Lamido: Please Accept My Humble Sympathy

By

Najeeb A. A. Gambo

najeebaagambo@gmail.com

 

 

It is my ardent and humble prayers that Allah shall give you the mendacity as well as the wherewithal to resist the temptations of disregarding this piece. The prayer that sufficed here is very essential, since it would serve as a shield against any heartful insinuation for discarding the piece as a mere ranting of a propagandist.

 

It is pertinent to also prepare your mind that the piece could contain issues that may be ‘detestable’ to both your hearing and liking but careful digestion devoid of mindset and prejudiced would help you to appreciate the issues raised.

 

I am inspired to write this piece after a painstaking investigation of your character as a Muslim, Politician and Social activist. Having got the necessary information regarding your philosophy in respect of the good people of Jigawa, it is there and then I resolved to send sympathy message rather than a felicitation on what you really stand for.

 

My sympathy in this regard goes to the manner in which you are to inherit a state with a nearly empty treasury aligned with demoralized civil service coupled with the hope and high expectation the people of Jigawa have on you for reversing the development in reverse-gear we had earlier being bedeviled with in some past years.

 

You are to also administer a state in which if your mandate is to only overhaul the education and health sector with 4 billion naira accruing to your purse every month (for that matter only), I believe it could take you up to eight consecutive years with out achieving a considerable progress (due to the inherent problems conceived over the years).

 

On coming to office, you are bound to grapple with the problem of emiratism; a deadly political philosophy of the back to nativity whose domino effect is every now and then affecting the political, social, religious and moral fiber of the society. It would interest you to know that when it comes to employment or appointment the issue of competence, credentials, probity, transparency, credibility or prudence are not the ultimate yardstick  to be considered as the final arbiter but the ultimate thing is from which emirate does someone came from?

 

To ascertain the veracity of my claim, you shall endeavor to revisit the employments, appointments as well as the equitable distribution of democratic dividends within the last four to five years. I am optimistic that you will be amazed with the lopsided nature in which the aforementioned were undertaken in order to arbitrarily please one section to the detriment of others. This ideology if not carefully checkmated could be a stumbling block for the development of this noble promising state in near future.

 

As a detribalized persona, you need to wage a special campaign in order to checkmate this cancer. You shall endeavor to vigorously champion the need of a paradigm shift. Unless, you do this, our people would continue to wallow and thrive in this back to the dark-age ideology.

 

To buttress this point so as to appreciate the magnitude of this, it sufficed here to mention some practical realities I and my bosom friend experienced in the hands of those intransigent jingoists. The first instance is with regards to forms in respect of the school of marines in Lagos in which Jigawa is expected to send its candidates. The officer in charge frustrated the efforts of some prospective students by refusing to issue out the forms on the basis that the students did not come from his emirate. At the long run, our state ended up in not sending a single student!

 

Mention must also be made on an issue that ordinarily supposed to be the affair of one Parastatal of the federal government (NDE) where an announcement was made for the interested candidates to fill a form in respect of the skill acquisition scheme. In that respect there those who are expected to join Graduate Assistant program, starting your own business (SYOB) and even the computer appreciation which is the most ‘lucrative’. After the candidates (name with held) was assured to be among those who are to pursue that computer course, some days later, he was made to understand that his name was excluded among those who are to be trained in computer due to the fact that two powerful people (one a highly placed government personnel while the other a traditional ruler) had over ruled that it is only their people that are supposed to be short listed in the computer program. Since, the issue at the moment is do-me-I-do you, the officer in charge has to succumb and replaced the less favored ones by the highly privileged ones.

 

This ugly trend is not only associated with governance cum civil service arena, it also permeates the socio-political interaction of our society. The fragmentation of the society has reached a level that even in an ordinary set up like Takur Housing estate; I can figure some places which are the exclusive preserve of some people from a particular emirate.

