By Salisu Yusuf
When President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida created Katsina State in 1987, we were full of hopes and euphoria that this fledgeling state would fastly grow and prosper from the grips of a complex Kaduna State. The late singer Mamman Shata aptly captured this mood in his popular song “Allah raya Jihar Katsina.” Fortunately, successive military administrations of Governors Abdullahi Sarki Mukhtar (1987/88), Lawrence Onoja (1988/89), and John Madaki (1989/92) gave us the belief as Katsina became the envy of its neighbouring states. But then the curse of anointment sets in.
During the 1991 general elections, Alhaji Sa’idu Barda of NRC (who controversially became the governor) contested against Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’adua of SDP. The latter was so popular that no candidate could beat him in a free and fair poll, thanks to the social leverage his older brother, Alhaji Shehu Musa Yar’adua, wielded.
Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’adua was about to win the contest when President Babangida intervened and asked the electoral commission to declare Sa’idu Barda the winner.
President Babangida had a grudge against Shehu Musa ‘Ya’adua. Hence the annulment of the first presidential election in which the late ‘Yar’dua of SDP was leading. The rest, they say, is history. Even though Governor Sa’idu Barda was anointed, he was a gentleman though he lacked ideas and focus.
From November 1993 to May 1999, during the rules of General Sani Abacha and General Abdulsalam Abubakar, there were three military governors: Emmanuel Acholono (1993/1996), Sama’ila Chama (1996/1998) and Joseph Akaagerger (1998/1999). They ruled but performed less than the first three crops of the military.
Governor Umaru Musa Yar’adua (1999/2007) was the only unanointed governor Katsina has had yet. Although he had his weak links, he was the people’s darling. Public service was politicised as PDP membership guaranteed the executives, political appointees and thugs to go beyond the ethical and the conventional.
Governor ‘Yar’adua (un)knowingly nurtured those politicians who introduced political brigandage in Katsina political space; late Abba Sayyadi Rumah, the immediate past secretary to the Katsina State Government, Alhaji Mustapha Inuwa, etc., were his political disciples.
However, Governor Yar’adua spearheaded the transformation of the modern Katsina State. He built the famous Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, the new Katsina master plan, College of Legal, Daura, State Secretariat, Katsina Eye Center, Turai Hospital, etc. His legacies are numerous to mention.
Around 2014 when President Obasanjo singlehandedly anointed Late Governor ‘Yar’dua to contest the presidential seat during the 2015 General Election, he further asked ‘Yar’adua to field an unknown figure in the person of Alhaji Ibrahim Shema to contest the governorship seat. ‘Yar’adua had rooted for Alhaji Aminu Masari, the then speaker of the House of Representatives. Umaru had no choice but to oblige because he was also a product of anointment. Obasanjo was also settling a political score because, in 1999, Speaker Masari had vehemently opposed Obasanjo’s tenure elongation.
Though Governor Shema too performed miracles, it was during his term that corruption was institutionalised. His subsequent trials under the EFCC concerning the Local Government Joint Account fund are a testimony. Shema was so arrogant and daring that he called those outside the PDP cockroaches who deserved to be killed if they interfered with election matters.
Governor Masari was also a product of anointment though he was also a victim of anointment. During the 2014 APC primaries, the late Senator Kanti Bello was about to win the governorship ticket when the exercise was hijacked in favour of Masari by the so-called Abuja politicians. These people pressurised then General (retd.) Muhammadu Buhari to intervene. Subsequently, the election was skewed in favour of Masari. Late Senator Kanti could not forgive Masari until his sudden death in 2017.
Legacies are hard to point out in the seven years of the current APC government. So many people taunt the government that its only legacies are the refurbished traffic circles (roundabouts) in Katsina and the painting of schools in APC colours. Katsina State is today indebted to the World Bank and the IMF.
However, one salient advantage of Masari’s government is political tolerance. The government has given the people the right to political affiliation, which was lacking during the PDP.
For Katsina, the anointment curse continues as Governor Masari points to Alhaji Abba Masanawa, the immediate past Managing Director of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, Abuja as his anointed successor.
Only time will tell when Katsina will be free from the grips of anointment.
Salisu Yusuf wrote from Katsina via salisuyusuf111@gmail.com.
