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Borno State: Governance in the name of the son, father and the wife

May 8, 2009

Borno is gradually becoming the land of despair, despondency and dilapidation; politically that is. That the government of Ali Modu Sheriff has cocooned every one into a shell of desperation is no longer in contention. That every one else, other than himself, his wife and his father, is in dire need of rehabilitation is also not in any doubt. That Borno resembles a land that has repeatedly been serially raped and abused is another dictum. That everything about governance that is not defined in naira and kobo is bunkum is another undeniable fact.  How did we, the people of Borno State get it all wrong? The answer to this question can be found in the fact that the very day we all went to sleep and allowed a family of merchants and contractors to corner power was the very day we surrendered our rights and our fate to a clique of people who care less about what becomes of us all.



The other day, a non-governmental organization, ‘coalition for democracy and good governance’, informed us that Borno State is about the only state in the federation that has not accessed  international development funds, IDF’s funding to the tune of over two billion Naira meant for the development of primary education and health facilities simply because our governor refused to provide a counterpart funding of less than two hundred million naira. For upward of five months now, teachers of tertiary institutions in the state have been on strike due to the government’s insensitivity to their plight. They are demanding for the implementation of HATTIS salary structure which will entail an additional commitment of just N90 million in the state’s entire salary package. The government callously rejected the demand outright and the teachers were forced to call it off when it dawned on them that they were dealing with a dumb and deaf government.

Ironically, it is this same government that could not access over two billion naira free funds and could also not develop post secondary education that is toying with the idea of establishing a state university even when experts across the country have advised against it.

At the advent of this administration, the politics of Borno State became thugs-infested. A group of miscreants, drug addicts and misfits was unleashed on the people of the state who had to endure with violence, rape, robbery and murder visited on them by what was then known as ECOMOG. The group used to intimidate perceived political opponents and succeeded in putting fear in the minds of the people of the whole state. After a lull, the ECOMOG group has now been re-armed and rehabilitated by Borno State Government in preparation for a fresh offensive on the people.

A fortnight ago, the media reported that three groups of thugs:  Jambawa Group of Bulumkutu; Moosa Mbanana group of Ngomari Costain and the Dahiru Bulabulin group of Bulabulin have all been given choice cars as well as cash in readiness to the 2011 election. Fear has once again enveloped the state as people remember the atrocities which these groups visited on the state between 2003 and 2007.

We know the ultimate objective is to induce fear in the citizenry preparatory to anointing the Governor’s younger brother for the ANPP gubernatorial ticket for the 2011 election. This is to ensure that the sins of this government in Borno State are shielded from the public.

We are however consoled by the fact that Governor Ali Sheriff is no longer relevant in the politics of the state with the enemies he has made for himself out of virtually all the people.  When a mob threw stones and sand on the Governor’s father at the funeral of the late Shehu of BOrno, the people were unanimous in their rejection of a government that has lost touch with the people. The generality of the people of the state who have become poorer due to the concentration of resources in very few hands of a clique in a family, are angry with a system that has closed the door of equal opportunities and which deliberately promotes patronage only to a wife, self and a contractor father who is today so despised that he cannot venture out of his mansions without disguising or without a platoon of a security layer manned by mobile policemen and armed political thugs.

As for the wife, we are also worried that a first lady who was so loved before is now jeered at and booed on every street by the very people who only yesterday adored her.  The belief is that she has also helped herself to the public till as well as determined who gets what in a government that is notorious for dispensing poverty around. At every election period, this first lady opens her gate so wide that everybody gets access.  This way, thousands of hungry women, mostly widows from across the state are encouraged to mill around, to be used for campaign purposes. They will be sandwiched in buses to be paraded around and demonstrated as a sign of grassroots support only for them to have the doors slammed on them the moment elections are supposedly won. The first lady will then run back into her shell, arrange political and public offices for her brothers and sisters, corner opportunities for herself alone, help herself to choice contracts while the army
of foot soldiers who run around on hungry stomach, are dumped with virtually nothing to show for all their sufferings.

Today in Borno State, no one apart from the Governor, his wife and his father can be said to have faired better materially in the real sense of the word.  The deputy governor for example who ordinarily should have been the exception, is about the poorest and the most deprived deputy governor in the history of politics in the country.  He is so ignored that he had to sojourn to places like Kano and Yobe, cap in hand begging for patronage to live a decent life.

If you take away three commissioners in charge of the choicest ministries and a couple of permanent secretaries and about two directors, a conservative total number of eight people all together, no one else in the whole of Borno state is any better for it. Even this eight eat out of the crumbs from the table of the master. No local contractor, infact no contractor of any hue has laughed to the bank because all contracts above a certain limit go to the clique of either the son, the wife or the father.
We are consoled by the realization that no matter what they do, the end is in sight, we also know that no matter how much they take away, nothing filthy has ever ensured everlasting happiness. If they don’t atone for their misdemeanor here on earth, they will surely do that at the appropriate time and in the fullness of time.

We have already started seeing the signs that those who must destroy others in order to prosper, will have destruction waiting for them at the post of their own success.


Since the advent of the Ali Sheriff’s administration, every political step he has taken, has turned in an embarrassing failure.  What other signs do we need to tell us that there indeed, is an end in sight for a regime that demonstrated such a debilitating failure instinct?.

Hussaini Monguno

University of Maiduguri

Borno State.
Tel Text only: 0705 767 9999

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