OPINION ARTICLE

By

Salis Muhammad Moriki

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I have to start by recognising the members of the very committee that worked helter skelter and tirelessly for the actualisation of Zamfara State under the chairmanship of one of the most honest people Nigeria has ever produced, Late Mallam Yahaya Gusau. Those that are dead among them, may Allah grant them Jannah Firdausi, and those alive, I wish them long life and good health.

When Zamfara State was created, none of its indigenes and their well wishers were not happy. Because in this part of the world or in Nigerian set up, development goes with government being in your hands. As soon as Late General Sani Abacha (RahimahulLAH) announced the creation of our state and Gusau as its capital, with 14 Local Government Councils on 1st October, 1996, we went into jubilation and celebration. Though, I was young and full of youthful exuberance at that time, I knew creation of a state had many advantages. At that time, those working for the old Sokoto State and many indigenes scattered across the federation knew what I am talking about. Being independent and free is something very important.

THE 1st ADMINISTRATION OF COL. JIBRIL BALA YAKUBU

After he was announced as the Military administrator of Zamfara State, he assumed duty with full force and determination. Although there was constraint by very limited financial resources, Colonel JB Yakubu could be remembered for his efforts and doggedness in establishing various government structures in the State. Kudos should be given to those patriotic indigenes, who donated their buildings and resources and even rented them to the Government at very lower price. Much could not be achieved during this administration apart from establishments of structures for government to take off, and also sharing our resources with the senior sister State, Sokoto. Despite being an indigene of Nasarawa State, Col. Jibril Bala Yakubu exhibited high level of love and patriotism for Zamfara State and it’s people.

DEMOCRACY AND 1st INDIGENOUS GOVERNOR ALHAJI AHMAD SANI YARIMA IN THE STATE.

We woke up in the morning of 8th July 1998 with a sad news that our President, General Sani Abacha had passed away in a mysterious way. That changed the focus of Nigeria’s Government and policies. Immediately after his predecessor, General Abdussalami Abubakar was sworn in as the Head of State, he mapped out the plans that metamorphosed the country into a democratic nation, Olusegun Obansajo as the President and Senator Ahmad Sani Yarima as the Executive Governor of the State.

The tenure of Governor Ahmad Sani Yarima would be remembered for many things, prominent among which is the introduction of Sharia. Before Sharia was introduced, Zamfara State was nothing but just a state. Not many people knew its existance, especially those from the South and few from the North. But after the introduction of shari’a legal system, not only Nigeria, the whole world, knew about Zamfara State. This gave the Governor privilege to be honoured by the Saudi authority by leading him into Ka’aba. Indeed, this is an honour given to whom honours are due. Former Governor Ahmad Sani Yarima, a Prince and economist, he led the state with so much energy. He was everything as a Governor. His Government was more of typical example and replica of a government of stomach infrastructure. He didn’t mind concentrating on physical development. Despite being a new state, he engaged so much on social welfare to the extent that he won the loves and supports of the common man. He extravagantly spent the state’s resources in that area. Many people secured loans from the state through MDAs he established, but refused to service the loans and the Government had forgiven them.

However, Ahmad Sani Yarima gave education much priority. He introduced so many measures to encourage the youths to go to school, among which, was monthly stipends for tertiary students apart from scholarship. I could remember in 1999 in my school, admission was released but there was no Zamfara state indigenes in my department and some other departments, except few of us, because no one applied. The school authority sent a delegation to the state government informing them of the development, so that Zamfara indigenes would be sent to the school to fill their quota. And that’s what happened. Before we graduated, If Zamfara indigene was looking for admission, he faced difficulty because there were many seeking for the admission. I believe t his was as a result of the measures taken by the government. So also agriculture was at its peak. He gave many people loan to boost their produce. Many people were engaged. I could remember in 2002 or 2003, figures from the Federal Ministry of labour and productivity showed that 76.6% of Zamfarans were employed and productive.

The eight years of Ahmad Sani was that of dictatorship. He was the Governor alone. Despite the presence of many prominent senior citizens of Nigeria in the state like General Aliyu Gusau and others, they hardly had say in the affairs of the state except, perhaps, lobby. The Governor had stepped on many toes. He was the alpha and omega. He was fearless. This can be testified after the introduction of Sharia legal system in the state. The whole world; Federal Government, international community, organisations and other individuals were against him, pressurising him to compromise and relinquish the policy, some through moral suasion, others harshly, but he stood his ground since his people were behind him.

He left the State in a state of bankruptcy due to his extravagance and without much to show in terms of physical infrastructures, but as a hero with many followers. He was the most popular person in the state. He’s the most prominent politician in the state. His deputy, Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi succeeded him via the influence of his Late brother, Marafan Sokoto, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi.

