Letter to Governor el-Rufai By Amiru Halilu


This letter will not possess a sense of balance and objectivity without introducing and defining myself as one who is proudly a staunch critic of your government; as a matter of fact, I derive a lot of pleasure in lambasting your government, especially when I realised that constructive criticism is the stimulant which directly affects the nervous system of your government; thereby putting you on your toes and consequently stimulating development.

Nonetheless, before I get down to the nitty-gritty, let me convey a congratulatory feeling for your earned victory at the poll. Being destined to be woefully defeated at the poll, PDP erroneously fielded unequal and uneven candidate far less than governorship material to engage in a contest that involves an erudite intellectual of your sort. Despite the fact that you have committed monumental sins against the good people of Kaduna state, anyone who carefully followed the 2019 campaign trend, knows that the victory is yours. Thus, I say congratulations once more!

I am writing this letter to you because I feel certain that the course you have been charting since assumption of office is not convincing. It’s said that opportunity comes but once, and you don’t need a second chance to make first impression. But when the opportunity comes twice, it does not mean the analogy is invalidated but to seize the opportunity and enunciate a new strategy that would secure the interest of the state as well as the entire people of the state.

Your Excellency, I want to add to your awareness that there has been a proliferation of different group of thugs a.k.a ‘Yan Shara’ which has bred a spate of robbery within the metropolitan city of Kaduna. Their acts of terror and cruelty are growing rapidly by the day, and this is posing a serious threat to every residents of the state. These thugs are moving around with dangerous weapons hidden in their bodies, robbing, killing and maiming innocent people with impunity. Any day they so desire to kill, they come out en masse to conduct operation waste human lives which they term ‘shara’, meaning sweep in Hausa.

As the chief security officer of the state, it’s your legal obligation to crack down on these thugs. But carrying potential inmates along will only expose you as the primary culprit in the crime they are committing, and that serves as a clear message to the residents to give up on their safety. When I accidentally come in contact with the crowd you pulled at Tudun Wada, I ran of breath owing to the number of high profile thugs. 

It will sound commonsensical to remind you at this juncture that a leader is an agent of unity. You are a leader for all, including atheists and pagans. I don’t have problem with your choice of deputy but I have a problem with some of your statements which are absolutely bereft of statesman like stamp. Your unguarded utterances have created more disunity and division within the state. Some of such statements are when you claimed on air that one section of the state didn’t vote for you and even if you choose Pope as your deputy, that section will still not vote for you. A statement of this nature is breeding ground for hatred. No matter how little you got some votes from that section. And even if you don’t need their votes anymore, your party does. 

This is an unnecessary talk, to put it mildly. If the section in question claims to be marginalized, which is expected from minority group, you can prove them wrong by itemising the good works you have done for them. You don’t have shared and wholesome society without inclusive political, economic and socially sustainable development and good governance. 

Sir, out of your good intention to make Kaduna great again, you spread your tentacles to primary school education which led to the sack of 21, 700 purported incompetent teachers. Those who carried out the exercise conceded that the process was flawed. A forgone issue though! I heard reliably from the ministry of education that a month hardly passes without receiving a resignation letter from the newly recruited teachers owing to lack of good package.

You asserted during one of your media chat that you have offset the outstanding entitlements of the thousands of workers you have sacked but a thorough investigation shows contrary to your claim. If you would be so good, relieve these indigent people from their financial hardship by releasing their entitlements.

My dear governor, kindly go back to the drawing board and use your thoughtful erudition to restore peace and unity in the state. You can’t take a fragmented and divisive society to the next level. You need peace and unity to achieve that. I pray that God should give you the wisdom, clear-sightedness and astuteness to take our beloved state to the next level.  

Halilu writes from Kaduna via haliluamiru@gmail or @AmiruHalilu. 

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