarters – 1.6km), Mbamba Street – 1 km, Mafia Road with fall out drain gets 1.2 km. Others are Zumo Street and links – 0.7 km) and Nybango to Yolde Pate Road with two span bridges (3.18 3.18 km.

In the area of education, the strategic intervention of the administration in the restoration, upgrade, and expansion of secondary schools across the state, which commenced in the first phase, continues to deliver remarkable results and improvements in the quality of the public education system, as funds have already been released for the comprehensive restoration and upgrade of scores of dilapidated secondary schools across the state, including renowned schools like Madagali Central Primary School and Farabaraune Primary School in Demsa Local Government Area. Renovation and upgrading of GJSS Belel Girls, Labondo Primary School, the famous Gwaida Mallam Primary School, Numan in Numan Local Government Area, Tambu Primary School, Kugbo in Shelleng Local Government Area, Bachure Primary School, Bachure in Yola north Local Government Area, and GDJSS Shagari, in Yola south Local Government Area, have all been more than 85 per cent completed On the international front, the plan for the construction of model schools across the state is in top gear.

In the area of agriculture and in line with the administration’s promise to refocus on agricultural development, the abandonment of fertilizer processing plants with guaranteed off-taker opportunities for over 10,000 farmers, and inspiring capacity to stimulate the fertilizer revolution in the state and related industries and create thousands of direct and indirect jobs for our people is coming on stream.