I write to comment or disagree with his plan to emulate some agenda of former governor of Jigawa state, Senator Ibrahim Saminu Turaki, to transform Jigawa by paying polling booth fund (Kudin Akwati) to few politicians neglecting or abandoning the responsibilities of councilors, local government chairmen and perhaps commissioners and making them redundant.
Given his experience, the governor needs no extraordinary research to know the problems of the masses because as we all know the demands of talaka (citizen/poor) right from the 1960s have always been the same. Such demands are qualitative and free education, good health care, potable water, electricity, good roads, shelter, food, job opportunities, security, poverty alleviation, industrialization, and desertification control, most especially in the northern parts of Nigeria.
If Governor Badaru is serious with his agenda of transforming Jigawa, he should not ignore the reality of knowing, planning and attending to the suffering of the masses; he does not need to give or award unconstitutional money to each polling unit across the state as free gifts to politicians. Because 2019 elections are fast approaching we can term this agenda as a bribe to the electorate. Instead he should employ thousands of youths roaming the street in Jigawa, supply drugs to hospitals, provide fertilizer to the rural farmers at an affordable price, construct boreholes, pay scholarship, give loans to entrepreneurs, etc.
Looking back, one could say 1999-2007 in the annals of Jigawa state history is the worst since its creation. The attempted resurrection some of those policies could be described as a denouement of monumental proportion politically and developmentally of Jigawa state. The Turaki government, which couldn’t show a single project in its eight years because of money allocated to few politicians as polling unit fund (Kudin Akwati), is such maladministration Governor Badaru should not emulate.
So, Governor Badaru still believes that the good people of Jigawa state will succumb to these archaic and unproductive idea that halted Jigawa’s progress under that nasty and fruitless agenda of Kudin-Akwati? One can even ask which kind of alliance these two individuals want to enter into? After Jigawa has been liberated and transformed with all the needful things of human existence by Sule Lamido administration whereby Jigawa turned just like small London or Paris and to think that someone will come and claim any credit for misruling Jigawa state beats anybody’s imagination.
But come to think of it, the people of Jigawa state are blessed and have realized their potentials and are determined to keep it that way. As the Hausa put it “Kan Mage ya Waye”, and if anyone is in doubt, the present experience should be the warning signs.
Lastly, the state House of Assembly members should as well think twice on this planned and borrowed idea, checkmate the affairs of the governor and know their responsibilities as law makers. They should try not to be toothless bulldogs. Governor Badaru needs to fasten your belt very well and very tight to rule with speed and forget that idea of Kudin-Akwati because time is running out.
We wish you God’s guidance and pray that God will save you from this predicament. Your Excellency, what people care and mind is honesty, transparency, accountability, equity and commitment for Jigawa state to reach greater heights. May God come to our aid, protect and bless Jigawa state and Nigeria as a whole. Amen.
Adamu Muhd Usman,
Kafin-Hausa, Jigawa state
[email protected]
