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EFCC On Bafarawa: Verdict Long Expected By Gatawa Bagobiri
The appearance on 27th September 2006 of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu before our distinguished Senators provided Nigerians the golden opportunity to know the grade each of our State governors scored in Public Resource Management and Prudence Examination the Commission has been conducting on them. Until then, Nigerians were simply either praising or condemning their respective State Governors, with no clearly defined yardsticks of measuring their performance and accountability. While mismanagement of our resources by those we elected into political offices is increasing the level of poverty, illiteracy and diseases, even as majority lack shelter and basic amenities of life, the usual trend is that we only condemn our leaders either when they refuse to meet our personal demands such as contracts or appointments or when we do not share party or alliance with them.
In Sokoto State, all save two groups are
confident that Bafarawa will emerge with Distinction in any Public
Resource Management and Prudence Examination. Those who share opposing
view remain those cling of elites whose intellect slumps by expecting
that they alone should determine things in the State. Some of them were
favoured by Bafarawa as a number of them were offered high posts and
drawn closer to decision making and policy implementing centres. Yet, a
number of them felt unsatisfied and are now biting the same finger that
fed them. Consider, for instance, a one time member of State cabinet or
Local Council Chairman that was elevated to position of VIP but has now
turned to wage a fierce political battle against Bafarawa.
The second group of dissidents consists of
those in opposition parties and see governance not in terms of progress
and development but assume that there is cling or group of individuals
that ought to shape the course of politics and governance in the state.
Such a group is not satisfied now that Bafarawa is in control, and the
development achieved in the State now has exposed the cling’s
misappropriation trend entrenched into our local politics prior to 1999.
Others are merely in opposition because by being in opposition and by
refusing to acknowledge the progress achieved in the State under
Bafarawa, they are serving their Abuja masters well. Yet others oppose
Bafarawa for his political wizardry. To this group, Bafarawa prominence
in Sokoto politics has come to stay, and this seems to block the chance
of incompetent, inexperienced and immature politicians who prior to 1999
had been playing with our intelligence by their inability to deliver.
While all this going on, Mr. Pesident paid
a visit to the State August last year and was astonished to see a
governor that was practically demonstrating what he was preaching.
Having taken Mr. President round the State for on-the-spot assessment of
what the State does with its share of allocation, the Governor stood
before the August visitor and accounted for all funds accrued to State..
When the governor presented to the August visitor the state government
Statement of Account with UBA PLC which as at the day of presentation
stood at over four billion naira, Mr. President looked electrocuted,
even as Shehu Shagari was to his rescue at the occasion.
Mr. President had to open his mouth loud
to say the whole truth: that here he was before the true Mr.
Accountability, the real Prudence Manager and rightful deliverer of
dividends of democracy. The August visitor didn’t hesitate to
acknowledge that something unique was going on in Sokoto State – that
the State is lucky to have an astute achiever as its governor. On his
part, Bafarawa maintains this policy of public accountability whereby
the citizens are being, on quarterly basis, informed of the Financial
Records of the State.
Those who are conversant with the State
and its governance since 1999 know the secret behind Bafarawa’s success
in winning Ribadu’s medal of Accountability and Prudence. The governor
was extremely rich and contended long before entering Government House.
Money and power may not change his generous and charitable relations
with the common man. Also, having come from rural area, far away from
the State Capital, he must have been angered by the slow pace of
progress in the State under his predecessors. Surprisingly, he not only
changed the rural areas to better but transformed the Capital City into
another Abuja. For instance, besides Abuja and Sokoto, which other State
capital has all its roads dualised, with functional street and traffic
lights?
Another contributing factor is Bafarawa’s
shrewdness in politics. He said it times without number that politics is
all about human happiness. So, elected officials should be responsive
and accountable to public good. Recently, in a BBC interview, he
lamented the slow pace of development in Northern Nigeria and upheld
that State Governors in the region must double their effort to salvage
the situation. Generally, he is kind and one who beliefs that the public
funds must be expended into developmental projects. This is exactly what
he did in the State.
