Nigerians, particularly indigenes of Kano and Jigawa states must have by now fully understood the kind of indecent, out dated, parochial and mischief politics Sule Lamido, governor of Jigawa state courtesy of the Obasanjo led PDP government allocation of office has been playing over the years of his political career in the country. Only recently Lamido was quoted as saying that in future non indigenes of the state whether resident or not will be denied Hajj slots allocated to the state. This is to mean that any non indigene of the state cannot pay for a Hajj seat allocated to the state. This is regardless of whether or not that person is living in the state. He said this while receiving this year’s Hajj report from the state Amirul Hajj, who incidentally is the Speaker of the State House of Assembly.
There is no doubting the fact that Lamido’s venomous arrows were particularly directed at Kano indigenes who sometimes after exhausting their slots move on to Jigawa to pay for slots that are hardly paid for by the indigenes. For the avoidance of doubt, Jigawa was created out of the old Kano state in 1991 by the IBB administration. And since then the states and their indigenes have lived and coexisted as almost one entity, one family.
As at today, one can hardly draw a line separating indigenes of the two states. Having lived all their lives in Kano since Kano came into being and this relationship was further enhanced through marriages, same cultural, tribal and religious beliefs. Presently, almost 80%, 60% and 40% of Jigawa civil servants, retired civil servants and elites respectively are resident in Kano metropolis. This in a nutshell means that all of these groups of Jigawa indigenes share in the services of amenities and facilities funded and provided for Kano indigenes by the state government.
That largely and unambiguously means that these large concentrations of Jigawa indigene living in Kano metropolis are just a big drain on the lean resources of the state because they have contributed largely to the overstretching of basic amenities provided by the state. Almost all of Jigawa indigenes living in Kano and its environs are in patronizing Kano state schools, colleges and higher institutions, hospitals, utility services among others. The Kano state government ably led by Ibrahim Shekarau, and even his predecessors in office, was never unmindful of this fact but it never drew a line of demarcation between its indigenes and others. Utility, medical and school fees charged in its organs are the same for indigenes and non indigenes alike. It never cared to draw a line of distinction.
The common belief is that all its residents are treated equally. That is a modest example of a government run free of sentiments and emotions. Should the government of Ibrahim Shekarau decide to return fire for fire, who will be the loser? Kano or Jigawa people residents in Kano? Should the Kano government decide to commercialize its services for all non indigenes or even deny them access to its services in hospitals and schools who stand to suffer from it more? Should the Kano state government decide to pay back the provocation of Sule Lamido and look in the direction of imposing special levies on all business interests and ground rents owned by Jigawa people resident in its territory, quite a significant number of the m will surely suffer for this high handedness of their Governor. He too will not be left out because of his moribound store at Beirut Road that he converted to an office for decades and his palace located at NNDC Quarters at Sharada area of the city constructed as a kick back when he was a minister of State by the company that is constructing the Foreign Affairs ministry Headquarters in Abuja.
The problem of Jigawa state is not in other states’ indigenes buying off Jigawa’s Hajj seats but in the inability of the indigenes themselves to pay for all the more than 3, 000 seats allocated to them by the national Hajj Commission, but in the poverty level of its citizens that is today being compounded by Lamido’s selfish and myopic leadership. That is the bare truth. Those who have the guts in the state must summon the courage to tell Lamido this so that he can change things for the better instead of embarking on a divisive game plan aimed at denting spoiling the harmonious relationship existing between the states and their peoples over the years. This will not take him anywhere.
The indigenes of Jigawa state must rise up and demand good governance from Lamido because of the increasing level of poverty, disease, poor health care and illiteracy among its populace. This unfortunate situation was worsened by Lamido’s style of leadership of cornering the state resources to his personal and cronies use. Take the recent case of one illiterate, uncivilized and uncultured politician from the Jigawa East Senatorial zone of the state that was at this year’s Hajj on Lamido’s errand. He was there with hundreds of thousands of Saudi Riyals in cash to buy two GMC Jeeps for Lamido, apparently for his personal use.. News has gone round the state that Lamido’s son, who incidentally is the District Head of Bamaina Village, recently walked into an Automobile company in Abuja and bought a Car with state of the facilities worth N13m in cash.
It is public knowledge that Lamido’s son is today the sole major contractor of all Jigawa state government contracts- construction or supplies. Lamido had himself justified his son’s involvement in contracts in the state saying that as an indigene he is entitled to apply for contracts. Any job being undertaken by another company is either sub contracted by him or that his account was credited with the 10% consultancy fee of the total sum of that contract. That is the bitter truth. And that is precisely why the EFCC operatives are now busy looking into the over inflated costs of various contracts in various sectors of the state. I have no doubt in my mind that unless the EFCC team is compromised, they will certainly expose the Lamido’s racket and deals in ripping the state of billions of Naira since he came on board as Governor of the state on May 29, 2007. His hypocrisy will be exposed by the EFCC report.
Sule Lamido must be told that his proclamation on Jigawa’s Hajj seats is an abomination, myopic, uncivilized and inconsiderate. Kano state government and its people have over the years been very tolerant of Jigawa and its people living in the state without fear or molestation. Lamido must desist from provoking the people and their government into taking actions that will ultimately be inimical to the existing cordiality among them. I appeal to the government and people of Kano state not to join issues with Lamido in the interest of the people of the two states.
Dr Muhammad Ado Kazaure
Institute of Education
A. B. U.-Zaria
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