EMMA OKAH (08111811227; emmaokah@yahoo) OF SUNDAY SUN NEWSPAPER WRITES ON GOVERNOR SULE LAMIDO OF JIGAWA STATE The Federal office of Statistics in 2001, classified Jigawa State as one with relatively high severity and incidence of poverty in Nigeria with a per capita income of $290, which is far below the National Average. Agriculture is the backbone of its economy, and with increased neglect of the sector by successive administrations, it is only a matter of time for dwindling economic strength to set in. With the indigenes getting poorer, government becomes the only source of succour for the poor. It is for this reason that the state can ill-afford a thieving administration. In such a situation, when an elected governor betrays the sacred trust and steals from the people, their anger and pain run deep while their cries go far and wide, resonating in the desert. The recent discovery by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that two sons of Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State are serial thieves in billions of naira can only be unfortunate and shameful. As fathers, we feel deeply hurt when our own children occupy public discourse in very negative light. This is the agony that confronts Alhaji Sule Lamido, Governor of Jigawa State, North West Nigeria. Popularly known as a member of the G-7 now taking on President Goodluck Jonathan like nobody has done in the past, Lamido is not new to the political landscape. He is also not new to corruption scandal. A man noted to possess some degree of political courage, Lamido endeared himself to many of us when he became one of the few Nigerians who spoke against the dictatorial regime of late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha. Touted as Obasanjo’s boy, he was to be appointed Minister of External Affairs before 2007. In 2007, he was elected governor of Jigawa State, succeeding Alhaji Ibrahim Saminu Turaki, now a senator and a man who has been in and out of the courts, defending himself against multiple corruption charges. The EFCC is prosecuting the former governor on a 32-count charge for corruptly enriching himself to the tune of N36B belonging to Jigawa State. As if the EFCC was on its own, Turaki succeeded in finding a seat in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a situation made possible by the funds allegedly stolen from the people that God placed under his leadership in Jigawa State. Rather than face trial, Saminu Turaki has continuously ridiculed the EFCC as if stealing is a virtue. Our last check revealed that after he managed to transfer the graft case from Abuja to a Federal High Court in Dutse, he started staying away from the court until a warrant of arrest was issued against him by Justice S. Yahuza directing the IGP to produce him in court dead or alive and without delay. If anybody thought that the change of guard in the state in 2007 would bring hope and integrity in governance to the people of Jigawa, later events are proving that stealing, by protocol, seats in the Jigawa State Government House in Dutse. Sadly, it is for this reason that many people think that, like a stroke of fate, since the advent of the present democratic experience, Jigawa State has not been lucky to have great and exemplary governors. It is either their governors are gladly milking them dry or their sons are stealing from the public till with amazing impunity. In some cases, it is a combination of both. Accurately, scandals and allegations of corruption have not left the house of Governor Sule Lamido since 2012. He is blessed with a gift of male children. In Africa many consider children to be an asset of some sort but instead of using their talents and opportunities to promote the well being of government and people of Jigawa State, they have become vultures, reaping where they did not sow. They have become pen robbers, terrorizing the coffers of the government and people of Jigawa State with the active connivance of their father, as alleged by EFCC, at a time when poverty and security challenges stare everyone in the face. Late last year, precisely in December 2012, one of his sons Aminu Lamido was arrested at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano on his way to Cairo, Egypt for alleged money laundering. He was said to have declared only $10,000 out of the $50,000 in his possession, a conduct many believe, smacks of guilt and predetermined intent to commit a crime. Much as the laws of Nigeria do not forbid any person from carrying any amount of money out of the country, it is illegal not to declare such money. Failure to do so amounts to a crime. While this crime remained an embarrassment to Dutse, the EFCC has again, moved against the Lamidos, accusing the same Aminu Lamido and his brother Mustapha Lamido together with their father Alhaji Sule Lamido as running a ring of companies which were used as engines of fraud to siphon the resources of the helpless people of Jigawa State. According to the EFCC, a total sum of N11B is said to have been stolen in the process. That is why they were subsequently arrested in Kano and it has been reported that the evidence against them is weighty. Media reports also have it that the emerging facts from the investigations carried out in the earlier case of money laundering involving Aminu Lamido had given rise to the present findings and it would appear that Governor Sule Lamido cannot have sleepless nights anymore. Apart from having his two sons in the EFCC net, the governor himself who enjoys immunity now, may be arrested and prosecuted when he leaves office in 2015. Governor Sule Lamido who is a prominent member of the G-7 wants to be president of Nigeria in 2015 and has called on Jonathan to abandon the option of a second term in office. In September 2013, he said that Jonathan would use the EFCC to haunt members of the G-7 but the facts today show that the guilty is afraid. He was merely raising a false alarm to cover the misdeeds of his house. Much as nobody prays to have children that bring shame to the family, parents must be careful not to expose otherwise innocent children to avoidable temptation. While Nigerians await the outcome of this case, we believe that Governor Lamido is not alone as majority of the governors in Nigeria and their family members are stealing freely from the public till. We may crucify Governor Lamido today but he belongs to a league of powerful governors who may not make heaven on account of graft.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 09:10:22 +0000