hajia

Like most Nigerians the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is not happy with the conduct of last elections. They are now calling for a fresh election to hold next year ie 2008. Good suggestion you say? But hold it, what did the organisation say about 2003 elections? I want to know the comments they made then so as to gauge their consistency or otherwise. Please can someone dig the archives and find out for me?

Last week there were rumblings from Aso Rock as President Yar'Adua relieves three top officials of their posts. For the CBN governor, one Charles Soludo, the government went out of its way to convince the public by quoting all sorts of laws and provisions. I wrote a piece on this guy below and had always known that he would soon land on a banana peel.
Next was Nuhu Ribadu the EFCC strong man. I was surprized by his removal as he has just started warming to the hearts of Nigerians by jailing corrupt ex-governors.
The Customs and Exise boss was also removed.

Update: I was wrong above on the CBN governor's sack. Professor Saludo apparently chickened out on his naira re-denomination theory and backed down by apologising profusely.

The story of salary increase for teachers is thick in the air in Katsina state. Governor Shema has concluded plans already thereby taking after his predecessor Umaru YarAdua. The later effected handsome increases for Nurses and other health workers. However it is on record that no improvement in service delivery occurred in the hospitals. It was business as usual as nurses and other sundry workers still behaved and worked the way they have always done.
Would this increase for teachers really bring a change in the education sector of the state? Would it lead to more students getting admissions to Universities?
Unless the increase is somehow tied to performance we shall have a repeat of what happened in the health sector.
Perhaps the state will be better off if hardworking teachers are paid to mount summer classes and daily extra lessons in their schools. Minimal contact hours appear to be the bane of education in the state. If both primary and secondary schools adopt this I believe it will go along way in improving the standard of education in the state.

For along time now work on the permanent site of Katsina State University (KSU) has stalled as few labourers hang around the uncompleted structures. Only road construction appear to be going on. And the obvious reason is lack of funding. If only they awarded the entire contract to Julius Berger ........and not these mushroom local contractors. The leaking state House of Assembly should have informed them of futility in giving local contractors such a huge project. Picture left shows the main Administrative block looking empty and deserted. Note the time it was snapped by clicking to enlarge.

Lecturers recruited from other universities may also be preparing for their return journey to their original schools as KSU authorities continue to renege on their promises. The bait of further training overseas actually attracted these people in the first place, but now the authorities are talking about University of Ibadan as the destination for all. The talk of linkage to an Indian University is now a mirage. Likewise other incentives and motivations.

Are we doomed to scuttle every opportunity that lands on our laps as a people? Why should the selfishness of few continue to be tolerated by the majority?

When former president Olusegun Obasanjo lost his third term bid for power due to the ferocious opposition from a large majority of Nigerians, he vowed to have the last laugh. And soon after President Umar Yar’adua was sworn-in, Nigerians woke up one day to learn that Obasanjo had clinchéd the post of chairman of the ruling party’s (PDP) Board of Trustees. By virtue of this position, Obasanjo now has a say not only in the party but also in the affairs of government. This in a way makes Yar’adua to look like a lame-duck president. Indeed Obasanjo is having the last laugh but it wont last that long. It’s nothing but a mere pyrrhic victory for him, at least if history is anything to go by.

Obasanjo’s insistence to hang around made me to dust my history books and go through them with a digger and powerful flashlight. I was bent on finding an instance in history where an elected leader chose to stay around after completing his tenure. I wanted to find out such a leader or leaders and especially the role they played in the new government headed by their successors. I even re-read The Prince with a view to finding out whether Machiavelli had given advice to rulers to always hang around their successors and the reasons.

Well my search ended up in vain. No elected leader in history had chosen to remain put after his tenure. Neither did Machiavelli give such an advice. The closest scenario I came up with happened in Haiti where the wife of the deceased president remained in the government house long after her son was sworn-in as president. But soon enough she was kicked out by the new first lady. Then why did Obasanjo decide to transform himself into a Trojan horse inside Aso Rock? Why?

It appears to me there are two reasons:

1. He does not want a replay of Chiluba’s (Zambia's ex-president) drama to happen to him.

2. He wants to make sure that policies and contracts he considers extremely important are not reversed by a new overzealous president.

Well first of all let us be clear about this aberration in politics. It is wrong for Obasanjo to hang around the party or tread in the corridors of power at Aso Rock beyond his term of office. He should have gone back to his farm at Otta and resume raising chickens like he did before he became president.

Secondly the chiluba drama is already playing itself out and we are witnessing reversals of both policies and contracts by Yar'adua now.

Thirdly the party (PDP) has recently appointed a reconciliation committee charged with the responsibility of wooing back party stalwarts who were kicked out by Obasanjo. Foundation members that included people like Abubakar Rimi, Musa Musawa, Iro Danmusa, Ghali NaAbba, Lawai Kaita etc were sidelined by Obasanjo during his tenure. This committee will bring them all back and when that happens, Obasanjo would do well to seek for cover.

These people represent Obasanjo’s nemesis and Achilles heels rolled into one.

Since the alleged 2billion naira scam (dubbed Aminchi-gate) broke out after Governor Shema was sworn-in, the reaction of people in the state varied. Some preferred a state of denial, others resorted to mere condemnation but there were those who called for the total recovery of the looted money from the duo – i.e. the former deputy governor (Garba Aminchi) and the former Secretary to the State Government (Inuwa Mohammed).

People discussed the issue among themselves but not a single person or organization made comment publicly. This includes the state government. Neither did the press (local or national) write anything on it. What a pity. One would have expected the local Izala Chapter to at least make semblances of protecting Aminchi, since he was known to be their member and major benefactor. They did not and perhaps that provoked some of the youthful members to react in their own unique way.

Now information reaching me suggest that beard is fast losing its appeal among youths in KT. Spotting a goatee has been a favourite past time with members of Izala religious organisation to the extent that it rivals the five pillars. But since the story of the allegations started filtering out a kind of frenzy of beard shaving was let loose in KT.

Now what would be the connection between the beard shaving spree and Aminchi-gate? Well it so happens that the former deputy governor spots a well groomed goatee – a truly designer beard. His beard appears to have white spots of grey hair at times and sometimes it looks like a patch of zebra skin got grafted under his chin. If the gentleman had been so exposed, like Governor Shema is, one would have thought that a designer like Giorgio Armani or Calvin Klein was involved in trimming the beard. The beard appears to change with every outing. Its polka dot today but tomorrow its pin stripe or zebra-skin like. Indeed the beard had become his trademark during his tenure.

By shaving their beards these youths are probably trying to distance themselves from the embattled deputy governor. Perhaps they are also sending a statement to their leaders in Izala to distance themselves also. Whether the leaders of this religious sect would follow the example of the youths is left to be seen.

In order to tie up the matter neatly I asked my brothers to get me the names of all the big guns in Izala and also the names of heavyweight Imams in Katsina. Here is the list I got:

1. Yakuba Musa Kafanchan

2. Liman Abba

3. Husamatu Abbas

4. Sani Kerau

5. Surajo Kofar Durbi

6. Harisu Dikke

7. Habibu Kaura and

8. Yammawa.

My question here is who amongst these eight could really have the guts and the moral rectitude to condemn or distance himself from the alleged impropriety described above? Who? If the answer is none of the above, then is it not time KT people started looking for a new set of Imams?