Opinions
Dr. Abubakar Kagu: Why Yobe must allow water to flow through its channels
Dr. Abubakar Kagu: Why Yobe must allow water to flow through its channels
By JOE Hemba.
It’s been a long-standing tradition in Yobe politics that strong representation has been sacrificed at the expense of family members, friends, and oligarchs especially from the legislative arm of the government.
Representatives who have made a lasting impression on the polity risk appearing haughty. Both sides will be judged fairly, they claim. A few skilled hands that may have changed the situation in their time have been smothered under the weight of mediocrity. The few will always follow the crowd.
What would have been the result of experience has instead resulted in a suffocating and exclusive political family arrangement that does not include the majority of people. On one hand, it amounts to nothing more than an outright theft of the voting rights of the entire population, and on the other, it is a flagrant breach of the law.
Those in power in Yobe are either royalists or oligarchs who have risen through a corrosive process known as consensus to their positions. Because of this, the system has instead chokes competence and competitiveness, rather than encouraging excellence in the name of family or friends.
After more than three decades of stagnation, the political sphere is finally waking up to the energy of a brand new era. There are less doubts when the right people emerge to support both the system and the process. Governor Mai Mala Buni became governor of Yobe State in 2019 due to an emergency.
Gov. Buni’s emergence has unquestionably given the system a much-needed breath of fresh air. The state’s geriatric politicians have been set against the state’s vibrant young residents because of his deliberate selection of young and capable persons to take critical positions in his government.
There is an emerging political force in the state poised to overthrow any old structures that stand in the way of the new order, like a northeast windstorm. A bold declaration was made in the history books when Dr. Abubakar Kagu declared his intention to seek for a House of Representatives seat to serve his constituents in the federal constituency of Nguru, Machina, Karasunwa, and Yusufari.
With pomp and scene, as well as widespread support from those who feel that fresh blood and competence should take over the system and start working immediately as a shift from the old normal, this was a historic ceremony.
Unprecedented numbers of people, from border peasants to residents deep in the heart of municipalities, endorsed the candidate. Nguru, Machina, Karasuwa, and Yusafari all had a sea of supporters shouting and cheering for Mattawalen Machina and his lengthy convoy of cars, most of them young men, when he arrived.
He is a well-educated scholar who is deeply rooted in tradition and culture, which has gained him the respect and adoration of his people, Dr. Abubakar Kagu. Master’s and PhD degrees from Sussex University in the UK are held by the traditional prince of the Machina emirates. Chief Magistrate of Yobe State before becoming a law lecturer at State University in the Yobe State University system.
In recognition of his extensive knowledge of Constitutional Law, Dr. Ahmed Lawan, the Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria appointed him as a Special Adviser on Legislative and Legal Matters.
It wasn’t until I was one of a few journalists invited to his announcement on the day that I fell in love with him even more. Young, good-looking, well-dressed, with a refined sense of style. His gift of oratory is something else for which I have a lot of admiration for.
When it comes to supporting political causes, I believe that young people should do so. I believe that Yobe must now let water find its channel because I support politicians like Kagu who do exploits in politics.
When Dr. Babatude Tikare first met Kagu 30 years ago, he was impressed by the young man’s dedication to his people.
Dr. Tikare praised his longtime friend on Facebook after he announced his candidacy for the House of Representatives, stating in part:
“…The Federal Constituency of Nguru-Machina-Karasuwa-Yusufari is a place where Dr. Kagu Abubakar has decided to rekindle hope and regeneration.”
“Knowing the learned guy for over 30 years has been an emotional trip for me. I’ve seen him grow and mature as a person.
“Our tactic has been to remain armchair commentators behind the protection and anonymity of social media for some of us who are more cautious.”
“However, Dr. Kagu is wired a little differently than the others.
“It’s very uncommon for people like him to sit through speeches in order to elicit more thoughtful responses.
“If you’re good at public speaking, why not flaunt it?
“Also, if you can, push the bounds and frontiers of governance and development.”
“It’s an honor to call him “my brother, friend.” I’m really proud of you and happy for you right now. As exciting as it is to be welcomed and accepted by your people, it also serves as a cautionary tale about what lies ahead.
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“I hope for your safety as you set off on this journey.
“Keep your feet firmly placed on the sands of justice, fairness, and humility when the tide threatens to engulf you.
“This is the Matawallen Machina. As I used to tell you during our late-night phone calls. As the saying goes, ‘To whom much is given, much is required’.
“May the hopes and dreams you have for yourself, never be shattered.”
“A Youths Project for the Missed Political Dividends” was how Mohammed Musa Gasma, a Karasuwa Local Government constituent, characterized Dr. Kagu’s declaration.
In a Facebook post, Gasma wrote that Kagu’s arrival marks the end of a twenty-year period of inadequate leadership by prior lawmakers in the region.
