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Praise Singers And Katsina State Local Governments Elections By Musa Ado Rimaye
The Local Government Elections in Katsina State have come and gone but not with the normal progressive descent to anarchy characterized by elections in our Nigeria of today. Yours sincerely read a piece written by one Muhammed Nagado from Dutsinma wherein he praised the Governor of Katsina State for (according to the writer) conducting a free and fair elections that saw the emergence of the newly (s)elected Local Government Chairmen in the State.
One would have allowed the piece to pass without any comment giving the emergence of an army of professional guzzlers and praise singers occasioned by the current stark economic realities characterized by the extent of poverty that has eaten deep into the metabolic systems of the citizens. But, a word or two shall help to shed more light on what happened during the just concluded Local Government (s)elections in Katsina State.
Broadly speaking, the ideals of democracy involve participation, representation, collective responsibility and social and legal equity of rights and privileges. The objective of democracy according to its proponents is thus to ensure participation, social and legal justice, which in turn is expected to enhance freedom and unity, stability and progress in society.
Due to the centrality of the principle of representation in democracy, election came to be the vital factor because it is through elections that representatives are chosen from a collection or set of people aspiring to represent the electorate. This implies competition for political office. Anything short of that is not democracy but something else.
On the issue of consensus posited by the writer, it is common knowledge that a level playing field was not given to the aspirants who were forced to either accept the anointed ones or leave the party. A clear example is what happened in Kankia Local Government where the incumbent was enforced in complete disregard to the people’s choice within the PDP which made it apparently impossible for the elections to hold. This was because had the elections been held, PDP would have been beaten hands down by the opposition. Daura’s elections also could not hold because of the same reason. Kurfi, Kankara, Malumfashi, Funtua, Kafur, and a host of other Local Governments had the same experience as attested to by Dr Bashir Kurfi and a host of other well meaning Katsinawas.
In Jibia Local Government, people were denied their right to move freely on the night prior to the (s)elections day as anybody seen after 10:00pm on that fateful Friday night was either arrested, or beaten in a spurious bid to prevent trouble. In Funtua also, the electorate vowed to resist any imposition of candidates, but alas, professional ballot papers snatchers were at work. In many places, electoral materials were never supplied but results were announced. What sort of democracy are we practicing?
One is at pains when one reads such articles filled with myopia and written by those who consider public office as a do-or-die affair in complete disregard to the deeply entrenched problems of aggravated poverty occasioned by the moribund worldview of some predatory autocrats in power within our polity. World-wide, crooks, harbingers, and those with anti-social tendencies are not allowed to hold public office. But in Nigeria, God-fatherism, (nepotism) or/and putting square pegs in round holes is the order of the day.
In Kusada Local Government, the former chairman juggled his way to the State House of Assembly and another puppet was enforced to handle the mantle of the leadership despite the resistance of the teeming populace. What kind of democracy is that?
It is the plea of yours sincerely that those who do not have something to say, despite their rights as free citizens of Nigeria with freedom of speech, to please remain mute and not indulge in high falutin rigmaroles. What has been achieved in all the Local Governments headed by the people who have been (s)elected to continue managing them? It is common knowledge that the Chairmen have become local super-heroes without any ideological baseline, no good financial management, nor a guiding political principle they can call their own, but as yes-men to some geriatric autocrats who called themselves ‘elders’ of the party.
At a time, when the economic pressure became no longer bearable, some villagers from Kafin-Dangi in Kankia Local Government area took cutlasses, bows and arrows and headed to the Local Government Secretariat to demand an explanation from the Chairman on why nothing had happened in terms of development in spite of the grants being given to the administration on monthly basis? It took the intervention of the men of the Nigerian Police to stop the villagers from coming to demand for their rights. Yet we are still being bombarded with some patently paternalistic bouts of verbal dysentery that all is well in Katsina State.
