Dandalin YAN Arewa 47 YEARS AFTER SARDAUNA: WHERE ARE THE HEIRS? In 2006, amid heated opposition from his own party in his bid to become governor of Bauchi state, Isa Yuguda turned to the opposition ANPP. To help him win, the ANPP’s presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, campaigned for him in every part of the state. Yuguda rode on Buhari’s popularity and won a landslide. Six years later, he is yet to as much as acknowledge Buhari’s note of congratulations. Within a year, he was back in the PDP and famously wasted billions in Nigeria’s ‘marriage of the century’. Last year, his son married in an equally lavish ceremony. For pointing out this simple fact, Yuguda ordered a civil servant sacked. That is today’s idea of leadership. From virtually nowhere, the then outgoing Kaduna state governor, Ahmed Makarfi, bulldozed Mohammed Namadi Sambo into Government House, Kaduna. But within a year, the two were barely on speaking terms. Today, Sambo is Nigeria’s vice president, but what has been his contribution to governance in Nigeria? Why hasn’t he taken charge of finding solutions to the Boko Haram insurgency and the debilitating economic and social challenges crippling the North? Instead, when he married off two of his daughters recently, Kaduna was put in a virtual security lockdown so that guests could safely leave town with their souvenirs of iPads, mobile phones, laptops, etc. That is how power is exhibited today. Sule Lamido came from a progressive background and professed concern for the common man. But once in power, he assumed that his towering stature also gave him towering rights over Jigawa state. Many swear that what is aired in the media and the reality in the state are two different things. And now he wants to be president. Where is the concern for the common man? What lasting legacies has he built in a state that is yet to recover from Saminu Turaki’s reign of blunder and plunder? Anyway, thanks to his presidential ambition, the EFCC has revealed that his son travels around with hundreds of thousands of dollars. The question is, where did the money come from, and how much has already been taken? Is this the leadership trait of a man who wants to be president? For nearly seven years, he was a whipping boy; a deputy governor that was not even a spare tyre. At the ultimate point of his humiliation, he had to plead to be allowed to resign and not shamefully impeached. However, within a year, he became the governor of Sokoto state. With his experience, many expected Aliyu Wamakko to connect with the people. Instead, his most famous achievement so far has been his reported flogging of a NEPA staff. How does that solve Sokoto’s problems when at the end of 2012 Sokoto state remained the poorest in the country with 81.2 per cent poverty rate, as revealed by the National Bureau of Statistics? Is that how to lead? He tried on two previous occasions to become governor but failed, despite crossing to another party. But in 2007, Jonah Jang built a wide coalition that swept him into governorship of Plateau state. Within months, he was conveniently abroad when his people went after themselves in a murderous rampage. From a deep vortex in his mind seems to run a hatred for anyone outside his native Berom or Christian faith. Thanks to Jang, the economic stagnation in Plateau state has worsened, with teachers and civil servants being owed several months of salaries while ethnic tensions and religious rivalries simmer. Is this a new model of governance? After eight years of alarming decay and alleged corruption under former governor George Akume, Benue state heaved a sigh of relief when the youthful and energetic Gabriel Suswam came on board. Within months, there were stories of water gushing from taps, of long abandoned roads being completed, of development projects everywhere coming together. Then the sweet dream turned into a horrible nightmare. The Benue electorate clearly booted him out in 2011, but he manipulated the electoral law to remain in office – with no clear vision of what he ought to be doing. He is just another ‘Excellency’. Modu Sheriff wanted power at all cost and employed every means to get it – including creating and bankrolling what has metamorphosed into Boko Haram. Today, not only has the group killed and maimed thousands of Nigerians and destroyed property worth tens of billions, its terror campaign has also set Nigeria back by 10 years and the North by 20. Insecurity and loss of social capital has cost hundreds of billions of naira. Or course, Sheriff probably has houses around the globe to escape to. That is another kind of leadership. The names are many and their wrongdoings even more: from politicians, traditional institutions, the military, intelligentsia, bureaucrats, the business elite, the clergy – and the common man. So steeped are we in betrayals, suspicion, rivalry, greed, backstabbing and power-mongering that 47 years after the death of the Sardauna, the North is yet to find a worthy heir. Source_Blueprint
Posted on: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:48:51 +0000
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