The following is what he wrote on Facebook, unaltered:
“For the past 20 years, there has been a constant clamor in the aforementioned area in the federal house of representatives, and God willing, that time is now over.”
“They have bemoaned and anguished for years, but because of the inept leadership and extraordinary political acumen displayed in the green chamber, their plight is now politically contentious.
“The people of Karasuwa, Nguru, Machina, and Yusufari Federal Constituency have languished because of the incumbent member’s ineptitude and paralyzed leadership.
“I am using this medium to call on my dear youths to strengthen their support beyond political sentiment and give the young chap a chance who has track records of leadership and good governance to salvage the people from their overdue outcry of the poor and total disconnection from electorates after the election”
If you raise your hand on the House floor, you’ll be ignored even if you’re trying to make a point about an issue. I, on the other hand, believe that Dr. Kagu’s zeal, education, and experience, as well as his ability to fight on a wide range of current and historical problems, will have a profound impact on his colleagues and the leadership of the green chambers. His personality will no doubt be infectious on his colleagues
As the APC in Yobe prepares for primary elections, I would like to encourage the delegates to pause and reflect. Lawmaking is about having a powerful voice and enacting laws that will have a long-term influence on the lives of the people, not some carrot and stick interventions from subservient members in the name of a hoax called ‘constituency project,” they say. Abubakar Kagu is an excellent choice for the Green Chambers, in my opinion.
This is the right time for Yobe to allow water to follow through her Channel!
*JOE Hemba is a freelance journalist and public commentator based in Damaturu, Yobe State
Dr. Abubakar Kagu: Why Yobe must allow water to flow through its channels
Opinions
THE BIU FORUM: FEW THINGS TO KNOW
THE BIU FORUM: FEW THINGS TO KNOW.
By: A G Abubakar
The Biu Forum was a child of circumstances. It was born in response to the fall out from the August 1991 state creation exercise by the Babangida military regime which initially located Biu in Yobe but removed same after a couple of days. To push for a redress or for an answer, the Forum was initiated. Its drivers came from the entire spectrum of the present day Biu Emirate and Shani Chiefdom, who were then resident in Lagos, the former federal capital.The first meeting was held in October 1991 at Block 4, Flat 3, the Bar Beach Towers, Victoria Island.
The inaugural and subsequent meetings of the forum were attended by such personalities as Shettima Saleh, Saidu Pindar, Tahir A.Musa, PC Abdullahi Mohammed, Musa Yamta, Hassan Bdliya, John Balami, Audu Shettima, Sanda Usman, Adamu Abdullahi, Musa Shani, Major (now Gen) Usman, Muhammad Dili, Ahmed Kuru, Jibrin A.Jibrin, A.G.Abubakar (Convener along with Musa Yamta), Mamman Audu, Paul Mari, Ishaku Abdullahi, Sale Mari Maina, Major. Ibrahim Bantam, Samaila Mamman, Sule Usman, C.D.Gali, and many more. These foundation members nurtured the Forum for years in Lagos before the seat of government was formally moved to Abuja.
Some of them are of blessed memory (may the Almighty grant them His mercy, Ameen), though a lot more are still living. The major objective of the forum at inception was to build a unity of purpose to tackle the challenges facing Biu Emirate, particularly its excision from the then newly created Yobe State. Plus, the need to call for attention to the brazen discriminations visited upon Biu people in the state’s civil service, while also pursuing the creation of a Savannah State. Same, with extending moral and material supports to victims of natural disasters and others like the then Waka-Biu crisis.
It would be recalled that after the Babangida military government decided to split old the Borno State, late General Abacha, then the Chief of Army Staff and the defacto number “two” man, who happened to be of Borno extraction, was assigned to consult with the Shehu as well as other opinion leaders on the government’s proposal to curve out a new state out of Borno. Late Bunu Sherrif, a son of the soil (Goniri), who was then serving as Minister of Labour among others, was to serve as a facilitator. The rough edges were therefore smoothened.
Eventually, Yobe was created. The configuration of which comprised three emirates, namely Biu, Fika, and Bade. Borno and Bama emirates were to remain as the New Borno State. The number of local governments was equally balanced at 22 each. Now, it is lopsidedly 17 and 27 LGAs for Yobe and Borno, respectively.
Along the line, some forces opposed to the inclusion of Biu emerged. The first one was the supposed friction between the Emirs of Biu and Fika regarding the order of protocol. A smokescreen, however, because the real reason was that Fika Emirate was promised the State capital (precisely Potiskum), but that was if Biu wasn’t part of the equation. The other reason was that Biu and Borno Emirates had a historical tie that made the duo almost conjoined. This was also untenable in that Ngazargamo that served as the capital of the old Kanem-Borno was severed into Yobe State. In the end, Biu remains part of Borno.
