“We want the government to change our representative before the (next) election. Since 1999 till this date, the SA has been in government and nothing has impacted the Arewa community. He was a former council member, twice a board member, and twice SA now, and his wife is also a board member,” Madaki Amin said.
Alhaji Auwalu Tukur has become a target of the Arewa community.
This targeting comes from a public perception of vast corruption he is alleged to be connected with. Their targeting comes from what some call his hijacking of political appointments for his wife. That hijacking, they say, benefits her relatives and his political cronies, while cornering state services that are legally due to them from the Delta state government.
It is an astonishing claim by some of the Arewa community leaders for an elected official many had come to trust.
Alhaji Auwalu Tukur sits in high standing within the Arewa community. He is their state representative, and also the Special Assistant to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan on non-indigenes issues. Yet, some in the community have called on Governor Uduaghan to sack Tukur, stressing that failure by the governor to do so means that they will have no option than to embark on a mass protest vote during the upcoming council and 2015 general elections.
Habib Mohammed Faruk, speaking for the Sariki of Arewa community in Delta State, detailed the community concerns and outlined their ordeal to journalists in Asaba.
Faruk is the chairman of the Northern Traditional Council of Delta State, and also the Vice Chairman of South-South, South-East Northern Traditional Council. His voice carries considerable political weight, and it adds credibility to community concerns over the direction and actions of their representative.
“Right now our people are feeling very restive and agitated because the man representing us in the Delta state government is not representing us at all. He only represents his family and political cronies,” said Faruk to a group of journalists in Asaba.
He did not stop there. Faruk was visibly angry as he was flanked by other leaders of the Arewa community who stood with him at the Sarika’s palace in cable in Asaba.
“There is no sign of a government presence in the Arewa community. (There is) no drainage system, no good roads, and all the promises, His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan made during his visits to our Sariki, none (of them) has been fulfilled (as of this) date,” Faruk said.
He spoke of official visits made to the community by government officials that bared little to no benefits.
“I will give you a few examples,” he said. With a pointed tone in his voice, he continued, “for instance this sallah that passed just a few days ago, we are aware that one the House of Representatives member, Hon. Ndidi Elumelu, (had) sent two cows to the Arewa community, the same Alhaji Auwalu Tukur diverted these two cows to his house, and gave to a few people (who) he wanted. The speaker sent about 15 bags of rice and other materials to the Arewa community,and instead of bringing it to the palace of the Saraki of the Arewa community; he diverted these things to his house.”
Faruk was not alone. Alhaji Madaki Amin, deputy to the Sariki of Arewa community, stated to reporters that “there are many things that may have been given to the Arewa community representativ, but we get nothing.”
But then there was a direct call to the governor to take action against a man Faruk, Madaki Amin, and other community members believe is only out for his own self-interest at the expense of the community.
“We want the government to change our representative before the (next) election. Since 1999 till this date, the SA has been in government and nothing has impacted the Arewa community. He was a former council member, twice a board member, and twice SA now, and his wife is also a board member,” Madaki Amin said.
While calling for the sacking of the SA, and the scrapping of the Muslim Pilgrim Welfare Board, the Sariki’s deputy stated that for the past several years now, none of the core Arewa community members had visited the holy ground of Saudi Arabia for prayers, which he said is the most important thing any Muslim needed in his life.
In a swift reaction to all the allegations Tukur later said that all the allegations were nothing but a pack of lies.
The SA, who owned up that his wife is actually a board member of the Muslim Pilgrim Welfare Board, noted that to reporters that when they were compiling names, she was the only eligible woman, and they put her there.
In his telling of the story Tukur said to reporters that “those people that came to you, most of them have benefited from the Delta State Micro Credit Scheme. The records are there, (and) I can get them for you.”