By Abdullahi Dahiru
I read the story people are sharing about something that happened between the then military governor of Northern region Hassan Katsina and General Manager of Kaduna Capital Territory, Abubakar Imam.
Northern regional government decided to allocate lands in the new GRA. Many people applied and the management of Kaduna Capital Territory did not consider the governor qualified for the land allocation and was not given.
NLC Asks Gov.Ganduje To Reimburse Workers, Threatens Industrial Unrest
The manager of the allocating authority went to the office of the governor to explain why the governor’s request was not honoured and even tore off the governor’s application in his presence.
Interesting story!
That era in Nigeria is gone and would never come back. We have seen how in this era public or civil servants that disagreed with policies or decisions of some governments to protect public interest were fired and some of us have supported or justify it.
First, the governors, president and similar executives today would have fired Mallam Abubakar Imam for ‘insubordination’ and may even order his arrest and detention.
Spurious allegations of corruption would be made against him and only God would save him. Remember that Hassan Katsina was a military governor. He didn’t fire the public official that tore his application for land in his presence nor detain him.
Many people sharing the story and hailing the conduct of Abubakar Imam would have blamed a similar official currently for ‘disrespecting’ a governor. They may say the man was not interested in the job.
If he was interested in the job he would have ‘respected’ his governor. If the official is sacked, they would have mock him and say ‘why was he challenging the authority of the governor or president?’ or even accuse him of biting the hand that was feeding him.
People would not consider that he was protecting public interest.
Second, if many of the people that hailed Abubakar Imam are in similar position today they would have assented the governor’s request.
They would have been appointed first because they are party faithfuls or cronies of the governor.
Their appointment was made in the first instance to protect the interest of the governor and not public interest. Even if they were appointed on merit, they would have granted the request to safeguard their appointment.
We have seen how state governors have become powerful. There were many attempts to grant local governments autonomy.
Bills were passed by the national assembly but could not scale the vetting of state assemblies which the constitution requires assent by 24 state assemblies to effect that change. Simply the governors do not want it and hence state assemblies would not pass it, lest they invoke the wrath of their governors despite their constitutional ‘independence’.
We can share the Abubakar Imam story to remind us of our past glory but we should not deceive ourselves. That era is gone.
We are now in the era where parents connive with teachers to facilitate cheating for their wards during examinations.
We are in the era where land allocations are exclusive rights of state governors to allocate to whoever they like. We are in the era of supporting every aberration being championed by current leadership.
The work of public or civil service is protecting the interest of the public not the interest of a governor or president. But many people cherish and support the current aberration for various reasons.
Abdullahi Dahiru is a medical Doctor wrote this from Kano.