MAHMOOD SHINKAFI AS A GOVERNOR

After he succeeded his master, things had changed drastically. Many people believed he would follow the path of his predecessor, but proved them wrong. He didn’t engage in stomach infrastructure, he was more of provision of physical development and metamorphosing the state from micro economy to macro economy through establishment of solid mineral processing companies and international cargo airport that never was. And that was what the state needed. He renovated many schools to high standard as tertiary schools in the South, even though, no qualified teachers. More capital projects were initiated like cargo airport, investment house and ministry of finance, but due to time constraint, partial recession and corruption in the administration as he was not fully in charged of his government, those projects were abandoned.

Mahmud Shinkafi was too soft to be a leader. He was kind as a person, but too weak as a leader. His tenure was characterised by political crisis between his followers and that of his predecessor, Ahmad Sani which led him to decamp from ANPP to the ruling party, PDP. Unlike his former boss, he was not in charged of the state’s affairs, according to his critics and many observers. Many people believed his chief of staff, Musa Zubairu Nasarawan Mai-Layi and party chairman, Late Alhaji Ibrahim Mallaha were the de facto governors. He was there as a stooge. It was said that there was a time a commissioner was removed by these people without his knowledge. And contracts were awarded by these people without even consulting him.

Commissioners and other government officials had field days. Many enriched themselves, richer than even the Governor. Corruption was rampant. Hoodlums had field days, the government recognised them to the extent of given them monthly stipends for just what they were. Everybody was a politician including civil servants and traditional rulers for fear of being victimised just like the case of Bakura Emirate Council. This encouraged large number of youths to abandon education and engage in political rascality.

His tenure was short, just four years, The leader of the opposition Senator Ahmad Sani led his then, party ANPP and defeated him.

ABDULAZEEZ ABUBAKAR YARI AS A GOVERNOR

When Mahmud Shinkafi had problem with his former boss, Senator Ahmad Sani Yarima, he abandoned his former party, ANPP and joined PDP as mentioned above, and he decamped with all his commissioners, LG chairmen and almost all the members of parliaments both federal and state, leaving Senator Ahmad Sani Yarima with only two members of the House of representatives, namely Hon Abdulazeez Yari Abubakar and Hon Bello Matawalle and some other loyal members of his party.

Being one of the actors in the political happenings in the state at that time, I know the antecedents that led to the assumption of Honourable Abdulazeez Yari Abubakar as the governorship candidate of the then ANPP and later Governor of Zamfara State. To cut a long story short, the irony is that Honourable Bello Matawalle, the present governor, initiated that and recommended him to be the candidate of ANPP to Senator Yarima. And that recommendation later brought about the disagreement and misunderstanding between Senator Ahmad Sani and Bello Matawalle which led him (Matawalle) leaving the Party and joining PDP.

After the election of 2011, Senator Yarima dethroned MAS as he was popularly called. People were full of hope that things would change from bad to good. The Government enjoyed mass support from the people thinking that it could be the second coming of Yarima, where stomach infrastructure would be the cardinal principle of the Government, but were taken by surprise, as reverse was the case.

His government had received huge amount of money from the federal government through Paris Club refunds and other interventions and it had achieved so much in the area of road constructions. He completed some of the capital projects initiated and left by the former government, despite the economic recession, like ministry of finance etc. He disengaged traditional rulers and civil servants from participation in politics, and also ceased to give hoodlums relevance in politics and otherwise. But his Government is trailed with many accusations.

Governor Abdulazeez Abubakar Yari, immediately he came into office, had confrontation with the state NLC via the issue of verifications, accusing the former government for employing more than 10, 000 workers at the tail end of its tenure without following due process and considering the economic situation of the state. Then, the issue of minimum wage which is, up til now, has not been resolved.

Since the creation of Zamfara state, the state had not faced security challenges as during his tenure. Thousands of innocent people were maimed and massacred by bandits, cattle rustlers with the Government doing little. Sequel to this, Senator Saidu Dansadau wrote a letter to the President and the National Assembly urging them to declare state of emergency in the state. Likely, this led to the intervention of Federal Government to deal with the situation. The Governor was accused of junketing around the globe, paying little attention to his primary responsibilities in the state.

Education has deteriorated during his years. In some of the WAEC and NECO exams chart, Zamfara state became last after some states like Yobe. Even Borno State, where Boko Haram made the students to remain in their homes for years was better than us. None of Zamfara students would secure admission into tertiary institutions, following government refusal to pay for their NECO/WAEC fees.

His tenure was brutally ended for his vested interest and draconian attitude towards fielding his preferred candidate and stooge, his finance commissioner Alhaji Shehu Koguna. He forcefully wanted to enforced him against other candidates including his deputy and other stakeholders like Senator Kabiru Marafa and the present PDP governorship candidate, Dauda Lawal. This led to unceremonial exit of their party from leadership via court ruling. This gave the opposition the chance to lead on a platter of gold. And the present governor, Muhammad Bello Mawalle came in as the governor.

