RE : Attahiru Bafarawa’s I ACCEPT TO SERVE
ByAbba Anwar
abbanwar@yahoo.com
I read with keen interest and optimism, the press release produced by the Executive Governor of Sokoto state, Alhaji Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa, pasted on some web pages, which was tagged “ I ACCEPT TO SERVE “. The said press release carries 29 paragraphs. Some of the paragraphs are of course normal, while others are extra-normal, if I may use this term, to Bafarawa himself, without him knowing it. They are extra-normal for one single but plain truth that they define, describe, examine and carefully scrutinize Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa, from head to toe.
Issues of this piece will neither be discussed in my own opinionated preferencial arrangement, nor in any other arrangement, but in the way they are presented in the original text. The text interests me because the author raises issues that could lead to an easy and quick understanding of his intellectual incapability. I am also optimistic for the simple reason that Bafarawa re-confirms to us all that he still has shallow and always misconstrued analysis of the nation’s political terrain.
After mentioning in the first paragraph that, “ December 20, 2006 is another historic day….” in the life of their party, the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), he went ahead to state that, “…….we have demonstrated to Nigeria and our opponents that we are a mature and responsible party.” My quarrel is, what maturity is Bafarawa talking about? And how responsible is their party? I can only accept it this way that, yes your party is matured in terms of destroying the tenets and principles of true and genuine democracy. How did Bafarawa manage the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) in Sokoto before he walked out to the present party, DPP? What was the nature of the leadership structure in ANPP when Bafarawa was with them? What of issues like political financing and spending ?
If you are talking about your party being responsible, I bet to vehemently disagree with the position. Is DPP not a brain child of one of the most irresponsible leaders of this country? For democracy sake, how can such a party be responsible? If not because we have a rotten and derailed electoral body in this country, how can groups like DPP be recognized not to talk of being registered?
As a continuation of the first paragraph, Bafarawa says, “ The fights and wrangling which have characterized national conventions of other political parties were not experienced at our convention.” Whoever knows Bafarawa and comes to read this statement, will tell you that this statement is nothing but whimsical. And I ask Bafarawa, does that mean your party is cleaner than other political parties in the country? Your convention I think is more teleguided and rubber-stamped than that of the Peoples’s Democratic Party ( PDP), the ruling party in the country. When you look at it most critically you would agree with me that PDP is a self-styled and quasi-military empire ruled by an Emperor called Obasanjo. A life Emperor for that matter. And on the other hand, DPP is an amalgamation of political quacks grouped together to be remote-controlled by unseen hands of a highly equipped devil. To fully understand that DPP is a devil party, please kindly take a study tour and see how they conducted their primary elections across the states of the federation. Just examine the records of their gubernatorial candidates. Then you will come to term with my straight forward argument.
In the second paragraph, Bafarawa shows his political short-sightedness when he says, “…….The Democratic People’s Party has once again demonstrated that it is not important how long you have lived or operated as a political party, but how well and how responsibly you have conducted your affairs.” To me, this is a monumental miscalculation to tell your audience that there is nothing good in political experience, experiment and evaluation. If you said it is not important how long has one lived or operated as a political party, it simply shows that you (Bafarawa) are not a good political actor. In fact, nobody can rightly understand how responsible you are without looking at the way you operate as a political party. And this cannot be possible without looking at the life history of the party. To say how long a party lives or operates is insignificant, is nothing less than a display of total and absolute ignorance of the science of party politics. Bafarawa please go back to the drawing board.
Another area of disagreement as far as I am concerned is where the author boasfully says, “…………..this is a party that is not dominated by godfathers, rather we are guided by the principles of equity, justice and fairness.” I tend to disagree with this dispassionately. If spade is worth to be called a spade then there is no point of contention when I put it this way, that DPP is one of the front row parties whose backbone is godfatherism. One of the things that featured prominently in Bafarawa’s exit of the ANPP was godfatherism. Whether you like it or not, Bafarawa is neither a lunatic physically nor a genuine political activist, but rather a committed and die-hard promoter of master-servant political relationship. Who owns the unforeseen hands of DPP as a party? Is it not Bafarawa’s political godfather? What then is he talking about? Who also defines your principle of equity? Which justice Sir? And fairness to who? Please go back and redesign !
