February 7, 2009
Our attention in the Sokoto State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has been drawn to an advertorial signed by the erstwhile Governor of the State, Alhaji Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa titled : OPEN LETTER TO ALIYU MAGATAKARDA WAMAKKO, GOVERNOR SOKOTO STATE. Our initial position was to ignore him. Firstly, out of pity for someone in a pathetic condition and secondly, because, for those of us who know him, Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa is someone with a pathological disability for truth and sincerity.
However, on a second thought we decided to respond to the latest bout of tissues of lies and self delusion to set the records straight and guard unsuspecting members of the public against falsehood. Of course, we are not unaware of the fact that before his latest letter, Attahiru Bafarawa had written series of so called open letters using his proxies some of which had attacked highly placed personalities such as the President, traditional rulers and the Governor of Sokoto state in particular. To us, it is whimsical that somebody who loathed education with unusual disdain now finds some pastime in writing petitions as a way of experimenting with his newly acquired ‘knowledge’.
We also know the game plan of Attahiru Bafarawa with regards to the Governor and government of Sokoto state. Writing in the newspapers, instigating felons to cause disaffection and possibly, anarchy in the Sokoto polity are some of the machinations this disgraced and unrepentant failed politician has lined up against the government and people of Sokoto state. Our decision to join issues with him on this occasion was borne more out of the need to call him to order than the effects of his cantankerous vituperations. We can never be rattled by the ranting of an ant or, by the whimpering of a dying rat.
It appears that Bafarawa has gone berserk in press advertorials to rescue his dwindling political fortunes that have continued to nose-dive with the imminent total disintegration of what is now left of the rump of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP). Is it not very laughable that, a “professor of politics” has failed to sustain a political party he founded and which, even at the best of times, could not even boast of a councilor any where in the entire country? A day dreamer would have been Bafarawa’s appropriate order name.
In your “open letter”, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, you said you invited Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko as Governor-elect for discussion on issues of state but was turned down. That is being economical with the truth. Knowing you as an arrogant and callous being that cannot be trusted, Governor Wamakko could not have honoured that invitation in the face of your insistence that, the then governor-elect should come to the meeting alone unaccompanied in the dead of the night. Thus, the apprehension that, you had dubious ulterior motives. Again, it is note worthy that, while you were extending the so-called invitation, you were at the same time, busy preparing your series of court cases against Governor Wamakko which to date, you are still pursuing at various courts.
You also should remember that your honesty in that invitation was questionable given your earlier responses to efforts to ensure smooth transition between your government and the incoming one. Severally, the Transition Committee headed by Ambassador Ladan Shuni sought audience with you but you refused to see them. It also became clear that you had instructed your officials not to cooperate with members of the committee on critical issues. That invitation was never in good faith!
The impression you have been stubbornly, but, falsely giving to the public is that you left N13billion in the State treasury. But, you know it Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa that, by the time Governor Wamakko assumed office only N843 million was in the State treasury and we wish to let it be known that the money has remained untouched ever since. You told a bare-faced lie when you claimed that Governor Wamakko has “since acknowledged that the N13billion naira actually existed”. When and on what occasion /date Wamakko make this acknowledgment? Perhaps, in your dream? Or, has our man Bafarawa, been also afflicted with the problem of hallucination?
The fact of the financial position of Sokoto State as at the point of transition on 29 May 2007, is that the treasury was virtually empty. At the UBA Sokoto, the State account as signed by the Bafarawa’s Commissioner of Finance, Hajia Aisha Mohammed Binji as at April 30, 2007, was down by over N1.9 billion Naira. The second account of the State with the Unity Bank, Sokoto, had a debit of about N444 million Naira. However, on the 30th of May 2007, a day after the hand- over, the account was criminally signed by the same Aisha Binji to read a balance of N834 million Naira at UBA, while that of the Unity Bank remained the same. That was confirming what the Transition Committee found out as statements of account of the state in the Banks at the point of your ignominious exit from office in May 2007.
