BY Muhammadu Dan Sa’idu
My attention was drawn to a newspaper opinion article titled Dear Governor Abba Kabir, Beware of Waiya authored by one Isma’il Auwal. Ordinarily, I may not have bothered to respond to the baseless submissions of the author, but silence in the face of falsehood and mistepresentation of issues amounts to concent and endorsement of such reckless personal attacks on innocent law abiding citizen who by share destiny was called to serve his people.
The writer in the figment of his imagination thinks he can rubbish the decision of His Excellency, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf in choosing one of the best
brains in the civil society community, Comrade Ibrahim Waiya to serve as member of the State Executive Council and Commissioner of Information and Internal Affairs. This is in addition to other adhoc assignments such as the Chairmanship of the High-Powered Committee on the profiling of CSOs and NGOs in Kano State.
From the submission of Isma’il, it is clear that the writer lacks even elementary knowledge of how government works and how decisions are made. Also, it was clear the writer was acting a script of some unpatriotic and unscrupulous elements who are not pleased with the stirling performance of Comrade Waiya since he assumed office as the state Commissioner of Information. Moreover, the writer didn’t only show personal hatred and envy for Comrade Waiya but went so
low to attempting to armtwist the Governor into sack the workaholic, vibrant, energetic and creative Commissioner. This is uncharitable and uncouth for someone claiming to be a member of an enlighten society, the CSO.
The write-up was populated with fat lies, misrepresentation of facts and attempts to ignite in-house inferno among the appointees of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf. The writer failed to rewrite history by refusing to acknowledge the contributions of Comrade Waiya who was one of the leaders of the CSOs that stood behind Governor Abba Kabir in the 2019 and 2023 political and legal struggles to ensure justice was done in face of glaring attempts to deny justice for the people of Kano State.
Contextually, the write-up was a
U-turn against earlier resistance and
rejection of the state high-powered committe on the profiling of CSOs and NGOs by some dishonest, unrealistic individuals claiming to be speaking for the CSO/ NGO scommunities. This is because, having failed to armtwist, blackmail and intimidate the state government to rescind its decisions on the creation of the committee by dissolving and discarding the idea of profiling the CSOs and NGOs, the sponsors of the move resort to personal attacks on the Chairman of the Committee and Honourable Commissioner of Information, Comrade Ibrahim Waiya.
It is clear that the battle for the disbanding the High-Powered Committee was dead on arrival hence the resort to attack on the personality of the Chairman of the Committee. This too will definitely fail as the Governor has high confidence the ability of Comrade Waiya to deliver on
assignments given to him with optimum result. This is even more instructive going by the excellent performance of Comrade Waiya since he assumed duty as the state Commissioner for Information. Clearly, credible and genuine CSOs and NGOs don’t have any problem with both the profiling and the composition of the Committee let alone its Chairman. This is because as the saying goes ‘only the guilty are afraid’. Now we know, those that are likely to be exposed by the committee are the ones spearheading the move to cause confusion and distract the government from undertaking this all important assignment.
In the argument of the author of the sponsored attacks on the personality of Comrade Waiya, he argued that Comrade Waiya was a wrong choice for the job. I beg to disagree, this clearly shows the
naivety of the writer who failed to understand that for Waiya to be so appointed as a Commissioner, he has indeed underwent serious security due diligence and recieved all the necessary clearance less more of an adhoc committee work either as Chairman or a member. For the benefit of the author of the ill fated opinion article, committee Chairmanship of any sort doesn’t bestow absolute power on the Chairman. In the instant case, it is even an insult for the committee and the government that formed it to insinuate that the Chairman will use the platform to settle scores and advance his personal vindictive agenda. I urge Isma’il Auwal to apologise to the committee. This is because looking at the composition of the committee, the Chairman, Waiya is too small to outsmart them. Please Isma’il, I urge you to be
humble and apologise to the committee for portraying them to be a willing tool in the hands of Conrade Waiya. This is disgusting, reprehensible and irrational of you.
On citing some government appointees such Sanusi Bature, Iro Ma’aji and Muhiyi Magaji by Isma’il Auwal in his write-up, this is tantamount to igniting an in-house unhealthy rivalry that will do ko one any good thereby distracting the government. In this regard, I expect the aforementioned appointees to caution the witer, demand a retraction and dissociate themselves with the write-up. That is the only way to ensure cohesion and unity of purpose in serving the good hood people of Kano State under the government of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf. Anything to the contrary will send a wrong signal.
As for the genuine, law abiding and
patriotic CSOs and NGOs, it is expected that you will rise to the occasion and support the High-Powered Committee on Profiling to undertake its assignment diligently with a view to sanitising your operations for common good of all.
Dan Sa’idu writes from Hotoro Quarters, Kano
