Attahiru Bafarawa Deserves All Commendations

Attahiru Bafarawa Deserves All Commendations

Abba Anwar

Kano, Nigeria

It is widely accepted that a shooter does not shoot aimlessly. He shoots at a specific and intended target or targets as the case may be. A well trained and sensible shooter knows how and where to shoot for a successful and complete destruction of a target . He who shoots or spits without a good study of a possible repercussion of his action is tantamount to be defeated, in the actual sense of the word, or it may even cause him his dear life. So the training he underwent and the skills he acquired, in my personal view, lack precision, specificity, consistency, accuracy and logic.

The accusations and counter-accusations of the Federal government against the states and local governments over the administration of their finances, in the country are enough a reason to ask whether the Federal government is saintly arranged, piously operates the state apparatus, transparently came to power and accountably spends the wealth of the nation. I wonder a situation where the great Satan will be accusing his sons and daughters as being more devilish. This is incomprehensible.

I am pond of asking the following questions, Does a boy copy things from his parents or from nowhere? , Who should be curse most between the great and deadly embezzler and the "normal" embezzler? , If the centre holds on to transparency and accountability who at the periphery will risk his future to be dishonest? , Is Nigerian state not following the proverbial adage that like father like son? . So the federal government or rather Obasanjo to be more precise, should know where to correctly point an accusing finger. You cannot rope yourself with all forms of atrocities and tell people that you are the messiah of our beloved country.

Mr. President you should please concentrate more on feasibilities rather than desirabilities. My view is if Mr. President thinks he has genuine reasons to fault and condemn the financial management of the states and local governments in the country, he should first and foremost start with himself. What I am saying in essence is self-scrutiny should be given the upper hand. This is somebody who was (is) alleged to be flagrantly disregarding the constitutional provisions of our great motherland. The ship he is captaining is fast sinking deeply into the rivers of uncertainty, absolute poverty, recklessness and above all unknown destination.

The Executive Governor of Sokoto State , Alhaji Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa, is absolutely right in his criticism against Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, over the latter's condemnation of the way states and local governments are spending their monies throughout the federation. It was this morning of Wednesday, 7th of July, 2004, the Executive governor Bafarawa granted an interview to the Voice of America Hausa Section, in which he vehemently kicked against all the accusations coming from President Obasanjo, to states and local governments in the country.

Governor Bafarawa challenged that, mismanagement does not start and end with the states and local governments. Which is true! If the states and local governments are bad omen for the development of democracy in the country, it means to say the centre is not holding water. I am completely behind Bafarawa in his analysis. For sure Bafarawa proves to be an opposition governor in this respect. "Let him (Obasanjo) start with himself", Bafarawa said.

It even went to the extent that Bafarawa challenged the authenticity of the published Federal government grants to states and local governments, that are periodically being published in the National dailies. This is a very serious challenge! It is the same as saying those materials are cooked up and published in the papers not because they are genuine but for them to serve the vested interest of Mr. President in particular, and his yes-men in general. The way I see it is if the periodically published federal grants to states and local governments are fabricated or rather the figures are inaccurate, it is as equal as saying Nigeria is more rudely arranged than the famous Animals Kingdom .

Attahiru Bafarawa caste his doubt over what is published in the papers and what is given to states and local governments. This is a very serious allegation. If the federal government could not clear the air over this, it means Obasanjo and his cohorts are roundly defeated by Bafarawa. So we can clap our hands for him alone.

I am honestly advising Bafarawa to please get the support of his colleagues and let them ask in a more critical way how the management of our resources looks like at the federal level. Just like the way I am having a stake in it, they also have a stake in the whole arrangement. We need to have a top-down theory of scrutiny. Let us hear from the above before coming down to states and local governments. I hope state governors and local government chairmen will wake up and launch an aggressive campaign over this issue. Let them tell Obasanjo that the mess is not only in the flesh and blood of their areas of jurisdiction. Let him know that it is more visible and prevalent in his surroundings. THE SOONER THE BETTER.

Abba Anwar

Kano state,

Nigeria

abbanwar@yahoo.com