GOVERNOR BELLO MATAWALLE

Government of Bello Matawalle was the luckiest among the governors of the state. He came to power on a platter of gold. He was enthroned through the verdict of the Supreme Court after the internal crisis that consumed the then ruling party APC. The governor spent many years struggling to be the governor since 2011. He came at a time when insecurity was at its peak and the economic situation was not favourable – the state is still the headquarters of poverty in the world and Nigeria in particularparticular.

At the beginning of his tenure, he tried to bring down the insecurity by engaging the bandits through peace accord. There was little break and ceasefire with the bandits before it was deteriorated following the non commitment and insincerity from the government and bandits respectively. The security situation has continued to be the major problem in the state.

Governor Bello Matawalle has focused more on his politics than the affairs of the state. He decamped from the very party that made him governeor to the ruling party which most of the political analysts aligned it to his ambition to win second term in office.

He needs to focus more on develooemmt than his political activities. MAY ALLAH HELP TO DO GOOD FOR THE STATE.

GENERAL ASSESSMENT.
In reality, within 26 years of our existence as a State, we have achieved a lot in terms of human and physical development when compared to other sister states created the same time or even senior sister states.

But the question is, when putting into consideration, the about N2trillion the state received since its creation, has that reflected in what we are seeing today?

LONG LIVE ZAMFARA STATE, LONG LIVE NIGERIA.

Salis Muhammad Moriki

IN COMMEMORATION OF 26 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF ZAMFARA STATE

By

Umar Jibril

Editor-in-chief

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As Nigeria celebrates its 62nd Independence from the colonial yoke today, there is need to reflect on what the nation has become as a polity in all areas of its life-politics, society, economy and culture.

Thousands of words are surely going to be in print and by electronic means to discuss on the aspects above. This piece, however is on Zamfara state and its celebration of the 26 years as a state, its achievements, progress, the challenges and the way forward to forge ahead as a state of the federal republic of Nigeria.

In order to go on dissecting the different aspects of the life of Zamfara state –politically, socially, culturally and economically, I would oud like to borrow from the templates and paradigms of an American writer Simon Sinek who penned two very enlightening and inspiring books-‘Start with Why ‘and ‘Find your Why’ the messages and approach in these books are applicable to all issues relating to individuals and society.

For Zamfara state created on 1st October, 1996 we would situate the ‘why’ of our creation as a geo-political entity, in other words why are states created in the first place? The ready answer to this question is: states from time immemorial are created to fast track development of the area so created and named essentially to bring government closer to its or the people as it relates to all aspects of development indices such as social development, political progress, economic development and all their sub-areas and features.

Several years back the people who sat and conceived for the creation of the entity called ‘Zamfara state’ had it on their minds bringing progress and development closer to the people of the area.

Starting with the first ‘’why” of Simon we have identified why the idea of ‘Zamfara state ‘was conceived, deliberated and actors struggled to bring to fruition as one of the 36 states of the federation.

But today 26 years on, as we celebrate our 26 years of coming in to being have we actually justified the ‘why’ of our creation?

When explaining these issues of our collective ‘why’ some series of questions beg for answers from us all especially those who the Almighty has bestowed with the stewardship through four leadership /political dispensations plus a military founding regime of col. J.B Yakubu. Some of these qoestions are: what happens to the polity?

What is the state of our economy? Are we secure as a people? What is the state of our educational system from kindergarten to tertiary? What infrastructures are there in our villages, towns and citiies.? All the above questions beg for candid answers from us- leaders followers, individuals and as a collection of the citizens of Zamfara creation

Twenty six years is not joke anybody- individual, organization public or private is expected to have grown beyond the age of innocence to the mature age of sensibility and the ripe years of growth, development and commensurate expected progress in all areas of ones life. Abut if truth be told ,Zamfara as it is today is yet to carve niche of progress and development that matches its mature age of 26 solid years of our creation and existence within the corporate Nigeria this leads us to the second book by Simon Sinek ‘Find your Why’

It appears that through the five administrations that led Zamfara state from J.B. Yakubu through the golden era of Yarima, Mamuda, Abdulaziz Yari and the current dispensation of Dr Muhammad Bello Matawalle we are yet to find the ‘why’ of our creation and existence as a state that lacks nothing in terms of all the endowments of natural and human resources comparable to any sate .

Nature has equitably distributed beautiful resources across every nook and cranny of the state ,but considerable of these endowments are yet to be explored and the little identified seems to be under utilized in this Gold Coast of Northern Nigeria.

‘Farming is our Pride is the initial motto of Zamfara state. This signals Agriculture as the main occupation of its people but this area of development is yet to be maximally addressed in the years under review.

