Leadership (Abuja)
Ibrahim Modibbo
13 January 2009
column
Your Excellency, the former Governor of Bauchi State, Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Muazu, happy New Year sir. I have decided this morning to write you this memo with the greatest respect and the deepest sense of responsibility, so that I intimate you with the current trend of events in and around our beloved country Nigeria.
As a respected Nigerian that has gone far around the globe in enviable quest for the golden fleece or better still the pleasure of learning and knowing which is hard to achieve, I salute your courage as a far-sighted visionary with a deep sense of nationalism and vocational excellence. I still recall with absolute nostalgia, your quest to serve as the best civilian governor of Bauchi whose political calling evolved naturally from your patriotic desire to positively respond to our generational challenges.
With scholarship that obliterated darkness, with brilliance that dazzled, mediocrity, and with public good over coming public relations, you stirred the leadership of Bauchi with philosophical calmness. You did it with great humility and uttermost sense of responsibility as your vibrant and robust approach to issues of good governance has endeared you to millions of democrats in Nigeria, while in the same breath, it silenced scores of your venomous critics. As a bridge builder, a grassroot mobiliser, a liberal democrat and a charitable administrator with a passion for grassroot transformation, you have delivered dividend of democracy to the good people of Bauchi, and today your name is on the lips of the downtrodden for setting high standard and leaving a legacy of examplary governance that may take decades to come to terms. While it is a mortal sin for a star to rival the brilliance of a dazzling sun, I must report to you sir, that Bauchi, a state you so much love is progressively sinking due to bad policies and programmes of action.
Things have fallen apart and the centre no longer holds. There is a river between and widening gulf between development and underdevelopment, application and misapplication of scare resources with its attendant protracted crisis of confidence which breeds unemployment and under-employment, despair and despondency, poverty and helplessness in the midst of plenty. Sir, the years of the locusts seem to be over as they have eaten so much, produced so little but now drifting into slumber due to inactivity. It is now clear that the hunter is becoming the hunted because people of conscience are beginning to ask questions on how they are governed and where their resources are being deployed.
It may interest you to note that officials of the Bauchi State government who wrote the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), based on ficticious claims of poor imagination on your administration are now facing the searchlight of the same anti-corruption body? Just last week, Your Excellency, EFCC went to town with weighty allegation that border on wilful vandalisation and unbriddled desecretion of the treasury by way of transparent looting of government coffers that run into several billions of naira.
According to the EFCC report, N65 billion has disappeared into thin air, as this gagantuan figure can only be located on the leaflets of cheque books without corresponding numbers of facilities on the ground. Folu Olamiti, a resident media consultant of the EFCC, in a statement in Abuja said that the EFCC has since November 2008 began investigation into the allegations with a view to tracing the where about of the mouth watering loot. With a stiffled bureaucratic network that propels government on transit, your beloved state, though in the midst of plenty, is now faced with huge political and socio-economic challenges which largely translates to its stunted economic growth and development. Sir, it is a thing of joy to remember that you ruthlessly pursued governance with excellence and your unreserved determination, coupled with the avalanche of courage to dismantle the old structures for a new social order has raised your name to Olympian height but regrettably the system you toiled to build is now on the verge of collapse. The state you so much love is going back to stone age due to short-term vision with its attendant long-term lossess as characterised by the administration's lethal approach to governance with hard tackles of both its real and imaginary enemies. Of the eight years of governance of this wonderful state, you led by example, you did set standard and your footprint on the sand of time is indellible. You were guided by the fear of God and was never extravagant with public funds as your beloved wives did not spend more than N50 milion in all the years, you were governor. Today the story is different, as EFCC is investigating how N500 million was allegedly spent from the coffers of the government by the wives of youre predecessor in just one year. They told EFCC that you spent N4 billion on security in eight years but in just one and a half years it was alleged that N8 billion was used in the same endeavour.
Sir, I know they will not invite you, but by next week, your predecessor will add another teenager as wife from the president's daughters. To solemnise the marriage, it was alleged that 25 boxes loaded with state of the art materials were brought in from Dubai and the government had to cough out N14 million to clear the goods. Tongues are now wagging that in this era of hunger, despair and misery that has disenchanted the masses, frustrated the working class and alienated the populace from the attainment of better life in a country so magnanimously blessed with abundant resources, the president, who claims humility and despises extravagance would have called his proposed son-inlaw to order by refusing to accept 25 assorted boxes on the head of his daughter. If this allegation is true, I think it is a filthy display of economic arrogance and corruption personified. The president should start fighting corruption from his house, if Nigerians should not refuse to be convinced that the fight against corruption is not just a catch-phrase. I want to believe that the president is just paying lip service on this all important issue as what Yar'Adua says from one side of the mouth, differs from the other. If it is true, the 25 boxes for marriage is totally unacceptable, most despicable and thoroughly condemnable by millions of Nigerians who barely have a square meal for survival. It would interest you to note that rumour mill has it these days that any opposition governor that wants cover from the searchlight of the EFCC runs to the presidency for additional wives, how true, only the future can tell.
Your Excellency, while on sit as governor, you had a vision of transformation through performance. You changed the face and character of governance that Bauchi became a reference on the index of development in Nigeria.
You judiciously dispensed economic resources and have optimally affected the lives of both the haves and the have nots. You rolled in bulldozers that transformed Bauchi from its former rural setting to its current metropolitan standard. You provided beautiful network of roads, portable water and electricity to almost all the rural areas of the state. Hospitals that were akin to consultancy clinics were modernised and equipped to the envy of even your political detractors, while education and agriculture received priority attention of your government. As a governor of Bauchi, you had a clinical testimonial on your serial achievement profile. Prominent among those that captured the mood of Nigerians on good democratic governance include former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Noted for his brutal frankness and undiplomatic assessment of people, scored you high by describing you as "the most outstanding governor in the country". This assessment followed his working visit in the state where he was particularly impressed and fascinated by the quality of work on all projects you executed. Chief Ernest Shonekan, former head of the Interim National government described you as an incredible performer. He said "you are the shining light of the current democratic dispensation and a bridge builder where there are inherent cleavages".
General Abdulsalami Abubakar also collaborated these assessment when he implored other politicians in the country "to emulate the Mu'azu style of leadership and visionary disposition". General Ibrahim Babangida former president of Nigeria said of your administration, "what I have seen in Bauchi is an explicit manifestation of the determination of Bauchi government to improve on the quality of life of the state citizens, particularly those living in the rural environment. I have seen real dividend of democracy in Bauchi. Alhaji Adamu Ahmadu Mu'azu is certainly a governor that should be emulated for democracy to flourish in our country. I congratulate the governor for remaining focused, determined and resourceful. You are indeed a pride to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the new generation of Nigerians. From 1999 to date, Bauchi has come along way. It is a one of the few states in the federation that has witnessed rapid transformation". While ranking you high on the judicious utilisation of resources meant for the state, Dr. Mansur Mukhtar, former Director General of Debt Management office who is now the Minister of Finance said "Mu'azu administration did not borrow money, either externally or internally to finance the development projects it had so far executed". And former minister of Aviation and now Governor of Bauchi, Mallam Isa Yuguda also expressed similar sentiments when he said" Mu'azu has executed more people oriented projects than was recorded under all the past civilian and military administrations in the state put together". With this, I end the first segment of this memo, but will write you in the near distant future to intimate you with what is going on in your beloved state, Bauchi. Bye for now Your Excellency.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