It is therefore incumbent on you, Bafarawa and your cohorts to tell the world how you came about the N13billion Naira bequeathed to Governor Wamakko. You would do yourselves and the good people of Sokoto State a world of good if you give the account numbers, the banks and other details regarding the invincible N13billion Naira. Thank God that you are aware that the matter is still before the ICPC and EFCC.
It is very surprising that you are now speaking of a ‘Bafarawa/Wamakko administration’ while in the true sense of the situation you ran the government as a one-man-show and also as a personal estate. You were in the habit, in contravention of the constitution, of assigning the Secretary to the State Government to act as Governor whenever you were away on your frequent overseas trips. Why has it now dawned on you to remember that you were elected on the same ticket with Governor Wamakko? The hens seem to be coming home to roost. It is day light, time when the truth stands out clear. But Bafarawa, one will have expected you to be yourself, your old proud self, by accepting that the bucks stop at your table. In other words you should be bold and courageous enough to take responsibility for your actions and inactions while you held sway in Sokoto.
It is indeed gratifying that you, Alhaji Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa has not denied being on the boards of P.W. Nig. Ltd and News Engineering Nig. Ltd. It is ridiculous to think that a seasoned bureaucrat like Governor Wamakko would revoke the contractual agreements you had entered thereby, leading to the loss of millions of naira of State funds. Perhaps, Bafarawa does not know that government is a continuous process that inherits obligations or, liabilities. Is it wiser to do away with the companies and make the good people of Sokoto State loose substantially or, allow the companies to complete the various projects they had commenced?
If anything, common sense demands that Bafarawa, you should be thankful to Governor Wamakko, for not revoking contracts worth over N10 billion Naira hurriedly awarded after April 14th 2007 elections, and in respect of which you had made over 70% down payment obviously to your cronies and fronts; just as you are also very much aware that most of these contracts have since been abandoned, almost, as soon as they were awarded and it had become certain that your cronies were not taking over the reigns of power from you.
As far as we can recollect, Governor Wamakko’s administration has never embarked on any unnecessary attacks and or baseless allegations. The Government has the more important and urgent business of providing good governance to the people rather than making a Bafarawa an issue. Nobody is telling you to fold your arms, but, the world ought to know what transpired in the State while you held forte. The Commission of Inquiry that you and your associates are morbidly afraid of, is not an illegal body; but a legitimately constituted machinery aimed at unraveling the truth. Only the guilty are afraid. Wamakko is not the type, like you, who would give a dog a bad name in order to hang it.
The press statement from the Attorney-General which was signed by the Solicitor General was clear and not “emotional” as you chose to brand it. Haba! Malam. In your open letter you displayed some sense of history but, it is curious that you seem to have forgotten so soon your marriage with Beedash Company? In which case you should be reminded that the N4 billion you are being asked to refund is simply a tip of the Iceberg. So many, so many unanswered questions but, we cross the bridge when we get to it.
In line with your well known trade mark of name dropping, you mentioned some respected gentlemen as members of your Project Monitoring and Implementation Committee in a veiled but, futile effort to launder your name. Indeed, these are truly men of integrity. The question is, however, what sort of contracts did you authorize them to “monitor” and “implement”? The fact of the matter is that, most of the contracts or projects through which billions of naira of the people of Sokoto state are yet to be accounted for, were done underground to the exclusion of these honourable gentlemen as well as, other upright officials around you then.
Alhaji Bafarawa, you were not telling the truth in your allegation that at one of his campaign rallies, specifically at Gwadabawa, Alhaji Magatakarda Wamakko “insulted” your father. Again, such an incident could only have occurred in your weird imagination because, that occasion was attended by a multitude of people from far and near the state including local and foreign Journalists. Nobody, including the Journalists has reported hearing the alleged insult. Perhaps, you are thinking that everybody is as uncouch, crude and vile as to descend to that level. You may please wish to recall the sort of language you and members of your party used at the flag off of the DPP campaign at Wamakko in 2007. But, you know it very well that, His Excellency, Alhaji (Dr.) Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko is too refined, civilized and cultured to go down to that level of debasement manifested by you and your political hirelings at wamakko.