Added to this is quality of his Cabinet
members and Economic Team. He is lucky to have an Executive Council that
consists of the best achievers and result-oriented personalities. The
Secretary to the State Government, the Commissioner of Finance, who now
doubles as Deputy Governor and the Accountant General are all highly
professionals in their respective schedule. They collectively provide a
professional advice and guidance necessary for Bafarawa’s emergence with
Distinction in the just concluded examination conducted by EFCC.
It is surely to Bafarawa’s credit that the
State has been drastically transformed in the two terms of his tenure.
All sectors – education, health, agriculture, social infrastructure,
rural development, human empowerment, and the like – have witnessed
tremendous progress. Besides constructing over 800 km of road network,
linking vital towns and focal points of the State, the administration
also expanded medical and educational facilities all over for the
benefit of the citizens. The on-going projects at Shehu Shagari College
of Education have restored the good golden name and intellectual status
it was known over the decades. A visitor to the College must be amazed
by the shape it is taking now. Surely, the College is not only capable
of undertaking B. Ed degree programme but can equally handle post
graduate courses as was the case in early 1980s.
All this pin points to one fact: that
Bafarawa came in serve and he is really serving the electorates. This
must have informed his concern with his colleagues in other states that
fail to deliver. It also shows his deep regret with the snail pace of
development and human condition in Northern Nigeria as a whole. He has
tirelessly been advocating a new chart for the development of the region
with a view to restoring the lost glory of what Sardauna and co laid the
solid foundation of, a culture and system of hard work, dignity, self
esteem and brotherhood which is allowed to degenerate by later political
and military elites.
There are lessons, however, in the recent
Ribadu verdict for Bafarawa and other politicians to note. For Bafarawa,
the verdict should strengthen him to stick to his commitment to serve
his citizens the more. As he is accountability and prudence manager of
distinction, he must continue to keep an eye on the state funds and
resources and by ensuring that they are viably expended on further
development projects.
The verdict is also a lesson for other
state governors who have been insensitive to the plight of their
citizens. More often than not Bafarawa has been consistent in reminding
his colleagues that all their actions and inactions are fully monitored
by the whole citizens and a number of NGOs and agencies such as EFCC. On
moral justification for prudent management of public funds and trust
bestowed on them by the electorates, Bafarawa keeps on preaching the
divine message that all must account for deeds in the hereafter.
Another challenge posed by Ribadu verdict
is the need to elect someone who will not only sustain Bafarawa’s
projects but one with a vision and mission to deliver another set of
democratic dividends that must have direct bearings with people’s
aspirations. In this regard, the electorates are yearning for committed
politician to succeed Bafarawa come 2007. The search for the right
candidate for now centres around two principled and tested individuals:
Alhaji Maigari Dingyadi, the current Secretary to the State Government
and Senator Sule Yari Gandi. The electorates seem to agree that any one
of the two can surely continue from where Bafarawa stops.
With Ribadu’s verdict, we rejoice our
decision to vote Bafarawa in 1999 and 2003. We equally look forward to
his guidance as we approach 2007. We task him to help us come out with a
credible, qualified and honest candidate to succeed him as our governor
next year. It is a duty upon Bafarawa to ensure that the State, projects
put in place so far and his esteemed supporters are all not allowed to
grumble into future without his guidance. Bafarawa is indeed a professor
of politics who has now won Distinction in the examination conducted by
the nationally most difficult, thorough body under Ribadu.
Finally, the electorates in Sokoto state
should be thankful to God for in His Wisdom they elected Bafarawa into
office and on his own part the governor successfully delivers the much
expected democracy dividends to the State in accordance with terms and
conditions of trust reposed on him. To those states whose resources were
mismanaged and squandered, we symphatise with their electorates for
allowing themselves to be deceived by voting into power bunch of
fraudsters, who could neither prudently manage their funds nor bring
about any development to their states. We hope the electorates will in
2007 change gear and take the right direction as we in Sokoto State had
done since 1999.
Gatawa M. Bagobiri,
Sabon Birni LGA,
Sokoto State
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