You said in the 3rd paragraph that, “…………I had announced that I shall not seek the nomination of this party for the office of President.” Agreed you said this. But mark you, your Excellency, this is not the first time you said something and acted differently. And secondly, you made that statement not knowing that your godfather would be benched by Obasanjo.
I was not shocked at all when I read the part of the text which says that Bafarawa had no option than to accept the call on him, “……..by the entire membership of this great party and other well meaning elders of our nation to serve as the Presidential candidate……” Can Bafarawa please tell us who are those well meaning elders that called him to contest? Please kindly tell us only 10 of them. And I will tell you who they are. And what they did to their states and Nigeria in general. From there people will come to understand whether they are truly elders.
The misguided and unproductive copyright owner of the text talks of alleviating “…. the problems that confront our people daily.” If what you did to Sokoto state is what you mean by alleviating the people’s problem, then to hell with all your deceptive programmes.
As a continuation therefore, the 5th paragraph says “ My acceptance to contest this election is predicated on my desire to promote peace, stability and to help democracy grow in our country.” When I read this part of the piece I laughed close to a coma and ask myself what kind of peace promotion is Bafarawa referring to? This is somebody that could not even work peacefully with his Deputy, what more of a Nigerian state? From whatever angle you look at him, he is a destroyer of democracy per excellence.
Paragraph six says, “ the four most important principles for which I have chosen to vie for president are : 1. Unity, 2. Peace, 3. Promotion of Democracy, 4. Good Governance.” Mallam Bafarawa, your close to eight years on the throne is fully and clearly characterized by disunity, political instability, retardation of democracy and negation of good governance. So you are one of the arch-enemies of the four principles you have highlighted above. Be fair to yourself and see how you can govern Sokoto well before you can think of Nigeria. My friend, we are not in an ‘Animal Kingdom’.
You talk of unity, what does it mean to you when you achieved a lot in furthering the gap and disunity between the haves and have-nots in Sokoto state? You also achieved in creating animosity between the Caliphate and the government in the state. I therefore could not comprehend what unity means to you.
In the 8th paragraph, the governor explains, while trying to deceive people that he is ready to put hands together with other people so that he and them can “…………. move the country forward in the bid to emancipate our people from the clutches of injustice, hunger, fear and attitudes that divide rather than hold us together as a nation.” For God’s sake, what effort have you made in emancipating the people of Sokoto state from the clutches of injustice, hunger, fear and bad attitudes that are brought by your government?
Paragraph 10 says and I quote, “ My friends, it may interest you to know that I am the first governor who invited President Olusegun Obasanjo to commission a finished project less than six months after we assumed office.” So what?! Tell us the nature of those projects, the cost of their execution, the quality of the so-called projects. We saw governors that invited Obasanjo and showed him projects that were put in place by their previous administrations, or sometimes by local government councils, and claimed ownership of the projects. For my readers’ information, Obasanjo encourages this, that was what he has been doing right from the onset.
Mallam Bafarawa made mention in paragraph 11 that, “ In the past seven-and-a-half years, my government has constructed over 1000 kilometres of tarred road networks without borrowing a kobo from the banks. We have invested so much in the education of Sokoto children, constructed new schools, rehabilitated old ones, and yet we owe no contractor.” Can you tell us the cost of all those projects? And what of the due process aspect of the story? How does your government award contract? And who are the beneficiaries of those contracts?
Does Bafarawa care about children? When many of them died during a cholera outbreak. Many of the deaths could be averted if the state Ministry of Health was serious about taking all the then necessary measures. But unfortunately many of them died just like that.
I learned reliably that all what you say your workers enjoy is nothing but a blatant lie. But for you to dispute this, why can’t the leadership of the different workers’ unions, not only the Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC ), come up and corroborate with what you are saying? Let them come and testify to the world that yes your government is welfarist in nature? They should tell us, not you. We need to hear from Resident Doctors also. Let them talk under no duress.
The remaining paragraphs are nothing but blatant lies just like the foregoing ones. For example, in paragraph 16 the text reads, “……….I am the only governor in the history of Nigeria that requested and cooperated with a probe of my administration by the legislative branch.” And I ask what do you think a probe is? As a matter of fact, the legislative branch in Sokoto state is nothing but an extension of the executive arm of government. Take it or leave it.
I rest my case.
Anwar, Kano state, Nigeria..