 

In fact, something has to be done in educating our people that, now a days countries are strategizing on how best to unite. A case in point could be seen in European Union and African Union. It is also worth noting to bring to our notice that there is no place on this earth that has developed with its potentialities with out resorting to the ideas of other people outside its enclaves.

 

Part of this sympathy I have for you is in the manner that you could muster the courage and brevity to suppress the lure and whisper of both your heart and the devil for equitably  changing the life of the people and community regardless of whether they contributed in your success or not! Definitely you will be confronted by these double barrel evil of devil’s whisper and insinuation of the heart. Since, an ideal leader is the one who equitably discharge his duties and equally try to win the support and sympathy of his adversaries even if he could not win their support but to at least neutralize their enmity.

 

The rate in which people would look at your face and tell you the bitter truth is drastically going to be reduced. You are therefore, going to be caged for some years if care is not taken, since from now on, majority of your kitchen cabinet as well as your courtiers would do every thing possible to please you even if at the risk of some people’s well being. To put it succinctly clear, whosoever loses the cream of people that could muster the courage of telling him the bitter truth, that person is obviously suppose to be sympathized with.

 

 

In this respect, you shall learn to accept constructive criticism. This is for the fact that most a times you achieve perfection through the criticism of your adversaries. Successful leaders, so I learn, sometimes employ the services (by indirect means) of their adversaries so as to determine the strength or the weakness of their policies, actions, in actions as well as programs. Since as the wise saying goes, a person who is deep inside the well could not appreciate it absolute length.

 

Since, it is obvious that the rate of the communication flow and feed back devoid of window dressing will drastically reduced, I would have advised you to see the possibility of reviving the KAI DA HUKUMARKA of the olden Kano state. A program in which the  state governor will freely meet his  people so as to ascertain the true situation of his followers and the level of their progress, problems and the likes.

 

You may have all the enthusiasm, zeal as well as the zest to deliver, to perform and equally to initiate reforms in different sectors, but if care is not taken, you will have problems in identifying the right people that are expected to man such frontiers. Many a times you will find out that those whom you have trusted are the same people that are every now and then sabotaging your effort.

 

I can reliably inform you that there was a time this retreating government announced the name of one ‘gentleman’ as the commissioner of religious affairs, immediately after he was informed, he started raining abuse to register his disappointment for not being posted to ‘Kuwait’. But he was later informed that beside religious affairs, he would oversee the affairs of Pilgrims Welfare Board. It was there and then, he had a sigh of relief, for having the mandate to over see the Hajj Affairs, a place I literarily learn is another ‘Kuwait’ in disguise. You could now imagine the level of insincerity and unpatriotic zeal deeply enmeshed in our psyche!

 

In essence, you really require some extra prayers, so that Allah shall guide you in appointing right people that are competent, prudent, God fearing and workaholic who could help you in overhauling the rots deeply entrenched in this entity called Jigawa.

 

As a widely traveled person, every time I traveled out of the state, I felt bad considering whenever I have seen the level of development in some states. What annoyed me most is that it is not the religious, social, material or human resources the state is lacking, but the leaders who shall summon the courage to right the wrong. We ask Allah to pave you the way so as to uproot these men and women so that one day we shall not be labeled to be members of educationally less developed state and the likes.

 

To cap it all, as a Muslim I believe, you believe, you will one day be asked to give account of your stewardship. Whatever you did, you would in deed be rewarded or punished accordingly. We ask Allah SWT to enriches you with the sincerity of purpose, God fearing subordinates as well as the heart and mind to resist all the worldly temptations and lure of the office so as to successfully discharge the mandate (of leadership) in which our noble Prophet has described as “regret” (unless someone has handled it with care).

 

You shall also remember the wise saying of our noble Prophet that every leader would on that very day be brought in chains, it is only the degree of his equity, justice and fair play that would unchained him (not the exact wording of the Hadith). 

 

Our humble prayers for you, is for Allah SWT to give you the wherewithal to deliver.

 

Najeeb A. A. Gambo

najeebaagambo@gmail.com