Lessons from Zamfara

There is no doubt that the most charming story to come from the states is the war between Abdulaziz Yari, former governor of Zamfara State and his successor, Bello Muhammad Mutawalle. There has been no love lost between the duos.

For the eight years that he called the shots in Gusau, it was evident that Yari did not understand what being governor entailed. He showed no interest in learning. For most of the time, he hardly lived in the state, preferring the posh lifestyle of Abuja and finding every excuse to junket across the globe, apparently at the poor state’s expense.

When Zamfara was plagued by measles and children were dying, Yari had no clue how to address it nor was he ready to. From faraway America, he attributed the outbreak to punishment from Allah for the sinful life of his people! He wouldn’t have lasted a day after that outburst except that in Nigeria, Yari had the state legislature in his pocket and hung on till the last day.

He’ll be on trips to Mecca while his state burnt very often on expensive chattered planes at state expense. His prodigious leadership credentials endeared him to his colleague governors who made him the leader of their forum. He carried out that assignment without anything significant except vehemently protesting the recommended N18,000 minimum wage which he said his members could not afford.

By the time his eight-year misrule was terminated, Zamfara existed only in name as bandits had taken over virtually every inch of its soil. Things were so bad, that Yari became the first governor to resign as the chief security officer of his state without resigning as governor. What remained unclear was whether he refused the humongous security votes that governors usually misspend. By every indication, Yari handed a failed state to his successor. A court ruling made Bello Mutawalle his eventual successor.

But for the notoriety it gained as the home of sharia at the turn of the fifth democracy, Zamfara is usually far from national radar. Successive leaders have exploited the state’s notoriety as the home of political sharia to the hilt.

From all indications, Yari must have left the proverbial empty treasury. But not before putting his itchy fingers on the states’ pension funds and paying himself a handsome sum of N360 million. That act has remained the zenith of cant.

Apparently, Yari lives large and barely a year out of office and losing his bid to retire to the senate like his colleagues, he is broke. Last week when he wrote a passionate letter to Mutawale requesting the release of the N10 million monthly allowances he coaxed out of the legislature. He probably banked on the support of his predecessors. What happened after is as encouraging as it is dangerous for our democracy.

The state assembly introduced a bill to cancel the jumbo allowances to Yari and all ex-political overlords. The bill to make this happen was introduced and passed in a single day! That in itself is at best extraordinary. It saved poor Zamfara several millions that if well channeled, could be channeled into meeting other needs.

The trouble in Zamfara is replicated across the 36 states of the federation. It is a national malaise that has made democracy a hanging albatross where it should be a huge blessing. From the moment that Bukola Saraki negotiated a mouth-watering disengagement allowance for himself, the shameful fad caught on.

Most state governors get to earn the same salary for as those who succeeded them. They get this unusual privilege for life insulating them from any economic recession and the usual plagues that affect their citizens. A state must meet their demands even if it could not pay civil servants that run the bureaucracy. While civil servants spend 35 years in service and die on the pension queue, these political fattened cows sacrifice nothing.

As chief executives, taxpayers pick the tab for their usually lavish lifestyles. Their usually handpicked successors would rather bankrupt the state than fail to meet their demands. They are conscious that they too would soon join the train. It’s the classical case of you scratch my back and I scratch yours. The jumbo pay comes wth perks such as proviso for foreign medical attention for the governors and their immediate families. They get a change of vehicles every two years and have homes built for them in at least two places. They keep their security aides, drivers and gardeners for life. The people get – nothing, except what they are bribed to keep the façade of democracy going during elections.

This is what has made the Nigerian brand of democracy the most expensive to run and the least impactful. It is what has made us the laughing stock of the democratic world.

While hoping that Mutawalle would go beyond the notoriety of the current media hype, state of the federation bogged by this albatross need to borrow from the Zamfara example especially as it is said that only a fraction of the 36 states are economically viable. They should not just take the excess from these fatted cows, but plough whatever it back to the welfare of the people. For it to make meaningful impact, democracy must serve the highest number, not the chosen servant, alone.