By LUKA MAIWADA
Whenever men of easy virtue ply their trade in order to earn crumbs from their paymasters, the truth usually becomes the casualty. It is in this realm that I situate an article with the above headline authored by one Dr. Hassan Gimba who virtually tried to turn the truth upside down albeit unsuccessfully.
It is rather preposterous and unwieldy for Gimba, an unabashed apologist of governor Mai-Mala Buni to live his comfort zone, that is selling the discredited government of his barely literate paymaster and poach into an area he has little knowledge of.
It is in this context that I really pity Mr. Gimba who in a wild goose chase to satisfy the lust of his paymasters by maligning the former governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasiru El-Rufai ended up shooting himself on the foot and exposed his deep ignorance of the operations of governance and leadership.
As is always the case, people who indulge in hate politics and pull him down syndrome always end up tragically and that is what exactly happened to Gimba in his rather bizarre article aimed at besmirching former governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasiru El-Rufai willy nilly.
Accepted, as a human being, el-Rufai has his weaknesses and frailties, but to try to bring down the governor and his government on the alter of hatred or partisanship will be the height of intransigence and abuse of the sensibilities of Nigerians especially the good people of Kaduna State.
I find relish in the fact that the present governor and his retinue of supporters in the ongoing debate have not accused the former governor of corruption or diverting monies meant for the audacious project of restoring the essence and glory of Kaduna city which over the years lost its place due to dearth and decaying infrastructure. Kaduna has not witness any audacious facelift since the days of the colonial masters.
The fact that the glory of Kaduna city has been restored with the mind boggling infrastructural drive is not contestable. In place of the worn out infrastructure that became the inglorious hallmark of Kaduna city of yesterday, new infrastructure including flyovers, grade interchanges, underpasses and lot more have been put in place. The mosaic of projects that criss crossed Kaduna are not only visible but they are a source of pride and joy to every patriotic Kaduna citizen.
It is on this note that I wish to express my profound disappointment in governor Uba Sani who after championing the loan is now losing his mind and sleep about a project he owned and championed with passion and exuberance. Will it not have been a gross misconduct or even an ought right impeachable offense for governor El-Rufai to divert such funds to other projects or even misappropriate them?
Without being disrespectful to the governor, I think he should keep his mouth shut on the subject because he lacks the moral standing to attack the former governor for discharging his constitutional duty with funds obtained through legal means.
I had expected that a columnist worth Gimba’s standing will have taken his time to scrutinize the composite actions of the government throughout its eight year period then come out with a general verdict on its overall performance so that people can judge it from an informed perspective. But to single out one area of activity and use it as a yardstick to condemn the government is not only unfair but an act of blatant unprofessionalism.
Such portrays the limited knowledge and dearth of broad-mindedness of Gimba. But a Hausa adage which says little knowledge is dangerous readily come to our aid here.
It is easy for Gimba to overlook all the efforts governor El-Rufai put in place to ensure the proliferation of viable businesses and companies in Kaduna State and such deportment made him to develop selective amnesia by forgetting that El-Rufai is the brain behind the setting up of Olams, a multi-billion conglomerate dubbed as Nigeria’s largest integrated animal feed company which has generated thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities for the people of Kaduna State.
Gimba is also blinded to the fact that in its eight years in power, Kaduna State government under the leadership of governor Nasiru El-Rufai has attracted a total investment portfolio of $4,488,000,000, comprising actualized and announced investments, and has created 75, 750 direct and indirect jobs.
Other very sterling achievements of the governor which will remain blurred to Gimba is the enviable position which Kaduna earned as the most improved state in ease of doing business, with the most friendly investor environment by world bank.
Gimba will also remain blind to the fact that El-Rufai single handedly transformed the IGR of the state from N11bn annually when he assumed office to N52bn annually when he left office.
The remodeling of Murtala Muhammed Square into a world class sporting facility equipped with shopping malls, restaurants and various recreational centres and other very outstanding achievements will remain elusive to Gimba and his ilk.
Gimba also decided to forget the fact that governor Uba Sani who is crying hoarse for the level of indebtedness incurred on the state by El-Rufai is the enabler of the “misfortune” as Gimba would like to refer to the debt. In Kaduna no one gave the move by El-Rufai to secure the said loan the support both moral and otherwise to scale through like Sani Uba. It will amount to sheer politics of pull him down syndrome for the same man and his undiscerning supporters to now start casting aspersions on the former governor. Enough of this banality.
The funny side of the whole episode is that Gimba totally forgot how Mai-Mala Buni from whom he gets his daily bread is hoisting the most irresponsible governance in Yobe State. Since the state was created, governance has never been so low like during the Mai Mala Buni era who many described as an absentee governor for his propensity to avoid the state like a plague. But instead of Gimba to channel his energy in advising his governor to inculcate good governance and take a detour from his shoddy past, he is busy sniffing into other people’s affairs. How unfortunate.
Before I conclude, it will be apt to restate the place of El-Rufai as one of Nigeria’s democracy legends from whom, Mai-Mala Buni should take a lot of democratic lessons. Unlike Yobe which is currently adopting a totalitarian form of government, in El-Rufai’s Kaduna State democracy was nurtured, nourished and allowed to thrive. At a point in time in Nigeria, Kaduna State under El-Rufai set an example of pragmatism as it was the only state in which other parties won local government elections. We had a number of local government chairmen and councillors from the PDP. Can Gimba swears with the grave of his father that is the situation in Yobe State?
Maiwada writes from Kaduna State.
