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Wamakko's Excess Luggage By Danladi Ardo Wamakko The victory by PDP in Sokoto gubernatorial election has opened a wide range of debate on the future of the state. Already, the out-going administration under the leadership of Bafarawa has set up a benchmark of performance against which the incoming administration would be measured and judged.
While the victory is being celebrated,
anyone conversant with Sokoto local politics could understand that the
governor-elect is carrying much excess luggage as May 29 approaches.
As analysts have pointed out, his excess
luggage is but a collection of Kanwurin Sokoto, his deputy, the Abuja
overlords and the hungry PDP elements that are eagerly waiting for May
29 to have State account opened for them to squander. There are also the
unrealistic promises made to civil servants, business class, traditional
rulers and even those that did not ask for any favour.
The most dangerous luggage content in
Sokoto PDP is the countless number of area boys recruited and used by
the PDP during its campaigns and elections. Now that victory has been
achieved, the area boys would surely want to have their share of the
loot. As time goes on, the elected political office holders may try
distancing themselves from the thugs, but the boys would definitely
fight it back. Unfortunately, it is the whole state that would be
affected by the u-turn of the thugs against their hiring masters.
The next odourous content in the luggage
is the non-statesmanship of the Wamakko's deputy. Shagari has, beginning
from his entry into gubernatorial race, introduced area boyism into
Sokoto political life. He also behaves arrogantly over issues that
require statesmanship approach. It is no surprise that one analyst
asserts that the greatest difficulty before Wamakko is not leading
Sokoto state per se but handling and muddling the lifestyle of Shagari.
It is quiet understandable why Shagari’s
arrogance was tolerated all that while. Wamakko, and indeed Abuja and
Kanwurin Sokoto, wanted to fully exploit Shagari’s potentialities
towards the realization of the objective; finance and thuggery. No
doubt, as Obasanjo’s long serving Minister, Shagari could adequately
finance gubernatorial campaigns. It was the same financial resources he
used to recruit and fund the thuggery that now characterized the state
politics.
Now that elections are over, and INEC
declared PDP as winner, would Wamakko tolerate the semi-lordship of
Shagari? Unless care is taken, friction is bound to crop up no soon
after take over. Whereas Bafarawa tolerated his deputy for seven good
years, it may not take Wamakko few months of honey moon with Shagari.
It may, however, be argued that the most
challenging content in Wamakko's luggage is the Kanwurin Sokoto. No one
needs to argue it any more that Kanwurin Sokoto is a mini national
headquarters of PDP. It was Kanwuri that was used by powers that be to
drag Wamakko to decamp from ANPP to PDP when party primaries were long
over. Also, Kanwuri provided all the underground support and tools
required by PDP to coerce electorates not to vote any other party than
PDP. It surprises no one that in a number of polling booths in Kanwuri,
all votes exclusively went to PDP. But can Wamakko/Shagari satisfy
Kanwuri beyond what Bafarawa had done to it?
The other side of the excess luggage is
unrealistic welfare, not developmental, expectations the PDP members in
the state await Wamakko to fulfill. Right now, all seem to be counting
his/her days to becoming millionaire. All is looking forward to Wamakko
to unlocking the gate to state treasury for all to amass to his/her
satisfaction. The expectation for the kick-up of this welfare programme
has made so many to start re-drawing the income and expenditure monetary
budget not only for the year but for the 4-year term.
Then, there is the army of appointment
seekers. Right now all is rumoured to be lobbying for one post or the
other. Who gets what and who would lose out we would soon get to know.
But it remain real that not all would get what all is expecting.
Further excess luggage on Wamakko could be
seen in the amount of money now earmarked for the purchase of vehicles
for free distribution to PDP supporters in the state. This signals the
kick-up of welfare system he might be tempted to pursue on take over.
Then, there is the dozens of promises made
to civil servants. The party had promised to raise the level of income
of the state civil servants and address what the workers considered to
be Bafarawa's high handedness in financial control. What we do not know
is by how much would the salary be increased or the level of financial
liberty workers would get in accessing state treasury to help empty it.
Again, there is a repeated propaganda that
all civil servants perceived to either have come from certain LGAs of
the state or those close to out-going leadership would be victimized.
This too added to Wamakko’s excess luggage, unless he wisely shed that
excessive content. As a retired civil servant, he is expected to set an
example of how workers ought to be treated in a democratic order.
Whatever it is, it is likely that the
greatest excess luggage of Wamakko remains Bafarawa's performance. It is
Wamakko’s ability or otherwise to perform that would serve as the basis
of any analysis of his victory. No matter how he pleased the Kanwuri,
the Abuja overlords, the thugs, the traders and civil servants, his
success or failure lies in his ability or inability to further transform
the state, continuing from where Bafarawa stops.
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