Trying to whip up sentiments and curry sympathy, you characteristically stood the truth on its head when you claimed that contrary to the law of the State, Governor Wamakko has refused to pay you your monthly Salaries and other allowances as a former Governor. But Bafarawa tell the truth at least for once, by acknowledging the many attempts by the administration of Governor Wamakko to extend courtesies to you as a former Governor of the State. On the two occasions such courtesies were extended you turned them down. Similarly, your father , as a District Head, was on two occasions extended the gifts from the Government usually to all traditional rulers on the two important Islamic festivals. Your father, obviously on your prompting, rejected the gifts. Dan Issan Sokoto, Yariman Galadima and the late Iyan Sokoto were the emissaries on the two occasions.
Further, how would the Government be paying your salaries and allowances when you have kept a long and aggressive distance; when you have not demanded for it, and, your account numbers are not known. Why are you now making the payment of your salaries and allowance an issue when, as a governor you claimed not to be drawing your salaries and allowances? If for reasons best known to you, you now want to be getting your salaries and allowances as a former governor, you know how to go about it. Certainly, our magnanimous Magatakarga Wamakko will graciously grant your request. It is sad that, after Eight years as Governor, instead of being a gentleman and a statesman, Bafarawa appears to be behaving otherwise.
Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, you should be grateful that against the backdrop of your mistreatment, humiliation and persecution of Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko as a Deputy Governor, the gentleman has not in any way tried to pay you back in your own coins now that the table has turned. Should you not be praising Governor Wamakko’s magnanimity that your close relations are being given strategic positions in this administration while those of them in business are being patronized by the government?
We congratulate you on your readiness to appear before any investigative panel. That is, hoping that that statement is not a mere bravado. For now, it may interest you to know that you alter ego, Alhaji Umarun Kwabo has repeatedly failed to appear, allegedly on health ground, before the Commission of Inquiry into the activities of the State Pilgrims Welfare Agency.
ALHAJI AMINU BELLO ACY
SECRETARY
PDP , SOKOTO STATE
However, on a second thought we decided to respond to the latest bout of tissues of lies and self delusion to set the records straight and guard unsuspecting members of the public against falsehood. Of course, we are not unaware of the fact that before his latest letter, Attahiru Bafarawa had written series of so called open letters using his proxies some of which had attacked highly placed personalities such as the President, traditional rulers and the Governor of Sokoto state in particular. To us, it is whimsical that somebody who loathed education with unusual disdain now finds some pastime in writing petitions as a way of experimenting with his newly acquired ‘knowledge’.
We also know the game plan of Attahiru Bafarawa with regards to the Governor and government of Sokoto state. Writing in the newspapers, instigating felons to cause disaffection and possibly, anarchy in the Sokoto polity are some of the machinations this disgraced and unrepentant failed politician has lined up against the government and people of Sokoto state. Our decision to join issues with him on this occasion was borne more out of the need to call him to order than the effects of his cantankerous vituperations. We can never be rattled by the ranting of an ant or, by the whimpering of a dying rat.
It appears that Bafarawa has gone berserk in press advertorials to rescue his dwindling political fortunes that have continued to nose-dive with the imminent total disintegration of what is now left of the rump of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP). Is it not very laughable that, a “professor of politics” has failed to sustain a political party he founded and which, even at the best of times, could not even boast of a councilor any where in the entire country? A day dreamer would have been Bafarawa’s appropriate order name.
In your “open letter”, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, you said you invited Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko as Governor-elect for discussion on issues of state but was turned down. That is being economical with the truth. Knowing you as an arrogant and callous being that cannot be trusted, Governor Wamakko could not have honoured that invitation in the face of your insistence that, the then governor-elect should come to the meeting alone unaccompanied in the dead of the night. Thus, the apprehension that, you had dubious ulterior motives. Again, it is note worthy that, while you were extending the so-called invitation, you were at the same time, busy preparing your series of court cases against Governor Wamakko which to date, you are still pursuing at various courts.
