Lamido: Nemesis or vendetta?

When he was in power as the governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido could, in a sense, pass for the infamous Idi Amin of Uganda who once remarked that “There is freedom of speech but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech”. You may say this is an over-exaggerated simile; yes, you could be right, but truly speaking, exuberant youths (and youthful exuberance is said to be akin to madness!) who dared to strongly disagree politically or hot-headedly call the bluff of the former governor on social media or via his public mobile phone number were traced and bundled together with their male parents and brought to account before ‘His Imperial Majesty’! And the ‘Political General’ would usually vent his anger like the Shakespearian woman scorned, often asking offenders to say to their parents what they ‘disrespectfully’ said or wrote against His Excellency. Of course deterioration in manners or social etiquettes among the Facebook generation youngsters of today can make even the most meek and mild person choose not to spare the whip and spoil the child; but the problem with this excuse or ‘exhibit’ when tendered in defense of a Lamido is that it loses its moral validity or legal locus standi when one nostalgically casts his mind back at the youthful political life of then-young man Sule Lamido during the height of NEPU’s radicalism! Ask those who were eye or ear witnesses and savor the full details of the stories! Or, alternatively, read Mahmud Jega’s ‘The Colour is Faded’ (Daily Trust 11/04/2010) and ‘Why is this man bragging?’ (Daily Trust 24/01/2011).

It is true that as a governor of Jigawa State, Lamido transformed Jigawa especially its state capital, Dutse, from a rural area to a modern city. Within the span of eight (8) years, Lamido constructed a couple of housing estates, schools, roads, a specialist hospital, an airport and a state university. He also brought fresh life, focus and direction into the state civil service. There were however genuine complaints about uneven distribution of projects and opportunities across the five (5) emirates that make up the state. Also, there were questions on the economic importance/viability of the heavy capital intensive Dutse International Airport that is only useful in Hajj seasons. Allegations of corruptions were also leveled against the former governor for which he and his sons are currently standing trial. But Lamido has always maintained one thing; that is that as a former governor or a politician he is ‘not perfect’. What the interpretation of this highly loaded phrase is can perhaps only be given by political scientists or legal experts.

But something is comprehensible even to the lay people. That is, Lamido’s outspokenness, some will say proclivity for controversy incessantly earns and accrues to the ‘political General’ public odium and opprobrium. Though any reporter’s nightmare to interview, any interview Lamido grants is a must-read or must-listen-to: He is undeniably eloquent, witty and skilled in drawing parables. But beyond such literary gifts of the gab is the propensity of Lamido or, may be, his statements to trigger controversy. For instance in a recent BBC Hausa interview, Lamido made statements to the effect that even if a man is condemned to hellfire by God and brought out showing his willingness to work with him in fighting the APC and its government, he (Lamido) will work with him without any hesitation. Other statements attributed to Lamido that some ‘conservative’ hawks even find blasphemous also abound. But the man indifferently minds his political businessblasphemy or no blasphemy. In fact, he once countered that he is ‘a realist who sees and says it as it is’; who does not shy away from the truth.

As a realist, I honestly thought that Lamido would not materially and emotionally invest in the forthcoming Jigawa Sate local council elections as he did. That is because of the charade local governments’ elections in Nigeria have been turned to even under Lamido’s stewardship as a governor. In fact, in the last local government’s elections Lamido organized and superintended over, results from Hadejia and Mallam Madori local governments were withheld allegedly because those two local governments adopted the akasa-a-tsare principle of votes’ protection and the results clearly looked unfavorable to Lamido’s PDP. Thus, it was strongly alleged that, in order to avoid any violent backlash in the event of tinkering with the results of those two ‘rogue local governments’, caretakers were appointed in both Hadejia and Mallam Madori local governments. This is the extent to which Lamido the politician could go to put the opposition in their proper place when he held sway as a governor! But to be fair to him, this could possibly be a part of his benignly self-admitted imperfection?

Now fast-forward to 2017 when Lamido is the leader of the opposition in Jigawa and the current Governor Badaru Abubakar organized local government elections slated for June. Behold, Lamido the opposition leader is now expecting to get from the APC ruling party what he and his PDP could not give the opposition then when he was a governor: that is, free, fair and credible elections! Of course life shouldn’t be reduced to the mean-spirited cannon of do-me-I-do-you or tit-fortat, but it rightly riles many to come across chaps who give you ‘lemons’ but expect to get ‘cherries’ from you as quid pro quo? I think this is uncharitable, unconscionable and unconventional! But then, it is a truth that APC promised us change; a change from the old PDP status quo and modus operandi; thus it, at least, behooves Governor Badaru to see and seize the silver linen out of this ‘cloud’ or be the big brother or gentleman by practically proving to Lamido that change has indeed arrived Jigawa State by way of organizing truly free and fair elections where the two dominant parties (APC and PDP) will share the spoils of ‘the war’ in June; say at the end of it all APC wins 14 local governments and PDP 13! And after all was said and done, Gov. Badaru deservedly will claim such prizes as ‘the Most Democratic Governor in Nigeria’, ‘The Best Agent of Change’ etc. Good name, they say, is better than riches!

But looked from another angle, I think our ‘Political General’ would do himself and his platoon --or is it a battalion--of supporters a favor by looking inwards for the real cause of their present predicament. Who knows, it could be that the ‘chickens’ are finally coming back home to roost after wandering a bit farther afield! Moreover, a Holy book counsels us to turn the other cheek if slapped by a foe. Another gives us the option of either forgiving and forgetting about the slap (which is better) or slapping the enemy back in equal measure! So, clearly, even if, as a highly religious people, we choose to defer and resort to the Scriptures for direction on this conundrum reminiscent of the famous two free-women vs Solomon puzzle, Gov. Badaru Abubakar may not be in any moral straitjacket to give the opposition in Jigawa what they did not give others when the crown was on their head! So APC’s promise of change or not, the ball is entirely in Gov. Badaru’s court! What’s for all political players, spectators and commentators to do now is to watch and see how ‘the Messi of the moment’--Gov. Badaru--chooses to play his game: tiki-taka or not! Long live Jigawa, my beloved state!

Hamisu Hadejia wrote this piece from Federal University Lokoja, Kogi State.