By Najib Sani Bauchi The resignation on Wednesday by Bauchi state Deputy Governor, Engr. Nuhu Gidado, has continued to elicit barrage of reactions in the state. The former deputy governor had sent in his resignation letter, saying his decision was based on his commitment to serve for only one term, coupled with lack of enthusiasm.
“Ordinarily, I should have remained up to the end of the tenure but with the currently dampened spirit and waning zeal as it relates to my official engagements, my continued stay will not be fair and truthful to you as my brother and leader,” Gidado’s letter stated. There are speculations in some sections of the media however that Gidado quit office owing to some ‘irreconcilable differences’ between him and Governor Mohammed Abubakar. Checks by Blueprint revealed that while in office, the former deputy governor was accorded the right space to operate, especially in the state’s Ministry of Education where he held forth as commissioner.
Findings also revealed that Gidado had been on medical vocation abroad for the past three weeks. A top source who craved anonymity, said “the claim in some sections of the media that the governor and his former deputy had irreconcilable differences is not only shocking, but apparently mischievous. He was given every free hand and power by his principal to operate.
So how would one now say he was undermined? “He was in charge of everything. For three consecutive years, the ministry received the lion’s share of the government budget of 20 per cent, and with corresponding releases. He was the main driver of the education reform agenda of the government. After the cabinet was reconstituted, he was made commissioner in charge of another huge Ministry of Works and Transport. A Special Assistant to the Governor on Students Matters, Comrade Najimuddeen Garba, said under the leadership of the former deputy governor as commissioner of education, the sector recorded “tremendous successes such as the increase in the number of students who passed WAEC, NECO, renovation of over 3, 000 classrooms in schools across the state as well as increment of budgetary allocations to education.”
