Political treachery in Katsina State

By Mohammed Shehu <shehuks@yahoo.com> Nov 3, 2006

Various and several historians in the distant and recent past have made scholarly, indepth and astonishing attempts of documenting the physical and human history of Katsina from different perspectives.  These histories, as documented, whose basis were drawn from both oral, written traditions and accounts, dates back right from the formation of the town and its environs, through to those times when idols were the objects of worship predominant in the area, including its economic and other commercial activities, in addition to its commercial engagements.  Just like it covered vast area of its internal political make up especially the political intricacies inherent and situated within and among its traditional institutions.  The rivalry, jealousy, competition and influence associated with these traditional institutions were well documented.  Indeed, the respect, urge, crave, search and application of knowledge and quantum of hospitality and appetite for adventure by the people of Katsina cannot escape the attention of all those who are opportuned to come across, the works of those historians who wrote on various aspects of Katsina.  Historians such as : H.R. Palmer, P.G. Harrison, R.S. Soper, F. Willet, A. Smith, H.D. Gunn, P.A. Counah, R.C. Abrahams, P.E. Clover, M.J. Mortimore, M.G. Smith, F. de F. Daniel, Al-Hassan B. Muhammad, Dr. Bala Usman, etc.

These historical documentations, by reputable scholars of high eminence, all put together to make possible many verifiable assumptions, inferences and valid conclusions about the people of Katsina town, now known as Katsina State.  That the people of Katsina State are religiously inclined, which suggests knowing, understanding and ever willing to defend Allah’s set boundary and limits at any point, whenever or indeed as they are transgressed upon under any guise.  That they are hard working and ready to toil in search of legitimate means of livelihood and can go extra speed, length and mile to fight anybody who is deliberately obstructing their path to prosperity, self-determination and self-actualization.  That they are willing and ever ready to subject themselves to legitimate authority insofar as the said power being exercised under the said authority is not detrimental to their well being.  That Katsina people are patient to a point of fault, but can indeed revolt against any clear dictatorship.  That they are willing partners in peace building and community development as long as their civic and voluntary investment into peace initiatives is not being taken for granted.

Such has been the mindset of Katsina people, their background, operational structures, their understanding and concept of community cohesion and indeed the working of their inner and outer minds.  So much so, that to think and behave otherwise is an exception to their rules.  Which explains why the town and state, Katsina, continue to feature prominently and importantly in the historical references of Northern Nigeria and indeed the whole of Nigeria, nay the whole of West Africa, particularly in respect to its contributions to the institution of Islamic knowledge, commerce, trade, institutional management, inter-personal and inter-community relations, peace, security and political developments.  In spite of changing times, infiltration of foreign and alien values, these characteristics remain with slight variations, until very recently. 

Because with the passage of time and as daylight chases away darkness, particularly from May 1999 to date, most of the well known and well documented features of Katsina people have given way to strange attitudes and postures which are not only unexpected but represent the saddest and most pathetic upto date history of Katsina State.  A people known for their outstanding courage, unison voice, resilience, assertiveness, alert and daring, have within a short span of time (1999 to date) been reduced to the status of slaves in their land, with declining economic fortunes, unable to assert their rights, traumatized to a point that a visitor to Katsina State now, particularly who has been away for say three to five years will conclude that both men and women in the State are emerging from a war situation, because most of the people of Katsina State are looking haggard, malnourished, emaciating and very gradually reduced to working skeletons.

Prior to the NRC/SDP days, and indeed the 1998 politicking, the current Governor of Katsina State was a nonentity or at best an unsure spectator in the political equation of the state.  This is clearer, going by the fact that even in the NRC/SDP days, when his late brother, General Yar’adua was the political “in-thing” in Nigeria’s political landscape, the people of Katsina State, then rejected Umaru as a Governor and in spite of the enormous resources deployed, they voted their choice thereby exercising their right to choose which was consistent with their history.

Even during the 1998/1999 democratic processes, Umaru Yar’adua emerged as a candidate because other better candidates, more down to earth, more respected, more trusted and highly experienced were begged, persuaded, cajoled and perhaps to add to it, deceived, as it all turned out to be.  In spite of all that, they all agreed to concede to Umaru Yar’adua not out of cowardice, greed or fear, but because they were borne decently, brought up honourably enough to the point that they refused, as a matter of choice and self discipline, to consign leadership aspiration to a matter of life and death, for they knew, as a matter of scholarship, that life itself, the whole of it, is transient in nature, just like power is.  Even after that commendable father Christmas concession, the much touted PDP 1999 Gubernatorial victory in Katsina State was inconsistent and doubtful as the one of 2003.

Cross matching the population figures of Katsina as obtained from the National Population Commission, with the number of registered voters in Katsina State both in 1998 and 2003 which are again obtained from INEC, against the votes that were said to have been casted for both ANPP, PDP and other parties, during all the elections, particularly the gubernatorial election, it was clear that there existed an ocean of lacuna, pyramid of electoral fraud and clear cut conspiracy to short change the people of Katsina State, using the police, other security agencies, election tribunals, and unfortunately even the appeal court.  All these collective frauds made it possible for a government not by the people, nor of the people nor for the people to emerge but rather a government representing the very few while the majority remain bewildered till today.

It was not enough that the current Katsina state government, particularly, the Executive, are not representing the true electoral expression of the people of Katsina but they have gone extra mile to reduce the Katsina people to a pathetic condition, perhaps having discovered that silence is golden, to the majority of unschooled electorate, even in the face of stupidity.