The theory and debate about Zamfara’s ‘drive for development’ over the years is slow and unimpressive according to development experts, though this may be critised as ‘arm-chair’ theorisation, but when Zamfara is compared with the level of development in states like Gombe, Ekiti, Ebonyi and Nasarawa which were created at the same time with Zamfara experts ‘view about Zamfara’s development strides or deficit will sound valid.

Some people citizens and scholars alike are of the view that the crises of development in Zamfara has its origin from the initial inability of the state to develop a realistic vision document and strategic development plans to guide the implementation of the state development agenda.

Others, however opine that It is the failure of the political class in the state to chart a right path for the state by a constant engagement with the government on matters related to the execution of the state development plans.

Yet others aver about the inability of creation of Elders’ Committee to ‘put an eye’s on government matters as obtained in states like Katsina. Whatever view one patronizes among the three identified above, it is obvious that there are many things wrong with the development agenda in Zamfara State in the 26 years of its existence.

As we celebrate the 62nd Nigeria’s Independence, we should also sit and ponder in a manner of reflection what has become of the ‘’whys” of creation of Zamfara state? What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong? What are we doing right? What happens to our process of ‘Finding our why’.

Though we have our reasonable level of achievements in terms of infrastructures during the years of Shehi Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar era and relative social and economic development during the Yarima/Mamuda dispensation But why are we where we are at this 26 years of our creation existence and beingness.

What had other states who are our contemporaries cited earlier in this piece, doing right which we could not do? What magic wand is there in Gombe and Nasarawa who have deficit of resources but are fast track their educational and Agricultural development?

How Are these states able to among other things manage two state universities at Gombe and Keffi to world standard while the education sector in Zamfara is in worrisome state?

We do have challenges that are valid and true, this is the easiest excuse put forward is the security, which had escalated from Herder/Farmer crisis to large scale banditry and insurgency taking thousands of lives, bringing destruction and mayhem to both villages, towns and cities of Zamfara state which engages the wisdom, resources, intellect and finances of governments, especially, the current one of Muhammad Bello Matawalle.

But try to juxtapose this excuse with the Scenario of once Boko Haram Borno state and the spate of development engineered by Professor Babagana Umara Zulum and the win-win achieved and he is achieving almost everyday so development could be achieved even in the (aftermath) of chaos if there is the will plover to actualize same for somebody may also agree that Zamfara had faced a political crises from the G-8 versus the incumbent to the current consensus and litigation spree as a result of what an observer calls ‘sheer absence of internal democracy ‘within the two parties-PDP and APC in the state. The crises to my mind come as a result of selfishness, greed and high-handedness of some politicians whose personal interest is far higher than the interest of developing the state to the level that it becomes sources of envy or admiration of her contemporaries and peers.

As we celebrate 26th Anniversary of the creation of Zamfara state and as we approach yet another election year it will be worthwhile as leaders and patriotic citizens, especially the former to reflect on four critical issues:

First, the reasons or ‘why ‘the state is created. Second, have we matched the hard-earned struggle to create the state with commensurate tangible development? Thirdly, if the above mentioned concerned are not on the high side, how can we put things in order? Finally, as we approach another election year it is not out of place to find our many “whys” and try to put our state on the right track of peace, progress and tangible development.

As it stands we are yet to identify our many “whys “but there is hope of doing so in the coming years. HAPPY 26TH ANNIVERSARY!

The Chairman of Anti-thuggery committee in Zamfara Bello Bakyasuwa Maradun said his committee is going to use the Anti-Thuggery Marshals to enforce the resolution of the state house of assembly if it orders the relocation of Zamfara PDP Secretariat based in Gusau.

Bakyasuwa who stated this during a special interview session with Thunder Blowers on Saturday in Gusau insisted that he knew the PDP to be a law-abiding party and once the state assembly passes its resolution he expected that PDP will honorably vacate to another choice location to avoid confrontation with the authorities.

” I believed PDP will be law-abiding and respect the resolution of the state house of assembly if it is passed because if they refused, my committee will use its Marshals to enforce such resolution in the interest of peace and justice to the commuters using the road where the headquarters is located and in the interest of saving the Ministry of Finance and public schools that are around the location of the secretariat”.

He also said soonest his committee will read the “Riot Act” to all the political parties and insisted that no supporter of a political party shall be allowed to carry a gun and go to the campaign ground with it noting that, “” if his marshals sighted anyone with a gun at the public gathering including campaign grounds they are going to fire him on the spot”.

“We are to make sure that no party supporter is allowed to use any weapon to threaten the lives of the innocent people during campaign. A license to bear arms is issued for a purpose, not political campaign. Our committee will spare no one if he goes against the law”.

‘Remember there is an order enforced which ban the use of fire arms including guns. When the Governor approved our rules, we are going to read our riot act to the political parties so that they can caution their supporters on the dos and don’ts expected of them”