Governor Dakin Gari has N25bn reasons to be careful

The transformation of Alhaji Saidu Usman Na Samu (Dakin Gari) from an obscure former Nigeria Customs Officer to the Executive Governor of Kebbi State after the 14th April 2007 gubernatorial elections is by providence and not because of any previous antecedents. Without any prior records of political office or private achievements, Alhaji Dakin Gari was anointed by former Governor Adamu Aliero’s younger brother, Alhaji Abba Aliero as the successor to former Governor Adamu Aliero, now a Senator.

To cap it all, the two Aliero brothers quickly arranged for Alhaji Dakin Gari, then Kebbi State Governor-elect to marry (third wife) the daughter of the then President-elect Umaru Musa Yar Adua soon after the April 2007 general elections. These phenomenal events are all master-strokes that are linked to the Aliero brothers. However, the links between Adamu Aliero and Dakin Gari are: they both attended the same secondary school, served in the Nigeria Customs and Abba Aliero was their trusted Customs agent-cum-business surrogate.

Also, least we forget, the two brothers also masterminded the change-over of the Kebbi and Sokoto State branches of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) respectively, to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). This dramatic act was done largely in order to break the backbone of General Muhammadu Buhari’s political influence in those two States. These wonderful events are now part of former Governor Adamu Aliero’s legacy in the body politics of Kebbi State and northern Nigeria. The rest is now history.
 
The central issue of this write-up is the news report that Governor Dakin Gari has signed an N25bn contract for construction of an international market in Kebbi State to be located within close vicinity of Aliero town. At first I did not believe the story until I read it in This Day Newspaper August 18th 2007 online edition. My first reaction was that this is a typical case of our Governors have gone mad again! I then said the poor people of Kebbi State have been cursed once again.

Like the poor Jigawa State, Kebbi State is one of the States in Nigeria that is at the very bottom of the scale of modern development and one of the States on top of the scale of poverty, to say the least. For example, if you isolate modern bread baking and pure water packing, you cannot count any modern manufacturing industry in the whole of Kebbi State. None exits in the entire state! However, in the eight years of former Governor Adamu Aliero’s Governorship of the State, he undertook countless overseas trips in the name of bringing foreign investors and in the process squandered billions of naira all in the name of paying consultants to develop bankable portfolios of industrial projects. There was none up to the time he stepped aside temporarily from Government House Birnin Kebbi. He now back in control, but from the back door.

In the absence of any single modern manufacturing outfit, still the new Governor is going to squander staggering N25bn - Federation Account allocation money to build a market at the behest of his godfathers – the Aliero brothers who are still in charge at the Kebbi State Government House, Birnin Kebbi!!! My next reaction to this puzzling development was market to sell what? – That is the 25bn naira question!!! Those who are not familiar with the developmental indices of Kebbi State will not care about this monumental waste of good money for a very bad and ill-conceived project.

As stated above, developmentally, Kebbi State is a very economically underdeveloped State; typically rural, agricultural and fringe. Therefore, one wonders what type of commodities, products and services produced in the entire geographical region that would warrant the construction of an N25bn Mega Market in the State to service the needs of the producers and manufacturers of such goods, commodities and services. For example, the entire goods and commodities produced in the spatial economy of Kebbi State are not worth N25bn per annum. The spatial economy is based on subsistence rain-fed crop agriculture, pastoral and nomadic animal raising, fishing in seasonal inland small rivers, and petty trading of modern manufactured goods/products produced from other States and abroad.

In a nutshell, this nauseating project falls under Nuhu Ribadu’s nine “Hot Spots” of corruption and mismanagement of good public money under the guise of development programmes. It is no longer secret now in Kebbi State that the duo of former Governor Adamu Aliero and his brother Abba Aliero are the drivers of Kebbi State government policies and processes whereby they are permitted by their anointed surrogate Governor Dakin Gari, to control as much as possible the State machinery in order to maximize their personal profits. I therefore hasten to add that, Nuhu Ribadu should beam his search light on this highly questionable project and contract with a view to nipping it in the bud before it grows wings and flies out to foreign banks vaults.

I say Kebbi State is cursed once again because not long ago, the same weirdo Aliero brothers at the helms of affairs of the State from 1999 - 2007, squandered billions of naira – good money flowing easily from the Federation Account to construct an Airport to enable them fly in and out of their town and a State-owned University, all within the vicinity of their town.

The N25bn reasons why Governor Dakin Gari should tread softly and be extra-careful include the following:

Today, the situation is different from the period 1999-2007 when probably, with the exception of the then Governor Umaru Musa Yar Adua of Katsina State, almost all the State Governors thought that the public till is for them to do whatever they wanted. Many of them are now in trouble with the law, having no immunity; they are tasked to account for their sordid stewardships. This is a lesson for someone who is just new on the job and the political turf. If you allow your good name and previous clean record of service to be soiled by the greed of your godfathers, you are the one and only one, who will pay the ultimate price on the day of reckoning and judgement here and hereafter.

Your actions and or inactions in public service as Kebbi State Governor goes beyond the borders of Kebbi State as the world is now a small village, courtesy of the advances in information, communications technology (ICT) and the internet. Therefore, there are no hiding places for the bad guys any more. Even the Swiss are having a second thought in shielding looted funds, especially from poor developing countries.

Also, as the Son-in-law to the current President, Umaru Musa Yar Adua, all eyes and ears of the public in Kebbi State, nationwide and even internationally, are watching and listening to what you do for good or bad. If you do good things, you will receive accolades, but when you commit the slightest mistake, you will receive the heaviest criticism. When you are criticised for a wrong action or misdeed, it will also reflect on your father-in-law, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the largest democracy on the African continent and the entire black race. I very sure, without the fear of being contradicted, that even President Yar Adua, your father-in-law, will never endorse this extravagant market project you have embarked upon. Therefore, you should watch your actions and inactions and guard against being used by godfathers for selfish interests at the expense of the good people of Kebbi State, whose love, trust and confidence in you are unquestionable. Personally, you have more at stake to protect for posterity.

Yes, the aura of being the Executive Governor of Kebbi State and the Son-in-law of the President of Nigeria probably might have made you to abandon along the way, your real and true friends who are your true advisers and alienating yourself from them. Therefore, you are now overwhelmed with blind loyalty to your over-bearing godfathers, surrounded by sycophants and paying second fiddle to the electorates who voted you into office. N25bn can be judiciously spent in providing the best education, healthcare and clean water to the poor but good peoples of Kebbi State. I therefore call on President Yar Adua, the Kebbi State Executive Council, the Kebbi State House of Assembly, and Nuhu Ribadu of the EFCC and all the real and true friends of Governor Dakin Gari to join hands to ensure that this bad project does not go ahead and is discontinued with immediate effect.

On the whole, in reality, Dagin Gari is a likeable man, outwardly not a greedy person and always approachable. You must think carefully about what to do with public resources as there will be a day of judgement and reckoning here and hereafter. On that day, you are on your own. I pray that may Almighty Allah guide you on the right path at all times. I rest my case.


Dan Azumi Kofarmata:
- A real and true friend of the good people of Kebbi State, where I did my National Service years ago.
danazumikofarmata@yahoo.com
 
 

Robot  # 1 | 20.08.2007 15:23

On the whole, in reality, Dagin Gari is a likeable man, outwardly not a greedy person and always ...Read the full article.