Kashim Shettima and lessons in community policing

“The true test of leadership is how well you function in a crisis.” – Brian Tracy

 ‎The story of Senator Shettima is as gripping as it is interesting. In his eight years as governor, Shettima, a Kanuri Muslim maintained amongst his closest aides, an Igbo Christian from Anambra State in the Southeast, an Urhobo Christian from Delta State in the South-South, a Christian from Edo State in the South-South, a Yoruba Christian from the Southwest, a Fulani man from Gombe in the Northeast and a Hausa man from Zamfara State in the Northwest. This says a lot about his large-heartedness which marks him out as a nationalist.

His excellent disposition did not come as a surprise. His number one hobby is reading. He has read hundreds of books and maintains one of the largest personal libraries in Nigeria. A good book he hasn’t read is the greatest gift that you can offer to Shettima.

His capacity for uncommon feats was to manifest further in the heat of the Boko Haram insurgency when Kashim Shettima had ignored their threat and returned to Gamboru Ngala in a non-bulletproof vehicle to campaign for his senatorial bid in what proved to be a very dangerous act by a high-class personality since the independence of Nigeria in 1960.

Beginning from 2009 when the group started an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria, using Borno State as its base, the state was a hell of a place to be in. Therefore, his eight years tour of duty was not a bed of roses. But Kashim went into office well equipped for that task. Indeed, he was not a stranger to happenings in Borno and the challenges of governance in the State given his background. From 2007 to 2011, he served as Commissioner in 5 Ministries.

These include Commissioner for Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs; Finance; Education; Agriculture and Natural Resources and finally to the Ministry of Health from where he contested the Governorship seat in 2011 which he won under the platform of the now defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).  He won re-election in 2015 under the All-Progressives Congress, APC and was unanimously chosen as Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, an umbrella body of Governors in the 19 northern states.

Even in the face of Shettima’s intimidating credentials, running a state in a war situation was not a tea party. In 2013, the youths of Borno mobilized themselves to defend his government and their ancestry.  In order to encourage them, Shettima approved salaries, kits and patrol vehicles for the civilian JTF while at the same time gave so much support to the Nigerian Armed Forces. He led in mobilization of community-based intelligence gathering and the provision of hundreds of patrol vehicles and logistics to the military in particular and to all other security agencies in general.

By way of background, it is good to refresh our minds that back in 2012, Governor Kashim Shettima sought the approval of the Presidency through the then National Security Adviser and also got the involvement of the Nigerian Army to organize a formal orientation and training for about one thousand youths at that time, under a programme nicknamed, Borno Youths Empowerment Scheme, BOYES.

The first orientation took place at the NYSC permanent orientation camp near Tashan Kano in Maiduguri. Governor Shettima attended the swearing-in of the youths as well as their graduation.

Before the orientation, the Civilian JTF as the youths are mostly called was actually inspired by Governor Shettima in 2012. If anyone remembered the Governor kept on calling on youths to rise against the Boko Haram because soldiers being brought to Borno didn’t know the Boko Haram members. Miraculously, some youths sprang up walking the streets of Maiduguri as a non-profit organization. Immediately, the society called them Yan-Gora {Men with Sticks} the youth picked up their sticks and said “No more Boko Haram” and they successfully chased out the terrorists’ group out of Maiduguri the Borno State Capital… They relentlessly provided civic protections against any form of threats represented by the Notorious Boko Haram. The CJTF have played and are still playing pivotal role in turning the tide, they have jointly defended the communities from raid and captured and handed over hundreds of suspected terrorists to the Military.

Since their formal training, kitting, equipping and deployment, youths under the Civilian JTF have been an integral part of the fight against Boko Haram. They work closely with the military and being coordinated by the civil rights department of the Borno State Ministry of Justice.

These youths have taken part in almost all military operations around Sambisa forest and in other parts of the State notably Baga, Bama, Chibok, Damboa, Dikwa, Gwoza, Ngala etc.

 As a parting shot in 2019, Kashim said that the job of rebuilding the state and the people had just begun. His words “I have done my modest part, and I am bowing out. I am happy that the stage is shifting to a great and worthy son of Borno. The stage is shifting to a man who made himself out of a low estate, a man who drove a taxi and sold firewood to pay his school fees, a man with an uncommon touch, a dynamo of a worker. Babagana Umara Zulum is very well prepared for the task ahead. He showed it expertly as a commissioner. My prayer is for Professor Babagana Umara Zulum to surpass my achievements by a wide margin”. ‎

Looking back, there is no gainsaying the fact that Senator Kashim Shettima fits into Brian Tracy’s time honoured saying that the true test of leadership is how well a leader functions in a crisis.

Hayatu lives in Abuja

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