By now and since 1999, the actions, inactions, reactions, and indeed going by both body and other sign languages, it is clear that, the people of Katsina state, their wishes and aspirations have been thwarted, particularly with their declining economic status, the social confusion they are facing and the political subjugation they are being subjected to.  Indeed, they seem not to matter as they graduate into higher grade of penury while they watch very few people in affluence and abandon.  It is a fair description and assessment to opine that as of today and from 1999, the PDP-led government in Katsina State is literally on a mission of social rampage, economic dislocation and both political imposition and distortion of political equilibrium.

From 1999 to date, politically, nobody matters in the state, even those who helped Yar’adua to “victory” have been reduced to distant onlookers.  Everything starts and ends with the Governor.  The whole entire government machinery is centralized and made to be at the mercy and convenience of the governor.  Those who openly complain are considered as ungrateful, misguided and antagonistic citizens who do not understand what governance is all about.

Take for example, the way and manner the current government in Katsina state executive operates and enjoys operating, particularly in respect of civil servants and it will dawn on you that only those civil servants who are willing to sing the praises of the State are “safe”.  Those with opposing or dissenting views, including those who opt to remain neutral are “doomed”.  Routine postings to “juicy” offices are made subjectivity as those offices are reserved for the anointed and loyal civil servants.  In-service training and even occasional workshops are available only to the sycophants and those with close proximity to power.  Promotions in the civil service are no more a matter of right but extended only to those selected by a kitchen cabinet.  Indeed, employment by government is based on who you know and how much influence he can exert.  The truth is that civil service has been reduced to a personal property, resultant from which more than 80% of the civil servants have no schedule of duty which makes their going to office not so important, that is for those at the headquarters.  As for those outside the HQ, they report to work as they wish and in most cases only on pay days.

Not only in the civil service, but even in the political arena the story is the same.  The governor has hijacked the party machinery and in the process, using same to intimidate those who do not share his style of governance, in addition to imposing and inciting people of the same party against one another and others.  Like he is currently all out to impose an unpopular candidate against all rules of decency and common sense.  Indeed, the current move to impose a single gubernatorial candidate is similar to insisting on that theory that insist that water is solid.  It is a confirmation that rather than rules of democracy, it is “Hunters Syndrome” at play, a syndrome predicated on setting a trap, left, right and centre, so as to catch a prey, human prey for that matter; because it is a season for another brand of 21st century slavery, taking the style of economic dispossession in the midst of plenty, primitive accumulation at the expense of the majority, social neglect based on family interest and self first before others and political maneuvering so as to sidetrack all and eliminate all promising gubernatorial hopefuls even if it amounts to outright betrayal, distorting family ties and creating empires and pyramids of enemies even among blood relations for now and for ever.

Those who are benefiting from the economic style of the Yar’adua government in Katsina State will continue calling him all sycophantic names because he has made it possible for them to continue getting undeserving government patronage at the expense of others.  They are the same people who continue to mention one project or the other executed by the governor even though they are quick to take offence when the cost of the said project is called into question and when they are asked to mention the beneficiary contractor.  They have elected to forget that democracy is not about projects, inflated ones for that matter; it is about the freedom of people to speak out their minds, their right to chose who governs them, and also their right to be consulted properly before their resources are either deposited in a family bank or spent on projects that have no bearing on their economic well-being or physical development.  Any way, they should all remember the age-long and popular saying that “many days are for the thief but one day for the owner”.  They should factor in that day of reckoning on earth before the one in the next world, where in neither psychiatric pretences, political tricks, treachery and betrayals, nor Naira, American dollar, British sterling, Euro, Dinar and Dirham will be of any help but good works as Allah warned severally in the Holy Quran.

It is instructive and an urgent matter of must, that Katsina people who are the primary stakeholders in Katsina state must stand up firmly against the shameless intended candidate imposition by the governor and manipulation of the political process.  They must ensure that next time around, and it is just at the corner, specifically 2007, in particular that of the office of the governor, they do their home work very well, by subjecting all doubtful candidates to psychiatric evaluation and emotional assessment and examine and internalize properly the consequences of trusting power to an emigrant, made out of mistake governor, with increasing greed and secretive tendencies whose views on anything are hardly known. Katsina people must choose among the league of credible candidates, and many of them abound, such as Aminu Masari, Ambassador Magaji Mohammed, Murtala Safana, Tukur Jikamshi, Abu Ibrahim, etc. whose concept of leadership transcends beyond their personal or family interest but based on collectivism and all-inclusiveness.

It is no more a matter of convenience, “kunya” or “kawaici”, but an issue bordering on urgent necessity for the people of Katsina state, both the young and the old, the haves and the have-nots, etc. to wake up from their slumber, change their ways, mend their approaches, assert themselves, indeed rediscover themselves before they are reduced to pitiable combustible materials, for that is the implication of allowing an Yar’adua nominee to take over from Umaru because it will be a continuation of the past and deploying of the past into the present with an extension into the future.  :For Katsina people to get out of their present predicament, avoidable penury and confusion, they must go out of their way to cast their votes, at all levels to sane people, God-fearing candidates, compassionate contestants and people with abundant acumen, willpower and track record of handling urgent rescue approach to distress situations and calls.

When the history of Katsina State is to be rewritten, particularly after 2007, a whole chapter, lengthy one for that matter, must be dedicated to the institutionalization of greed, sycophancy, insensitivity to the plight of the people, exclusiveness in the management of people and their resources in addition to the introduction of Hunters syndrome in democracy and public service as it became glaringly clear from 1999 to date.