You also should remember that your honesty in that invitation was questionable given your earlier responses to efforts to ensure smooth transition between your government and the incoming one. Severally, the Transition Committee headed by Ambassador Ladan Shuni sought audience with you but you refused to see them. It also became clear that you had instructed your officials not to cooperate with members of the committee on critical issues. That invitation was never in good faith!
The impression you have been stubbornly, but, falsely giving to the public is that you left N13billion in the State treasury. But, you know it Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa that, by the time Governor Wamakko assumed office only N843 million was in the State treasury and we wish to let it be known that the money has remained untouched ever since. You told a bare-faced lie when you claimed that Governor Wamakko has “since acknowledged that the N13billion naira actually existed”. When and on what occasion /date Wamakko make this acknowledgment? Perhaps, in your dream? Or, has our man Bafarawa, been also afflicted with the problem of hallucination?
The fact of the financial position of Sokoto State as at the point of transition on 29 May 2007, is that the treasury was virtually empty. At the UBA Sokoto, the State account as signed by the Bafarawa’s Commissioner of Finance, Hajia Aisha Mohammed Binji as at April 30, 2007, was down by over N1.9 billion Naira. The second account of the State with the Unity Bank, Sokoto, had a debit of about N444 million Naira. However, on the 30th of May 2007, a day after the hand- over, the account was criminally signed by the same Aisha Binji to read a balance of N834 million Naira at UBA, while that of the Unity Bank remained the same. That was confirming what the Transition Committee found out as statements of account of the state in the Banks at the point of your ignominious exit from office in May 2007.
It is therefore incumbent on you, Bafarawa and your cohorts to tell the world how you came about the N13billion Naira bequeathed to Governor Wamakko. You would do yourselves and the good people of Sokoto State a world of good if you give the account numbers, the banks and other details regarding the invincible N13billion Naira. Thank God that you are aware that the matter is still before the ICPC and EFCC.
It is very surprising that you are now speaking of a ‘Bafarawa/Wamakko administration’ while in the true sense of the situation you ran the government as a one-man-show and also as a personal estate. You were in the habit, in contravention of the constitution, of assigning the Secretary to the State Government to act as Governor whenever you were away on your frequent overseas trips. Why has it now dawned on you to remember that you were elected on the same ticket with Governor Wamakko? The hens seem to be coming home to roost. It is day light, time when the truth stands out clear. But Bafarawa, one will have expected you to be yourself, your old proud self, by accepting that the bucks stop at your table. In other words you should be bold and courageous enough to take responsibility for your actions and inactions while you held sway in Sokoto.
It is indeed gratifying that you, Alhaji Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa has not denied being on the boards of P.W. Nig. Ltd and News Engineering Nig. Ltd. It is ridiculous to think that a seasoned bureaucrat like Governor Wamakko would revoke the contractual agreements you had entered thereby, leading to the loss of millions of naira of State funds. Perhaps, Bafarawa does not know that government is a continuous process that inherits obligations or, liabilities. Is it wiser to do away with the companies and make the good people of Sokoto State loose substantially or, allow the companies to complete the various projects they had commenced?
If anything, common sense demands that Bafarawa, you should be thankful to Governor Wamakko, for not revoking contracts worth over N10 billion Naira hurriedly awarded after April 14th 2007 elections, and in respect of which you had made over 70% down payment obviously to your cronies and fronts; just as you are also very much aware that most of these contracts have since been abandoned, almost, as soon as they were awarded and it had become certain that your cronies were not taking over the reigns of power from you.
