Karma As Wadada’s Antics Boomerang in Mararaba, By Yahaya Kana Ismaila
The Boomerang Theory, applied across various fields, describes situations where an action intended to achieve a certain goal ends up backfiring, producing the opposite effect.
This perfectly captures the storm of condemnation that has followed Senator Ahmed Aliyu Wadada’s visit to Mararaba Udege on Sunday.
For months, the Eloyi (Afo) people were trapped in a violent internal crisis that left countless dead and properties worth billions destroyed by arson and looting.
One would have thought that such devastation was reason enough for their elected senator to visit, to show solidarity, and where possible, offer relief, whether in materials or financial support. Sadly, Senator Wadada had other ideas.
However, when a natural disaster struck Doma, he rushed with the speed of light to extend relief to the people of Doma in another senatorial zone.
Yet, when the people of Mararaba Udege were bleeding, he was nowhere in sight.
Wadada was said to have also shunned Katakpa, a community in Toto LGA, when violence broke out there too. A close look at this deliberate actions of the senator representing the good people of Nasarawa West Senatorial district would reveal a pattern, a reason to suggests he harbours a special disregard for the Nasarawa/Toto Federal Constituency.
When Wadada finally deemed it fit to show up in Mararaba, it turned out, it wasn’t really to console or offer meaningful help to the people, but to insult them by throwing paltry sums of money at the problem in a manner that reeked of chicanery.
With reports indicating he donated a mere ₦1 million each to the Ambu and Eki faction, it would seem Wadada, for all his claims of political sagacity still doesn’t understand politics. His actions in Maraba have unearthed the depth of his political miscalculation. Looking back, I’m not surprised that he was frozen in the political wilderness for so long before finding some form of redemption in 2023.
I mean, how does anyone expect people who lost properties worth billions to bloody clashes, one that his timely intervention could have mitigated—to be pacified by ₦1 million each? Is this what his political allies among the Eloyi people have been feeding him? That our people are so petty and hungry, they will kiss and make at the first sniff of Naira notes?
I’m glad that the people saw through his antics and rejected his contemptuous gift. They say one shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but my Eloyi people did more than that; they looked Wadada straight in the eye and rejected his dead offering. You don’t pour libations on a deity unless you value it. This a precondition for the acceptance of your sacrifice. Wadada being Wadada chose to do the opposite.
In the face of growing backlash, one would have thought Wadada would have the dignity to apologise to the people for his fatal miscalculation. Sadly, his publicists are instead scrambling to rewrite the script, claiming what he actually donated ₦10 million—₦5 million each to Ambu and Eki. This needless explanation shows that Wadada still doesn’t understand the real problem. The people needed a representative at the nick of time to halt the flow of blood, not wash away the blood that had flowed through the streets of Mararaba, Ebbe, Agbazo, and Odu with money. The man appears not to be catching up. If anything, this saga has proven that money cannot replace genuine concern and timely leadership.
The hypocrisy of it all becomes even more glaring and really disturbing when one recalls how Senator Wadada swiftly moved a motion of urgent public importance in the Senate when a truck accident claimed lives in Keffi. His passion for those lost lives was almost poetic—yet, for the many lives lost in Mararaba, he found no voice, no urgency, no motion.
Don’t get me wrong, the motion on the Keffi crash, which has been recurring was also good. However, what’s good for Adam, should also be good for Adamu. With a single motion, Wadada could have done more for the victims than all the millions he carried to Mararaba. One timely motion could have brought the plight of the Eloyi people to the centre of National discourse and with it, timely resolution of the issues. Or wait, is it possible that in Wadada’s estimation, Keffi lives are more valuable than those of Nasarawa/Toto?
In all of this, I believe one of Wadada’s biggest problem is his overreliance on expired politicians for political navigation. This has clearly led him astray in Maraba. And if he was under any illusion that he still had the people’s support, the events of the past few days should have dispelled that fake ceiling. I’m sure Wadada would have learnt that the Eloyi people love deeply, and that when they resent, they also do so with as much passion. The youth have called his bluff, and the message is loud and clear.
Meanwhile, Hon. Gaza Gbefwi, the House Representatives member representing Kokona, Keffi Karu appears to be milking the situation for all its electoral value. His visit to the Eloyi crisis areas have more than confirmed rumours swirling around that Gaza has his sights set on the red chamber, and if that is true, Wadada may have just set himself up for a monumental political downfall. His fall from grace would be unprecedented.
Whatever becomes of Wadada in 2027, he would have learnt a valuable lesson on the the boomerang effect, particularly how it struck him with full force. I also hope this epiphany abide with the Eloyi people. Let this be the beginning of a youth-led united political front for our people.
Yahaya writes from Kana of Nassarawa LGA in Nasarawa state and can be reached on: kanaismail@yahoo.com
