All Await Ribadu in Sokoto

By

Makuwana Bawa Shugaba

makuwanagobir@yahoo.com

In his inauguration speech after being sworn in as the Executive Governor of Sokoto state on the 29th May 2007, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko said that the out-going administration had left nothing in the state coffers and that the state government accounts were overdrawn to the tune of 2billion naira.

 
Later in the day, the out-going Commissioner of Finance, Hajiya Aishatu Muhammad Binji, came out to tell the whole world that they were leaving behind some 11billion naira for the in-coming administration. It was said that the Commissioner showed pressmen detailed documents in support of her submission. Prior to all this, the out-going Governor had on Monday, a day to the handing over, delivered his farewell speech to the people of the state in which he made same claim with his Commissioner’s.
 
However, considering the consequences and dimensions this sensitive will surely have on his integrity and to set the records right, the out-going governor went ahead by writing to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to kindly intervene by unveiling the truth behind the state funds as at the time of handing over. No doubt, the EFCC has the mandate to heed to the call and can professionally carry out this national assignment requiring its urgent attention.
 
This piece is not intended to apportion blame, but to express the concern of Sokoto state electorates in this an all-important matter. There is surely sense in Bafarawa intimating the EFCC of the matter, so also the analysis offered on it by his Commissioner of Finance. No doubt, if it’s true that Wamakko met an empty treasury he has every reason to say it loud.
 
What the electorates, however, need now is for the whole truth to be unveiled. For now, we seem lost as to which is which: Bafarawa’s or Wamakko’s? For, 11billion naira is so big issue to be ignored or be put under carpet. As Bafarawa and Aisha asked: has Wamakko really gone through the handing over notes before making his pronouncement on the state government accounts? There is the likelihood that the speech he read on the inauguration day was prepared long earlier. Thus, he might have been misinformed by his lieutenants and his grudges with Bafarawa must have informed his hasty way of hitting the out-going administration as he did on that day.
 
However, while laymen could take it for granted that Wamakko’s assertion might sound right, the elite among us deem it right to ask for further clarification to enable us come out with constructive pieces of advice on the state development derive. For effective policy advocacy, it will really assist if we know the financial strength of our dear state. Part of what was achieved during the last administration was due to the funds reserve system that was solidly laid.
 
Typical of our democrats, the in-coming administration will exert much time, energy and resources in colouring the out-going administration black. But the best way to win the confidence of the electorates is by embarking on solid development projects that would better off their living conditions. So, instead of this entire hullabaloo, the in-coming administration should have told electorates what it intends to put in place to surpass whatever the out-going administration did.
 
Had Sokoto state has proactive elders, this issue would have since resolved. It is unfortunate that those who call themselves elders in the state are either partisan to the matter or lack interest in pursuing such a significance issue that affect the entire citizenry. Their eldership starts and ends at public functions and in the sharing of state cake, after having been prepared and baked by the electorates.
 
The fact that Wamakko’s administration has not retracted the claim of empty treasury days after it must surely studied the handing over notes and possibly further verified the claims with Banks where these funds are lodged, coupled with Bafarawa’s insistence for handing over 11billion naira, we expected Mallam Ribadu to have by now bounced in Sokoto and told the whole world the whole truth about the matter. Though we are amateurs in financial investigations, but we assume that this exercise may be one of the easiest EFCC can easily carry out.
 
Before the state funds and financial records are tempered with and the issue politicised further, we all eagerly await EFCC in Sokoto to tell us what the balance was in state government accounts as at the time of the handing over. Any delay in taking urgent attention on the matter would escalate the tension of political blunder in the state. Expectedly, over the weekend, a former commissioner that served the Military administration in the state has boasted that the level of account overdrawn by Bafarawa’s administration amounts to 7billion naira.
 
Finally, it is becoming clearer to all true democrats that the more Ribadu delays his arrival to Sokoto, the more the state government would hire ‘professionals’ and ‘experts’ to enable it get a short cut to tarnish the hard-earned integrity of Bafarawa and his entire cabinet members. This informs the very reason why EFCC and all other relevant security agencies need to urgently intervene in unveiling the mystery shrouding the actual funds left in the state coffers by Bafarawa’s administration. Enough of political vendetta!
 
Garba Shugaba Makuwana,
Sokoto State