As far as we can recollect, Governor Wamakko’s administration has never embarked on any unnecessary attacks and or baseless allegations. The Government has the more important and urgent business of providing good governance to the people rather than making a Bafarawa an issue. Nobody is telling you to fold your arms, but, the world ought to know what transpired in the State while you held forte. The Commission of Inquiry that you and your associates are morbidly afraid of, is not an illegal body; but a legitimately constituted machinery aimed at unraveling the truth. Only the guilty are afraid. Wamakko is not the type, like you, who would give a dog a bad name in order to hang it.
The press statement from the Attorney-General which was signed by the Solicitor General was clear and not “emotional” as you chose to brand it. Haba! Malam. In your open letter you displayed some sense of history but, it is curious that you seem to have forgotten so soon your marriage with Beedash Company? In which case you should be reminded that the N4 billion you are being asked to refund is simply a tip of the Iceberg. So many, so many unanswered questions but, we cross the bridge when we get to it.
In line with your well known trade mark of name dropping, you mentioned some respected gentlemen as members of your Project Monitoring and Implementation Committee in a veiled but, futile effort to launder your name. Indeed, these are truly men of integrity. The question is, however, what sort of contracts did you authorize them to “monitor” and “implement”? The fact of the matter is that, most of the contracts or projects through which billions of naira of the people of Sokoto state are yet to be accounted for, were done underground to the exclusion of these honourable gentlemen as well as, other upright officials around you then.
Alhaji Bafarawa, you were not telling the truth in your allegation that at one of his campaign rallies, specifically at Gwadabawa, Alhaji Magatakarda Wamakko “insulted” your father. Again, such an incident could only have occurred in your weird imagination because, that occasion was attended by a multitude of people from far and near the state including local and foreign Journalists. Nobody, including the Journalists has reported hearing the alleged insult. Perhaps, you are thinking that everybody is as uncouch, crude and vile as to descend to that level. You may please wish to recall the sort of language you and members of your party used at the flag off of the DPP campaign at Wamakko in 2007. But, you know it very well that, His Excellency, Alhaji (Dr.) Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko is too refined, civilized and cultured to go down to that level of debasement manifested by you and your political hirelings at wamakko.
Trying to whip up sentiments and curry sympathy, you characteristically stood the truth on its head when you claimed that contrary to the law of the State, Governor Wamakko has refused to pay you your monthly Salaries and other allowances as a former Governor. But Bafarawa tell the truth at least for once, by acknowledging the many attempts by the administration of Governor Wamakko to extend courtesies to you as a former Governor of the State. On the two occasions such courtesies were extended you turned them down. Similarly, your father , as a District Head, was on two occasions extended the gifts from the Government usually to all traditional rulers on the two important Islamic festivals. Your father, obviously on your prompting, rejected the gifts. Dan Issan Sokoto, Yariman Galadima and the late Iyan Sokoto were the emissaries on the two occasions.
Further, how would the Government be paying your salaries and allowances when you have kept a long and aggressive distance; when you have not demanded for it, and, your account numbers are not known. Why are you now making the payment of your salaries and allowance an issue when, as a governor you claimed not to be drawing your salaries and allowances? If for reasons best known to you, you now want to be getting your salaries and allowances as a former governor, you know how to go about it. Certainly, our magnanimous Magatakarga Wamakko will graciously grant your request. It is sad that, after Eight years as Governor, instead of being a gentleman and a statesman, Bafarawa appears to be behaving otherwise.
Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, you should be grateful that against the backdrop of your mistreatment, humiliation and persecution of Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko as a Deputy Governor, the gentleman has not in any way tried to pay you back in your own coins now that the table has turned. Should you not be praising Governor Wamakko’s magnanimity that your close relations are being given strategic positions in this administration while those of them in business are being patronized by the government?
We congratulate you on your readiness to appear before any investigative panel. That is, hoping that that statement is not a mere bravado. For now, it may interest you to know that you alter ego, Alhaji Umarun Kwabo has repeatedly failed to appear, allegedly on health ground, before the Commission of Inquiry into the activities of the State Pilgrims Welfare Agency.
ALHAJI AMINU BELLO ACY
SECRETARY
PDP , SOKOTO STATE
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