This development polarised the citizens of Biu Emirate into two. The Elders were not so favourably disposed towards leaving Borno, while the larger youth groups were at home with Yobe.
The advantages they averred included the possibility of playing more dominant political and economic roles in the new state, given the fact that Biu used to hold and still holds the Deputy Governor portfolio in Borno. The emirates (Fika and Biu) equally serve as the manpower base of the region . State politics could turn out to be like Adamawa, where all ethnic groups and/or stripes of faith can become the number one citizen of the state. The Emir of Biu would naturally be the most senior, in addition.
Based on the foregoing, Biu made a case for inclusion or, better still, a re-inclusion into Yobe. A move that was resisted vehemently by certain quarters under the umbrella of BEDA. Others who lent their voices included the Birma, Galadima Stanley Balami, PC Ali Biu, and Alhaji Ibrahim Damchida, all of blessed memory.
The Biu citizens who were pushing for the readjustment initially got the support of His Royal Highness, the Revered Mai Umar, who gracefully endorsed the demand document titled, “A Call For the Adjustment of Biu Emirate into Yobe State.” Or rather agreed for the document to be endorsed on his behalf, which was done. However, under pressure from all corners, His Royal Highness had to reconsider his support, as the Emirate found itself in a difficult situation. It was this development and regardless of the push back that the Biu Forum was formed as an alternative platform to still pursue the inclusion of Biu and Shani into Yobe State.
A petition to the government, was subsequently produced and forwarded. And to get a wider publicity and forestall suppression the Forum’s document was sent to the press . The rested influencial national newspaper, the Sunday Concord of 6th October 1991 carried the entire document. Yours faithfully picked the bill.
One of the the committed and highly articulate members of the Forum at the time, Alh. Muhammed Shehu Birma had his relationship with his principal, the Hon. Minister, Bunu Sheriff strained because of his role and support. Alh. Birma was one of the Special Assistants to the Minister who worked tirelessly to obtain the concurrence of major stakeholders to buy into the Forum’s activities.
When the misunderstanding so created on account of the state creation seemed unabating, formal meetings were called by the late elder statesman Alh. Damcida at his Probyn road, Ikoyi, home to sort things out. The “family” gathering enjoyed the presence of late Dr.Saidu Muhammad, PC Ali Biu, A.G.Abubakar, Muhammad S.Birma, Amb. Saidu Pindar, Alhaji Madu Biu, Shettima Saleh, with apologies from Dr.Bukar Usman.
One of the resolutions that came out of the series of dialogues was an undertaking by Mallam to seek an audience with General Abacha for possible reconsideration of the petition. The outcome was the creation of Hawul and Kwaya Kusar LGAs, while Biu as a whole stayed in Borno State.
As time went on, moves got started to merge the activities of the Forum to those of the senior Biu Development Association, BDA. The BDA is now BEDA (Biu Emirate Development Association). The move never materialised and the activities of both slowed down. It took the efforts of patriots like Engineer Ibrahim Usman, Dan Masani Muhammad Ibrahim, Adamu Abdullahi, Amb. Saidu, Ibrahim M.Kwajaffah, Muhammad Buba, Mai Musti, Bukar Umar and a host of others to revive the Forum and keep it going.
So for all intents and purposes the Biu Forum was not a Biu Local Government outfit. It was initiated to protect and promote the interest of Biu and Shani Emirates. And indeed every Aburwa on the planet. How it became a Forum exclusively for Biu Local Government Area was maybe a later development to give the Forum a sharper focus. And maybe to ensure a seamless coexistence with the senior BEDA.This has been a short story of the now, 33-year old (1991 to –) initiative.
A.G.Abubakar agbarewa@gmail.com
THE BIU FORUM: FEW THINGS TO KNOW
Opinions
Nigeria: Why the youths must say “NO” to protest.
Nigeria: Why the youths must say “NO” to protest.
By: Dr. James Bwala
History should teach us lessons. And we have so many examples that are part of the history of some countries around us. Protests as being engineered and called for are never in the interest of the young Nigerian; rather, they are a way to further suppress and darken the future of young ones, and therefore, I see this as another evil rising on Nigeria, which I hope the youths will see as reasons not to be tempted to join those who do not mean well for them and for Nigeria. Those who want to cash in on the protest to their advantage are pushing their own evil interests to deny the young Nigerian his or her own hope for the future.
I followed many calls on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and listened to many voices calling on the Nigerian youths to join them on the days to demonstrate and show their displeasure to the government over hunger in the land. They claimed it was about a policy, and I did not really understand the truth about such claims. Some pointed to the issue of insecurity that people cannot go to their farms and blamed the present administration led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima, and on this too, they are not speculating on facts that are leading them to want to express anger through protest.
