How did you do it? Buni, a governor in diaspora


History has enriched us with accounts of different styles of leadership, while some have, over time, been theorised into several concept of leadership and governance. During colonialism in Africa, we have heard of the indirect rule enforced in Nigeria by the British monarchy, where the territory now called Nigeria is indirectly governed by the so-called, self designated greatness called Great Britain.  

In the Francophone countries, it was the concept of assimilation and so forth. However, my little knowledge of history and governance did not equip me with the concept that defines how a state or a nation is governed by a leader living outside the geographical location of his office. As such, I don’t know the term or concept that best described the current leadership style of Yobe state governor, Alh. Mai Mala Buni as he now clocks two years in office. Therefore, as unprofessional as it may sound, I called it, a governor in diaspora. 

 I have heard several comments and criticism, including an article published few months ago by Blue-Print newspaper on Governor Buni’s scarcity in his state, while he spent most of his days in mostly the nation’s capital, Abuja. 

He was also questioned on the same subject in a BBC Hausa one-on-one interview. His response was simple, that the issue should be seen from the outcome of his administration, if he has been yielding the desired results or not. To some, it was just a backup statement, typical of politicians, but essentially, that is what matters.  

In Yobe state, having been running a somewhat one party system, there is a political philosophy of continuity, that every governor that came onboard automatically continue from where the incumbent stops, in short, there is continuity of policies in virtually all sectors of the state except for new prospects which every government may came along with, to be enshrined also in that continuity struggle.  

Governor Buni has faithfully purposefully gravitated himself into the philosophy too. He started this at his inauguration day by declaring emergency on education which has been one of the top priorities of the immediate ex governor, Ibrahim Geidam, now senator.  During Geidam’s tenure, Yobe is among the few states in Nigeria that achieved the UNESCO standard of education by allocating 24% of its yearly budget to education. On scholarship also, one may tend to wonder if the governor has a plan of migrating all the able youths in the state to foreign countries in the name of educating them; that is for the laughs, though. 

Governor Buni’s visionary leadership and projects that address future prospect, which will place Yobe at an advantage scale economically cannot be overemphasized. As a journalist, whenever we are analysing developmental projects in Yobe state at the newsroom and with my editor, he never failed to shower praises on Buni’s visionary foresights and prospects. He said the impact of most of his projects, particularly economical, like the reopening and establishment of new markets, reviving of manufacturing sites, building of road networks and transportation services among other things, would only be felt and appreciated in a long time to come, probably when his tenure expires.  

In security also, Governor Buni has done remarkably well, to the extent of establishing a local vigilante force to supplement the effort of the Nigerian armed forces in the state against insurgency and other criminal activities.  

One undeniable feature of Governor Buni is his craft and skills in managing what he has. He has been a champion of youth participation and involvement in politics; these youth which he enthusiastically knows how to harness and use. How he channel their energy into productive means is as well as how he understands them. 

Despite having a cabinet full of  experienced and knowledgeable personnel, including a professor, one cannot help but to wonder if these commissioners are, but just merely filling ceremonial offices due to the scale of activities carried out by Buni’s civil young battalion.

Therefore, this tells you his mastery in not only choosing able hands but knowing how to make them work, because it is one thing to acquire sophisticated weapons and another thing to know how and when to use them.  

Perhaps you can forgive my curiosity to think that, it is logical to assume that the governor has a plan of strategically replaced some old folks in the political atmosphere of the state with the new heads he is nurturing in a short period of time, ‘wink’.  

While engaging with people during the course of work in Yobe state, I have heard from several oral narrations that Mai Mala Buni has an apt memory of not forgetting things easily and a magnificent ability of recognizing people even without any physical engagement, a virtue many believed to be a great asset for leadership. 

His peace making and negotiation skills is also a force to reckoned with in Nigeria’s political enterprise today. His appointment by APC authority, to chair an extraordinary caretaker committee to intervene in solving dispute and leadership crisis within the party and set the ball rolling for the smooth take-off of campaign ahead of the next general election has been yielding outstanding results.  

With those qualities and many more combined, what else would a state in the underrated and sympathy driven northeastern region of Nigeria look for. With or without his presence has proven nothing but effective running of the state. 

Despite insecurity in the northeast and being the second most affected state by Boko Haram insurgency, Yobe is one of the most quiet state in Nigeria and the wise men says in Hausa…’idan kaji shiru, toh lafiya kenan’ (meaning, if there is silence, there is peace), please don’t ask me the source.

Criticising and questioning the government is both part of freedom of speech and a legal right of the people but when such is decorated by misplaced priorities, unproductive and irrelevant public tantrums and emotional blackmail, it became nothing but a product of mischief industry.  

I will conclude by making a wish, to one day have a one on one interview with Governor Buni to ask him how he did it or rather how he is doing it.  

Muhammad, a journalist, writes from Maiduguri, Borno state, via

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