In an exclusive interview, Squadron Aminu Bala Sokoto (retd.) auditor of the Sokoto State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), speaks on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led administration in the state, among other issues.
Most governors across the country recently marked their 100 days in office, with fanfare. But here in Sokoto, there was no celebration. What do you think could have been responsible for the lull?
What do you expect when the government didn’t have anything to celebrate? Governor Aminu Tambuwal has nothing to offer or to tell the people of the state because he has been there for over four years now and he has not done anything tangible to call for celebrations. For me and majority of the people of Sokoto State, the governor has not done anything to warrant the people to come out and celebrate. Even members of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are grumbling. We are talking of 100 days for someone who has not done anything for the people except traveling around without even notifying his deputy. I don’t think he has done anything to warrant any ceremony.
How will you rate governance in the state since the coming into power of the incumbent governor?
Sincerely speaking, no human being is either 100 per cent good or bad. But if we are to judge Tambuwal’s performance from 2015 when he took over power from Senator Aliyu Wamakko, he has not done anything to improve the lives of people of the state.
If we are to rate him among the six civilian governors in the state from the late Shehu Kangiwa down to this administration, you will agree with me that he has done absolutely nothing to be recognised.
I can tell you that during the tenure of the late Shehu Kangiwa, Giginya, a five star hotel, was built in Sokoto and Shukura Hotels and another one in Gusau and Argungu as well as the Shehu Kangiwa Secretaria.
All these can be remembered as part of the achievements of the late former governor.
Even those that were not yet born then are today benefiting from those facilities. When Kangiwa died and the deputy took over from him, he also expanded the vision of education from just about 20 secondary schools. He established more primary and secondary schools and all these can be remembered when we talk of education in the state.
Kangiwa was followed by Alhaji Yahaya Abdulkarim who equally did well in terms of infrastructure, roads, water and many others. Also, during the time of Attahiru Bafarawa, he did very well, especially in the area of road construction to the extent that he was named Road Marshall.
He built many hospitals and water schemes in the local government areas.
The last civilian governor whom Tambuwal took over from is Senator Aliyu Wamakko, who we regard to as the father of modern Sokoto. This is because what Wamakko has done in Sokoto is unquantifiable; he touched almost everyone in the state and beyond. Because of his love for education, he abolished the then idea of indigene or non-indigene and made education affordable for all.
Wamakko also established tertiary institutions which included the Sokoto State University, College of Agriculture and the School of Legal Studies. He engaged in road construction and many structures in the local government areas. To tackle water problem in the state, he came up with the idea of digging boreholes.
He had a framework which we all thought that the Tambuwal administration would continue to implement. But we were all disappointed when he refused to follow the footsteps.
If you ask the governor or any of his supporters to tell you what has he done, compared to the last five governors before him, they cannot see anything to point at, apart from making himself unavailable in the office.
Even when he is around, he is inaccessible to anyone, including his commissioners.
Are you saying that the administration has not done any tangible project since its assumption of office in 2015?
I have not seen any. Successful implementation and completion of projects had been the bane of this administration since it came into office.
About three years ago, this administration came out with the idea of sending students to Ukraine, India and other countries to read Medicine. It was a good idea and we all supported it, but what happened?
In the last three years, the government cannot get visas for qualified students because they were duped by some people.
All the same, the government said it was sending these children to school but it cannot do that from 2017 till date.
We cannot pinpoint what exactly is the problem in Sokoto. Sanitation is a problem in the state, but if you invite the governor outside the state, he will easily go.
I remembered the last time when we have security situation in the state and about four people were killed, our governor was in Imo State, celebrating New Yam Festival.
I am not saying he has not done anything, but I can tell you that he has not done anything tangible that can be celebrated like other governors in some other states.
But the state government boasts of having checkmated the activities of area boys and that their era of terrorising the people is over in the state. Do you believe that?
I do not believe it. If indeed it has eradicated the activities of area boys, we are not supposed to witness what we saw during the last elections.
Or how come they made use of them then? Eradicating area boys is not even the problem.
If you eradicate them, what do you do for them? You have to get something for them to be doing: send those who are interested back to school; set them up in businesses in form of empowerment. It is after you have done these that you can talk of eradicating or checkmating their activities.
Everybody in the state saw how the area boys were used during the elections and the same government now claims to have eradicated them.
If you want to know when the governor is in town, go to the Government House, you will see area boys everywhere. They only talk about it just because they want you to hear it.
In fact, there were even a lot of complaints this year that many of the said area boys were sponsored by the government to Saudi Arabia for Hajj. One them, I learnt, was given about eight tickets.
Also, the housing estate in Kalambina that was distributed recently, most of the beneficiaries are area boys. So how can you claim to have eradicated them when you are actually encouraging them?
There is a way you can go about the eradication of area boys. It is not just by telling the media you have eradicated them when you have not provided any reasonable alternative for them to fall back on.
Talking about the Kalambina Housing Estate, it was said that the project which was inherited from the previous administration has not yet been completed and commissioned. What can you say to that?
Ideally for any responsible government, when you take over power, even if your predecessor was your worst enemy and you inherited projects that will benefits the people, you should forget about the problem between you and the person. You should think about the people you are serving.
In fact, there is no project which was initiated by the previous administration that this present government completed. Take the Kalambina housing project as example; they even released money for it.
There was another one at Gidan Ma’ada which was started during the Wamakko administration. But as I am talking to you now, it is yet to be completed. I even learnt they have distributed it to their political associates.
Also, in his first four years, he couldn’t finish the project at the Usman Faruk Secretariat which has been abandoned.
There are many other projects that were abandoned and there is no single project that has been completed by the present administration.
How will you rate the present administration in the state?
This government is a failure, as far as I am concerned. Governor Tambuwal is a failure to the people of the state. We were in the same political party and I personally I wrote so many things to help him but he would not reply, not to talk of calling to say thank you.
He only listens to those that will tell him what he wanted to hear. He cannot differentiate between party politics and government politics. I am not saying that he must listen to me. I once told an audience on one of the radio stations in the state that when he was in our party, he gave me one assignment and I was expected to submit the report in six months. But to my surprise, for over one year, no money was released from his office for the said assignment.
Anytime he was asked about the project, he would say he has appointed a committee headed by me. I have to resign to save my integrity.
During the period of fuel scarcity, I was in the task force committee in which it took him three solid months to release money for a one-month assignment.
He listens more to people outside the state than those within. That is why he hardly spends two days within the state without travelling. Look at all the roads in the town and see how dirty they are; heaps of debris everywhere. But simply because of the wedding ceremony of the daughter of the Sultan last time, they gave the Sokoto Township road a face-lift and started to renovate some roundabouts leading to the palace.
They made use of iron sheets to cover the debris along the road to the palace so that people will not see them. Water scarcity in the town has become something else. How can you rate someone who cannot listen to his people? How can you rate someone who does not have time for his people?