Abulolo and the expectations of Nigerlites

Like other Nigerians in many parts of the country, Nigerlites prayed for Allah’s divine intervention in the 2015 general elections. Their prayer was answered and the 16-year-old misrule of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state was accordingly brought to an end; saving Niger State and Nigerlites (as God saved Nigeria and Nigerians) from imminent collapse.
Nigerlites heaved a loud sigh of relief when PDP, which has been a liability to them, awfully lost the 2015 elections in the state. To express their cumulative but unrestrained anger with the outgone PDP-led government in the state, spectators showered a stormy rain of pebbles on the former Chief Servant of the state at the inauguration of Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello (a.k.a. Abulolo) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the succeeding executive governor.
Having suffered many political and socio-economic deprivations under PDP, Nigerlites were naturally filled with towering expectations when Abulolo was declared winner of the April 11 gubernatorial election. Abulolo’s victory meant so many things to Nigerlites. To farmers, workers and petty traders, the coming of APC to Niger State under Abulolo meant optimism as a substitute to hopelessness; honesty and probity rather than corruption and fraud; governance instead of oppression; rule of law in place of impunity; altruism instead of self-centeredness; and prosperity in place of indigence. These expectations are reasonably modest aspirations for a people who have gone through unbroken one and half decades of political tumult, economic quagmire and an audacious culture of impunity.
As the 14th ‘bride’ in the house with the biggest gate on Independence Way (formerly called Yakubu Lame Road) in Minna, Nigerlites wished for the kind of ‘honeymoon’ measures which the people of the ‘Liberal State’ in Nigeria enjoyed in the first few weeks of Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai after his inauguration as governor of Kaduna State.
Soon after taking oath of office, Governor el-Rufai banned the discriminatory tradition of allocating fertiliser to politicians and traditional rulers in the same way he proscribed the free feeding of ‘destitutes’ during the Ramadan fast. While the first is a corrupt practice, the second though religious is a means of siphoning public funds by political office holders and their cronies among civil servants. These are laudable policy measures announced by the Kaduna State governor.
It is this sort of honeymoon measures which do not involve the spending of even one kobo that Nigerlites wished were announced by Abulolo on assumption of duty as governor. Of course, it is not late to do so. After all, who said the honeymoon is over? It could last for as long as the eyes and the heart of the ‘bride’ and the ‘groom’ fail or refuse to see each other’s faults. Many of those who stood under the scorching sun to ensure that their votes counted for Abulolo’s victory in the election longed to hear him soon after his inauguration making pronouncements that seek to restore people’s confidence in government, especially as it relates to fighting corrupt practices in our public life including waste of scarce resources.
To speak the mind of many well-meaning Nigerlites (including this writer) whose desire it is that Abulolo makes greater history than all his predecessors in the political history of Niger State, there is actually little change in the air blowing across the state. Of course, Abulolo had a transition period of seven weeks in order to hit the ground running on his inauguration day. It would be an unfair judgment to describe Nigerlites as impatient if eight weeks after Abulolo’s inauguration and 15 weeks after his election they express their yearning for the long-awaited change. We are concerned because we do not want a situation where PDP members and their supporters or sympathisers would take undue advantage of to ridicule the Abulolo-led administration.
Abulolo could have brightened his honeymoon, for instance, by undoing some of the unpopular initiatives in the state. Abulolo would be hailed, for instance, for reversing the establishment of a second state-owned university (Niger State University of Education). This compares to a man who after being unable to maintain a wife goes to marry a second one! As it is now, the state-owned Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University in Lapai is facing serious crisis of underfunding.
Your Excellency, Sir, you have to be courageous to become a successful leader. Governance is not about what you do to please a few but more about what you do to meet the needs or wishes of the majority. A second university is not a priority need for most Nigerlites at the moment. Learning from the words of former President Ibrahim Babangida may not be out of place when he said: “History will forgive you for taking a wrong decision but will certainly not for not taking a decision at all.”
Nigerlites looked forward to measures aimed at reducing cost of governance achievable through a reduction in the number of ministries as well as the number of aides per political office holder. Immediate policy statements that could later be backed with necessary laws may include professionalising teaching at the basic level of education in the state; criminalising hawking by school-age children; banning the fraudulent sale of hajj seats; prohibiting the use of public funds to sponsor individuals to perform pilgrimage; etc.
This is not to say that Abulolo is not working. His Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Dr. Ibrahim Dooba, who should statutorily be his chief image- maker, has not, so far, proved that he has the competence and capacity to adequately manage the schedules of the office he occupies even though he deserves to be given some benefits of doubt. Because of poor press coverage, not many people even within the state know of the efforts being made by the governor to change the long history of the state-wide perennial water scarcity.
It is the duty of the CPS to use his structures (or contacts) within the media to give wide publicity to his boss’ policy ideas and actions. The alleged slapping of a security personnel by the CPS is certainly not a mature way for anybody who occupies that exalted office to react to provocations while on duty. May Allah (SWT) guide the Abulolo-led APC administration in Niger State to success, amin.