Between Bafarawa and Wamakko

Dahiru Maishanu

London

The ice has finally melted on the crisis surrounding the Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko. The power play has been going on for more than three years since the 2003 general elections and political pundits have been speculating on how it would all end up. Both the House of Assembly and the Governor have finally accepted the resignation of the Deputy Governor. What remains now is for all the factions in the power game is to pick up the crumbs after washing their dirty linen in public. From today, Sokoto will never be the same again. The jinx ha s been broken. The political terrain has completely been redefined and the turf has been opened wide for all players even without the realisation of the principal characters in this melodrama.

The in-house fighting, treachery, blackmail, horse trading, betrayals and hypocrisy that have trailed this real life drama have finally come to a close, at least for now. The efforts of some of us in trying to sensitize the populace have finally started bearing some fruits.

The Members of the House of Assembly which I personally have had reasons to disagree with on a number of issues have finally awaken to their responsibilities. They have shown a good sense of maturity and political wizardry by over coming what we all feared was going to be the mother of all political machinations. It was obvious to everybody that the Bafarawa camp was going for the kill just twenty-four hours earlier. With all the hula- balloo that went on before the crystallization of this drama into the final resignation of the Deputy Governor, here comes a need for a moment of reflection on the essence of all these.

The Governor and his Deputy have been waging a running a war with each other for the last four years, which ultimately affected the smooth running of the Government of the State. It is not a hidden secret that the Deputy has had his security details and as well as his official allocation withdrawn by the Governor. It is also well known all over the state that the duo has not been on speaking terms for a very long time.

The union between Bafarawa and Wamakko was in the first place an unholy one, which at the beginning promised nobody any good. The political marriage was on paper looking rosy being a fusion together of the businessman in Bafarawa and the elite and administrator in Wamakko.

But that was as far as that union could go. As soon as they settled for the business of governance, obvious cracks started to emerge between the two, which, with time, became so conspicuous that both could not be able to contain them. The inclusion of people outside government, notably Umarun Kwabo in the business of governance further compounded the problems, which were fundamentally on background and foresight. The problem shifted to loyalty and patronage.

While Umarun Kwabo, though not officially in government, suddenly became the king maker and beneficiary of all worthwhile government contracts, the Deputy Governor was systematically schemed out of the scheme of things and was consequently sent into political oblivion. Whether it was politically expedient for the Deputy Governor to allow until now to resign is a matter open to debate. Rumours had it that the Deputy Governor had wanted to resign a long time ago, but was prevailed upon not to do so by prominent leaders in the country including former President Shehu Shagari. Whatever the pressure, me thinks Wamakko should have left long time a go.

The Government has accused Wamakko of running a pararrel government within the government, an action that smacks of disloyalty and insubordination. They have also accused him o f anti-party activities.

The power play had also reached the National Headquarters of the Party, threatening the fragile peace of the party at large. This led to the purported sacking of the National Chairman of the Party, Chief Dan Etiebet by a splinter group led by Bafarawa and General Jeremiah Useni. As a result of this, the National Executive Committee of the Party led by Etiebet suspended the entire Executive Committee of the Party in the State and appointed a Caretaker Committee to steer the affairs of the Party, pending new elections.

The Wamakko group came out victorious as most of the Caretaker Committee members were said to be loyal to him. Subsequently, the Bafarawa faction had no option than to resort to impeachment plots to fi nally and permanently nail the Deputy Governor.

This was where the crucial role of the legislature came into play. On Tuesday, 07/03/2006, according to the Daily Trust, Wamakko sent his resignation letter to both the Governor and the House. As the issue was being tabled, some members of the House objected to accepting the resignation pointing out that they had earlier privately discussed and signed a document for the impeachment of the Deputy Governor. As expected, the pro Wamakko group objected to this, saying the resignation letter took precedent to the impeachment since the latter was not officially discussed on the floor of the House.

The House was adjourned till the next day. Meanwhile sixteen out of the thirty members of the House had ear lier grouped and issued a statement saying they would resist the attempt to impeach the Deputy Governor and also alleged that they were being hunted and threatened by the Executive (Daily trust, 07/03/2006). Democracy was clearly in action in our erstwhile quiet State.

A dramatic turn of events however ensued in the morning of Wednesday, 08/03/2006 when suddenly, the Governor sent a letter to the House of Assembly saying that he had accepted the resignation of his Deputy. This effectively put all the drama and intrigues to a pleasant end.

Two schools of opinions emerged as a result of the Governor’s action. One, the Governor had seen defeat clearly in the horizon as a result of the sixteen members of the Assembly who called themselves Democrats and Progressives who vowed to kick against the impeachment and therefore decided to save the day for himself and his henchmen in the Assembly by accepting the resignation. Secondly, some observers believe that the Governor used his wisdom to end the saga and avoid further bad blood from the opposing camps.

Having said all these, it is now left for us to start afresh and look inwards in to the opposing camps and any other camps or dark horses that are preparing to get a go at the politics of Sokoto in 2007. We have seen the type and style of rule of the Bafarawas and by implication and association, the Umarun Kwabos. We have also seen a little insight of what the elitist group of Wamakko may bring to us come 2007. We are expecting to see more groups and individuals coming out now that Wamakko and the Members of the House have broken the culture of silence and opposition is now officially, willy-nilly at least acknowledged, if not recognised by the present leaders.

This episode brought a golden opportunity for the State Assembly to brush aside the accusation of timidity being labelled against them by many people including this writer and prove to all that they can not only bark, but they can also bite.

At the risk of been accused of duplicity by the attack dogs of some paper tigers, I will seize this opportunity to congratulate the members of the State Assembly for holding to themselves and conducting themselves in a brave manner by calling off the brag and bluff of the Executive and standing to what is constitutionally right. The members indeed deserve the commendation of all right thinking pe ople of the state for showing the world that they are indeed a force to reckon with in the politics of the state.

The former Deputy Governor also deserves congratulations for braving the odds and finally throwing in the towel. This was surely the only option left to him that was honourable. Holding on to the cartel would only make him to continue the journey that would see him nowhere.

This move was a deft and timely one that would give him the opportunity to independently sell himself and his ideas to the public if indeed he intends to run for the gubernatorial elections next year. As a seasoned Administrator and Teacher, Wamakko should not find it difficult to come out and tell us what his visions and plans are for the state. The electorates h ave been watching the political developments in the state and are ready to use their franchise wisely to elect their leaders come 2007.

If indeed the Governor used his wisdom and influence to end this saga in the peaceful manner it ended, then he deserves commendation too. By doing so, he has closed a chapter that would have engulfed the whole state into uncertainty and more acrimony between the feuding groups. Whether it was for political expediency or otherwise, his actions and pronouncements in the days to come would judge him and history is always there to record him.

As this chapter of a failed political marriage goes behind us, we have so many things to learn from the experience. Both sides have tasted the bitter pills of a hurried arrangeme nt that was to be a bad experience for all. What remains is for all to imbibe the idea of having principles in life and act according to ones inner convictions and conscience on any stance. We should also learn to understand our inadequacies and be prepared to learn from our failures. No body is all knowing except God even in Bafarawa’s Sokoto.