It goes without saying that the former Governor now Mr President, His Excellency Umaru Musa Yar’adua did his best in terms of developing the state’s infrastructures. But coming down to the Local Government Chairmen, near-zero achievements were recorded. We have seen where (in other parts of the country) Local Government Chairmen planned and implemented laudable programmes for the purpose of the teeming populace. What does it cost to sink boreholes to provide portable drinking water? What does it cost to rehabilitate dams in some localities to pave way for irrigation activities in those localities? What does it cost to construct rural feeder roads for easy access to the markets for the villagers? The needs are endless. But alas, Local Government administration in Katsina State has become a caricature of modern administration.
We have seen the efforts of Ado Dan Mallam Karofi (ADK) the former Chairman of the Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Inspectorate who was able to establish the Fish Farmers Association, Irrigation Farmers Association, and that of Beekeeping. But the question begging for answer is, how far have the projects gone? The Local Governments were forced by the Inspectorate to erect some structures (though not without some manipulation of figures) for the Fish Farmers Association. But how many are really functional apart from the Katsina own? That of irrigation is visible only behind Kofar Sauri. The Beekeeping is a shadow of itself because it was only at Katsina fish market. As Danmallam is no longer there, the projects are progressively grinding to a halt.
Achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 going by the way our local governments are being administered is near impossible. Majority of the population lives in the rural areas and the only government they can call their own is the local government. But when things are not being done efficiently and effectively, the poor peasant farmer is left with nothing he could call his own in terms of governance. Fertilizer is not sold at subsidized rates, where they are subsidized, party affiliation takes centre stage. Tractor hiring service had since been forgotten by the poor farmer, where they are provided, party affiliation plays the high role in who gets and who doesn’t.
We are blessed with knowledgeable and capable people in our state but primordial objectives have prevented our leaders from planning and implementing what will benefit the common man. The Katsinawa are known for their intellectual capability, but now our educational standard is progressively declining due to official sleaze, high handedness as seen from our local government chairmen who should have given primary education a priority to complement the Federal Government’s Universal Basic Education initiative.
Being knowledgeable connotes, at the minimum, capability of understanding basic issues especially those pertaining to governance, ability to get through successfully a substantial volume of work within a specific time frame, recognition of problems before or when they manifest themselves, possession of requisite decision-making competence and ability to make hard choices and recognizing superior arguments.
Members of the leadership group ought to be disciplined and trained in some basic skills or profession. They must possess self-control, be able to work successfully as a group, capable of recognizing both their and other people’s capabilities and limitations, be sufficiently humble, and be in possession of sufficient dose of humility as well as decency, integrity and transparency. They must acknowledge the key position of accountability in their conduct and management of public affairs. They must above all believe and act in the best interest of the people they govern.
A situation where local government grants and the internal revenues being realised from the dilapidated markets in their areas are only used to pay salaries and the balance efficiently and effortlessly looted does not speak well of us. We must preach transparency and practice it in its totality so as to salvage our people from hunger, disease, illiteracy, and redundancy.
Objective criticisms must be looked into and necessary adjustments be made in our quest to promote fair contest and good governance. All those known to have contributed in one way or the other towards the apparent sense of desolation which has consumed the minds of many of our poor people should be identified and weeded out of the system as a sure way towards success in our endeavour.
As for Muhammed Nagado, one expects him and his likes to concentrate on finding answers to questions bordering on what is really the attraction to partisan politics in Nigeria. How do we minimize the influence of the hidden persuaders that dictate the norms of partisan politics in Nigeria? What are the incentives of playing clean politics, instead of the usual dirty politics in Nigeria? How do we minimize the lure to power addiction? How do we curtail the abuse of political power in Nigeria? How do Nigerians demand for accountability from their representatives, be they Councillors, Local Government Chairpersons, or whatever. Praise singing and campaigns of prefabricated deceit, and hard-boiled lies are most unlike the Bakatsine.
This is my thrust.
Musa Ado Rimaye |