I could not understand why all the things they are pointing to have been on their doorsteps for over 10 years and they would not protest until now. Does it mean that their eyes are now open to the situation we all found ourselves in? I have lived in northeastern Nigeria, and I have seen situations created by insecurity where children, young men, and adults hold each other’s hands and cry out for help to have a drop of grain and for one cut of a handful of mold grain flour to go through their mouths and down their throats for the day, but they could not have the assurance of such a meal. No one came to the rescue; no one called for a protest, and the people built their resilience until the heavens brought succor.
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The situation in which certain individuals are coming to tell young Nigerians to protest or to demonstrate against the administration requires a deeper look into their motives. It may not be about hunger in the land afterwards, for we have endured many hungers and we did not protest, so why now? Politics is still in the play, and a few individuals—I mean, very few individuals—who are not happy with the Tinubu and Shettima administration are orchestrating the wind horses. Some young Nigerians may think otherwise, but believe me, there are many more evils behind the call for protest than what you are hearing on social media, and these are about destroying a whole lot of what you have hoped for.
I will suggest that no Nigerian youth should join or listen to calls from those who have sent their children abroad for you to continue to be their foot soldiers, and in the end, they achieve something and you achieve nothing. Take a look at the protests or demonstrations in the past. Not outside Nigeria, but within. Some of you have participated, and you are still on the street after that protest. Your peace and happiness have been taken. Those you fought for—have they come to salvage your situation? Unless you want to remain perpetually a fool on the street with very little to gain and no knowledge of what you are bargaining, then you may choose to go with the evil callers; otherwise, say ‘NO’ to protest as it is not actually in your interest.
This administration, which you are being instigated to demonstrate against, has won many battles in the last year. The latest in the Hope initiative are the achievements of the court ruling on local government autonomy. This government has achieved free imports for drugs and rice and brought peace through the establishment of the livestock ministry. These are a few achievements from the last six months. We have waited for eight years in hope through the Buhari administration, and no one has seen positive changes, but we waited. Herein, with the Tinubu and Shettima administrations, we are seeing the moves and the results. Can we not hold on to this renewed hope since we are seeing the changes coming?
Nigerian youths, let no one deceive us into doing their bid. They have places to go; we only have Nigeria, which is all we have. When they moved out, we remained here. They cannot come from Europe and America to ask us to set our houses on fire while they go back to their second homes and leave us in the shackles that we used our own hands to perpetuate their desires against us for their selfish and evil interests. No, we must not come to the level they want us to reach. We must rise with renewed hope and join this administration to build a Nigeria where peace and justice reign, just as we pledged to build in our re-engineering calls for a better tomorrow.
Dr. James BWALA, PhD, writes from Abuja.
Nigeria: Why the youths must say “NO” to protest.
Opinions
Why Borno residents should support the Zulum Administration
Why Borno residents should support the Zulum Administration
By: Yusuf Adamu
Unfortunately, the lack of electricity and shortage of water in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, have continued to turn some sections of the state against the government. While many are thinking it is the government job to provide electricity and water, a lot of people are not looking at the efforts the government is putting in during the phase of challenges from saboteurs and terrorists as it affects the issues of electricity in the state, particularly.
Borno State has been in darkness for the last two weeks, and the governor spoke with concern from faraway Saudi Arabia, where he went to worship, and he was informed of the electricity issue back home. Professor Babagana Umara Zulum has done tremendously well in ensuring that Borno State overcomes the issue of electricity, to the extent that he went beyond his jurisdiction to ensure that he solved the problem.
He went further to collaborate with the NNPC, which informed the setting of a gas plant in Maiduguri to support the epileptic power supply as a result of the continuous attacks on the electricity supply lines feeding Maiduguri. However, the activities of saboteurs, who would rather, out of their greed, overload the gas plant, have constantly resulted in the disruption of the gas plant’s capacity to provide adequate supply.
Rather than people condemning the government for some of this man-made distraction, I think the people of Borno State should pray for an end to the activities of terrorists and the saboteurs who continuously take advantage of the situation to speak ill of the government. If the opposition is speaking, we would understand, but when citizens say otherwise, we would like to remind them that the governor of Borno State has been doing everything possible to make Borno State great.
The collaboration with NNPC and the purchase of electric vehicles to ease pain for people are things to see and agree that the governor meant well for his people. This is aside from the numerous projects he was able to achieve in the state. We are also lucky to have the Vice President, who is our own and whose focus is also to see Borno State become great again.
Just yesterday, he was speaking on the issues affecting the state when he arrived in the state for the sallah celebration. He gave hope for a better Borno state and spoke well of the collaboration the federal government is having with Borno state to end the perennial challenges facing the state at the moment. Let us continue to uplift our leaders in prayer and support their dream of making Borno one of the best things that happens to its people in the current administration.
***Yusuf Adamu writes from Maiduguri and is the former political adviser to Kashim Shettima.
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