|
Malam Ibrahim Shekarau A Good, Honest And Visionary Leader Without Good Marketers Ado Bello It is a common knowledge that even a single product without a competitor needs the services of a very good and efficient marketer for its survival and to break even. Malam Ibrahim Shekarau the Governor of Kano State even to his critics is an honest and God fearing man and as far as I many commentators have said a leader who leads by example as well as the only State Governor who allowed the local councils to have and operate with their funds 100%, to cut the grammar short he is since 2003 Mr. due process. For every product to be successful it needs efficient marketers, for every public officer especially a state governor he needs the services of efficient, honest and those who shares his vision and mission as commissioners and advisers to serve as his marketers. Malam Shekarau is lacking such people around him; hold your breath let me give typical examples. Firstly, everyone knows that our traditional rulers are employees of the local councils and they collect their salaries and other entitlements like any other civil or public servant. They are entitled to an official car and in Kano the entire district heads are using the popularly called ‘’Tokunbo’’ another name of used cars as their official vehicles despite the fact that we called and regarded them as our fathers and custodians of our religion and culture, despite the fact that those in power used them as fire fighters that is to douse off any threat of peace in their domain as religious intermediaries whenever they goofed or are trying to push a new or unpopular policy like the ‘’polio’’ issue and now child right act. As a visionary leader, Malam Shekarau see these things as degrading, because you cannot allow your father to be using a used car and even Government policy is against it. The cars given to our traditional rulers is not a gift it is a status car as simple as that anybody who is crying over it is just trying to be mischievous and economical with the truth. The major problem is as I said earlier the Governor lacks marketers whoever advise and convince the Governor that there must be a celebration to distribute the cars to the district heads and label it as a gift is either insane, mischievous, corrupt or both. How can you give such advice, when the Governor swears his commissioners and other appointees that are entitled to status cars did you call the whole world to witness you giving them their status cars?, when Members of the State Assembly, Chairmen of the councils, Permanent Sectaries, Judges and host of others get their own status cars is it with such a fanfare?, lack of marketers cause all these misconception and the Governor did it with a clean mind and with vision and someone along the line give the opposition an opportunity to put the Governor on defensive, yes the Governor, because he is the one elected by the people not the appointed who are there to market the programs but instead causing headache for the person with the mandate. Secondly, it is only in Kano state that you cannot differentiate between the office of Information Commissioner, Chief Press Director to the Governor and Publicity Sectary of the ruling party and host of spokespersons in and outside the Government. The common and acceptable practice is that if somebody criticise a policy of the Government then it is the duty of Information Commissioner to depend the policy in conjunction with the affected Ministry or Department at no time should any commissioner calls for a press interview or sponsored a programme for his Ministry only. If somebody attack or question the personal integrity of the state governor, the press sectary of the governor owes it a duty to depend his boss this time around not the information commissioner, Sule Y Sule over to you not Dederi the Barrister turned image maker. If the opposition party attack the ruling party then ANPP over to you, your credibility is at stake not Musa Illiyasu Kwankwaso, he is appointed and paid to oversee the affairs of Rural Development Ministry not ANPP Ministry, did you have a proof? Or are just spurious allegations, taking the following instances as a pointer of lack of proper coordination and experience marketers and image makers. When one of the Foreign Media let the cat out of the bag in Buhari/Shekarau frosty relationship and air what seems to be slip of tongue according to Environment Commissioner, Dederi said it is campaign of calumny against Malam and host of other self appointed spokespersons. The question is whose responsibility to clear the air and mess? It is squarely on the shoulders of Sule Y Sule, but he keep quiet until the image of the Governor is tarnish and damaged by those who opened their wide mouth to depend him. A typical effective image making is when Buhari was quoted to have said that Yaradua mark it Yaradua did not phone or consult him or talk to him concerning election and politics, the following day Segun Adeniyi did not waste time to issue a statement saying Yaradua did not do so because Buhari is in court and as a believer of rule of law until the case is over, it is not PDP or Odey the Minister that replied the General, the underlying factor is the person of President not his 7 point agenda. The most annoying part is within the same Government the appointed ones are at each other’s neck, or how can you justify that after all the achievement by the Governor on Health care delivery especially as it affects women and children an appointee can just wake up one day and go to a general hospital with fun and fanfare and start donating drugs and equipments where as the person who appointed him has listed drugs and hospital equipments as one the areas that earned him the historical second term, and the party cannot call that person to order, he is making more damages to the party and the Governor no matter how close they are. Finally, it is not late for the Governor to start applying the stick option before those he invited to come and chop spoil his hard earned reputation, if they cannot improved his image and market him properly and in an organized manner and still leave them to continue like these, he should know that the mandate is his own, Kano people elected him and whatever is the failure he is the one that will bear it. Let him amend before it is too late and the intifada of Kano begins. The writer is from Kano but he lives in Diaspora and lack of coordination is making us a laughing stock within our fellow Nigerians. |