Zamfara State has always
been known for its peculiarity. When democracy was restored in Nigeria in
1999, it was Zamfara State that introduced Sharia law as a full-blown legal system in the State defying the secularity of the Nigerian constitution. This was when Alhaji Shetima Yerima was
the Governor. The legal system ‘died’ a
natural death as rightly predicted by the then President of Nigeria, Chief
Olushegun Matthew Aremu Obasanjo. The State has also been ruled most times by the
opposition parties of the ANPP and the APC, until the present Governor who came to
power of what could be seen as divine intervention. He is of the opposition Peoples
Democratic Party, the PDP.
In the run-up to the
gubernatorial elections in the State held on March 9, 2019, the then ruling party in the
State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) could not conduct acceptable
primaries that met the conditions and acceptability of the Electoral Umpire,
the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC). The candidates produced by the primaries were all rejected by Professor Mahmoud Yakubu-led INEC. Intrigues, court
judgments, and counter-judgments reeled out from Nigerian Courts just to ensure that the APC participated in the elections. The party actually participated in the elections
by virtue of the Appeal Court ruling. Unfortunately for them, at the end of the
exercise, the Supreme Court in its lead judgment by Justice Paul Adamu Galinji on the 24th May,
2019, held that all the votes cast for
the APC during the elections were ‘wasted votes”. He further declared that all the political
parties with the highest second votes in the elections and the required spread
are elected into the various elective positions. This was the circumstance that brought
the incumbent Governor Bello Matawalle into the exalted position as the
Governor of Zamfara State.
When the Governor assumed office, it appeared that the bandits too in Zamfara were all waiting to be equally sworn in to their own offices with him. Zamfara State in no time was besieged with bandits and kidnappers and it
appeared there was war in the entire State. The Governor in his dexterity thought
of what to do to curb this unacceptable and unprecedented tide of violence and
insecurity. In his wits, he proposed and declared amnesty for repentant
bandits. The decision was criticized by many. But as a man in the conviction of
his own vision, he remained undeterred by the criticisms. Like an esoteric magical
wand, no sooner than later after the declared amnesty, the spate of insecurity in the State subsided
drastically and dramatically, as bandits voluntarily surrendered and 'submitted' their weapons of destruction to
the Amnesty Committee. This was a feat on the side of this Governor.
Some days ago, the
immediate past Governor of the State Alhaji Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari wrote a letter to
the Governor that his monthly upkeep of N10 Million (Ten Million Naira) and his pensions have not
been paid for some time now. The former House of Assembly, when Abdulaziz was
the Governor of the State under the APC rule, had passed a bill signed into law that
all former Governors and their Deputies, the Speakers, and their Deputies were
entitled to some whooping monthly upkeep running into millions of Naira. This
was what the former Governor banked upon to write a reminder to the incumbent
Governor Matawalle. Yari complaining that since he has left office, he was only
paid his monthly N10Million, just twice, that was in the moths of June and July 2019.
In a deft move by the
action Governor, he coordinated an assault against this repressive
law passed by the previous government. Without any iota of conscience, how
could a past Governor be demanding the sum of N10 Million every month for his upkeep,
besides his monthly pensions? The present crop of divinely elected or appointed
leaders in Zamfara State has abolished this so-called law that was on the side of the legal rogues. This is the action of a man who
has a vision for the common man. The
demand of former Governor Yari is not only selfish and roguish but a dearth of
common sense of feeling for a feeble economy such as Zamfara's.
In the first instance,
how does Yari want Zamfara State to sustain the dolling out of such an amount
of money to someone who ought to be thinking of what further contributions he
could make to such a State? How can a State that is struggling to pay its pensioners and
workers their entitlements, be equally struggling to service roguish
entitlements of past leaders? There are civil servants that have served the government for the statutory thirty-five years whose cumulative pensions are not up to what Yari would earn in a month. If the former Governor is paid N10 Million every month, then in a
year he earns N120 Million for grossly doing nothing for the State apart from gallivanting everywhere
across the globe brandishing his former status as a former Governor of a poor State. We must
commend Governor Matawalle for stopping this metal thievery. What he did is beyond
the rudimental and sick politicking in Nigeria. Any right-thinking mind will
commend this action irrespective of party affiliation.
We urge other States
executing this inordinate illegality to emulate the decision of the incumbent
Governor of Zamfara State and stop this executive stealing. More so, the Governors Forum should use that platform to learn from one another. It is not formed to
take a common front on how to cheat the governed, for instance, arriving at a consensus on not paying the new
minimum wage to workers or their grand plan of becoming Senators after their
tenure is ended. Wise and sagacious Governors like Matawalle of Zamfara State and Seyi
Makinde of Oyo State are good points of reference for prompt emulation by other Governors. These
are men of great coordination and wisdom to rule. The Governors Forum should be a forum
to borrow and share sophisticated and helpful ideas for good governance.
Compliments to Governor
Matawalle and the current Zamfara State House of Assembly for expeditiously enacting a law
abolishing the deliberate waste of State resources. If APC had won Zamfara
State this time, such waste could not have been curtailed because of partisan party
affiliation and primordial solidarity. More so, the idol of godfatherism would have played a vital part, particularly if Yari was
instrumental to the emergence of his successor. The coming of Governor
Matawalle and his team was divine from all reckoning so far.
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