Re: Bafarawa and Sokoto Funds
By Oludare Ogunlana
On March 4, 2009, the Daily Leadership newspaper published an article written by one Mallam Aminu Ginga with the above caption. I commend the efforts of the Leadership editorial team for making the online edition of the said article available for me to read on the Internet in faraway Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where I was participating in a conference on Sustainable Development. The author, in his usual manner of election rigger and usurper, used his article as a platform to spread lies, distort information, manipulate obvious facts, and cast aspersions on my own person and His Excellency Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa. The article is nothing but pure fallacy; a clear case of character assassination orchestrated by the present Sokoto State Government.
I have a number of issues with this article. To begin with, an article purportedly written by a lecturer with the Uthman Dan Fodio University shows such poor mastery of basic English grammar as to render the author’s argument - and by extension the entire piece - incoherent. It falls far short of the quality of writing that one would expect from an undergraduate student of any university, let alone a lecturer. Ginga is a clear casualty of the calamity that has befallen higher education in Nigeria, and a testament to the collapse in our educational sector which should immediately be declared to be in a state of emergency as recently recommended by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Secondly, in view of background as member of Wammako’s gang of looters and election riggers, Ginga Aminu, lacks the required rectitude and integrity to counsel a man of Bafarawa’s repute on corruption.
On the whole, the issues raised in the article are not amenable to rigorous intellectual review. However, permit me briefly to make the following clarifications to Aminu’s mischievous write up in order to correct any errors of fact and conception.
Ginga Aminu appears to have forgotten that Alhaji Bafarawa wrote to the EFCC and ICPC to investigate him (Bafarawa) and his administration just some few months before he left office. This is common knowledge and can be easily ascertained from the EFCC. In recent years, the EFCC and ICPC, supposedly impartial anti-corruption organs set up by the PDP government, have prosecuted several prominent personalities on varied charges of corruption. If indeed Bafarawa is guilty of corruption, why has he not been arrested and prosecuted like some of his other colleagues?
It is an open secret that the “kangaroo” investigation panel set up by Wamakko and led by Aminu Ahmed was another failed attempt to victimise, witch-hunt and ridicule Bafarawa and his supporters. Did Wamakko mean to imply that the EFCC and ICPC set up by the same PDP government are no longer competent to do their jobs? While I may agree that the state Government has the power to set up investigative panels, the Wamakko-led government clearly lacks the moral authority to set up a panel of enquiry on this issue because of his direct involvement as former Deputy Governor who has vested interests in pulling down his former boss. It is obvious even to the blind that the bitter rivalry between Wamakko and Bafarawa will inevitably reflect in the outcome of the investigation panel which has made a mockery of the whole time wasting exercise.
Ginga, as a purported member of the academic community you must be familiar with the fundamental principle of natural justice that everybody must be given a fair hearing in his/her own case. You and your cohorts knew that Bafarawa was never invited to the panel let alone given the chance to tell his side of the story. The panel simply invented allegations against Bafarawa and proceeded to find him guilty. Haba! That is not acceptable anywhere in the world. Once again, I repeat, it is an attempt to rubbish Alhaji Bafarawa and a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Let it be known to you that Alhaji Wamakko, the Governor that you are so zealously defending, is a highly regarded member of the Nigeria Looting Squad and we are ready to establish corruption cases against him through the EFCC, ICPC and get him convicted in the court of law after his tenure. This is a man who, as deputy governor under Governor Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State, cultivated an insatiable appetite for stolen state funds in flagrant violation of his oath of office. Charges of corruption were leveled against Wamakko by the Sokoto State House of Assembly in the impeachment notice served on him before he narrowly escaped due to pressure from elders. You should be bold enough to ask him why the Wammako Bridge in his village has not been commissioned till date.
Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko is no stranger to the politics of deceit, fraud and -violence in Nigeria. Since he gate crashed into the Sokoto State Government House as the self-acclaimed governor on May 29, 2007 having been forcefully enthroned by INEC and his retinue of political bandits, Sokoto State, hitherto the most peaceful state in Nigeria, has lost its innocence with unlimited pains and agonies unleashed on all its populace without exception.
Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko’s two-year holocaust in Sokoto State wreaked so much havoc that the tale will undoubtedly be told for generations to come that an unrepentant vagabond once captured the state and unleashed the most devastating attack on all facets of life; that he conspired with his squad of political vampires in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to ravish the state dry economically, morally, culturally and politically.
You denounce as ‘comedy’ an open letter personally written by Alhaji Bafarawa to Alhaji Wammako. Has your boss ever openly denied any of the allegations raised in the letter?
I am not prepared to join issues with you on the question you raised about Bafarawa’s invitation to the United Nations during his time as the sitting governor of the State. The discerning reader knows that it is completely irrelevant to the subject of this discourse. You only raised the petty issue in an attempt to blackmail me and divert the attention of the readers from your intellectual shallowness. I may, however, want to challenge you to produce evidence of the millions of Naira I supposedly collected from the Sokoto State government during Bafarawa’s tenure as governor. I never met Alhaji Bafarawa in person until he attended a General Assembly session at the UN headquarters in New York. I visited Sokoto twice throughout his regime and on both occasions I rode in my personal car to Sokoto from Abuja. So, all these allegations of Bafarawa assigning cars to drive me around are mere inventions of your corrupt mind.
I am indifferent to your baseless assertions that I live in the Diaspora and am syndicated to web portals and newspapers sponsored by Bafarawa; they are immaterial to me. I would much rather talk about the significant issues of election rigging, corruption allegation, and sheer arrogance being exhibited by your godfather ‘Saint’ Wammako of Sokoto State.
The issue of Arewa is another digression to confuse the public about your obnoxious write up. You are not a spokesperson for Arewa. The people that constitute the Arewa movement are intellectuals of sound mind, well able to discern good from evil. They are able to read the politics in your mischievous clamor for Bafarawa to apologize to Arewa for an undetermined offence committed against this respected group of patriotic Nigerians of northern descent. You may not know that is one of the reasons why no one has ever joined you in your campaign of calumny. Has any reputable Arewa member asked Bafarawa to apologize?
In conclusion, let me inform you authoritatively that Alhaji Attahiru Dahalatu Bafarawa is a man of impeccable character. He is willing and ready to make himself available to answer all questions concerning his tenure as governor of Sokoto State, whether by a duly constituted and unbiased panel or either of the known anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria. As clearly stated in his letter to the EFCC and ICPC toward the expiration of his tenure as governor, he is ready to shed more light on the Sokoto State fund.
Oludare Ogunlana writes from Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
