Let me start this piece with a congratulatory message for steering the affairs of Bauchi state in the first one year out of your 4-year mandate. The fierce political battle was well fought on a solidified democratic foundation.
Honestly, if some self-acclaimed political gladiators stationed in Bauchi were God, you could not have been the INEC declared Governor. It is therefore, for this reason that the interest of the people of Bauchi State should be your primary concern.
Let me make it categorically clear here Sir that my intent in writing you is not for any parochial interest but to draw your attention to certain facts you may already know associated with Bauchi brand of politics.
Like all mortals, M.A Abubakar had his faults which some people believe eclipsed his achievements while some are of a different opinion.
I leave that for time and posterity to decide. I was excited when on April 17, 2019 I read in the Leadership newspaper the list of your Transition Committee members. Perusing through the list, I concluded that Bauchi State is truly blessed with human resources in all fields of endeavor as it was reflected in the array of distinguished sons and daughters who were ready to volunteer their skills, rich and diverse experience, and vast network for the important assignment you assigned for them. Furthermore, your commitment to provide an all inclusive government was expressed in the composition of the various sub-committees which was a positive thinking.
Looking through the membership of the main committee chaired by a seasoned administrator, Senator Adamu Ibrahim Gumba, I felt you really mean business. I also like the fact that you looked beyond party affiliation by including members of other political parties that either contested or fielded candidates to contest against those of your party. That was greatness displayed.
This shows that you know that for Bauchi State to develop, all hands must be on deck for the gargantuan task ahead.
At the risk of telling you things you know, please permit me to recap the place of Bauchi State in Nigeria’s history. The State produced the first prime minister of independent Nigeria, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. No one in the country’s history ever held that position after his death. Bauchi State also produced a respected seasoned technocrat and boardroom manager that no state in Nigeria can boast of such a person, Mahmoud Yayale Ahmed. He was a state and federal permanent secretary, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Minister of Defense and Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Bauchi was home to the late radical political icon/poet, Sa’ad Zungur, the first Speaker ever for the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara and other first generation nationalists with great minds such as Professors Dafuwa Azare, Gambo Laraba Abdullahi, Sule Elias Bogoro and James Hatsi Landi, Nayaya Ningi, Maisamari, Mahmoud Yakubu, Pali and a host of others. I dare say Bauchi is a state with rich history that surpasses other states combined.
Your Excellency, I said all these for you to know that you are not governing an ordinary state but a state that is home to the famous Yankari Resort and Safari, the home of men of no mean stature, the home of great scholars and above all, the Pearl of Tourism.
This great state, which has catapulted to the giant position in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) during the exited administration of M.A Abubakar, deserves to be better than what you met as part of your mandate.
I sincerely believe that the state has not fully taken advantage of its closeness to other progressing states such as Gombe, Kaduna and Plateau.
I am always sad each time I pass through the Bauchi CBN roundabout – railway roundabout 4-kilomtre road. The M.A Abubakar administration went to that axis with bulldozers and pulled down houses and started a massive expansion work to add beauty to Bauchi metropolis and ease transportation. If the work had been completed as scheduled, it could have added value to the economic wellbeing of the people. Unfortunately, the government was allegedly tricked to awarding the contract to an incompetent contracting firm that lacks every equipment, experience and technical know-how as if, it was a connivance for fraud. The government found itself in a quagmire after committing public funds to the project which has been an issue for political abracadabra and ibeberism.
Your Excellency, permit me to state that you should avoid one major mistake and let the people know what you have for them and not bore them with how your predecessor’s actions are frustrating you to better their lives. The people know that public hospitals are not in their best; they know that many schools are in states of disrepair; they know that many roads are terribly bad, and they know that water supply was receiving the desired attention. With your experience in the practice of journalism, public service and politics, what the people expect is for you exhibit prowess and determination to change bad situation. Workers need to know they will get their allowances and salaries regularly. Teachers need to know they will have opportunities for retraining, and farmers need to know that your government can support them to commercialize their farms.
I will also like to point out the need for your administration to make the best of the fact that Bauchi state is home to several higher institutions. Sir, it should be about quality not quantity. If you carry your due diligence and discover that any of these government-owned institutions cannot meet up with the quality standard expected, please shut it down or find a way to get it up to the required standard.
Before I let you have your peace, sycophants are already plotting how to make you feel you are the best man in the whole wide-world. They are liars and deceivers that deceived your predecessor to political oblivion and some, to the bottom pit of hell on earth.
Your Excellency, please do not give them a room to play on your intelligence for selfish interest because they are only out to ruin your government and political future. You need to surround yourself with quality people that can add value to the growth of the system you operate, those that can look at you in the face and tell you the naked truth for the good of it. This is in my opinion on how best to succeed. Anything short of the stated may be a direct invitation to failure.
Obediently Yours
SANUSI MUHAMMAD
