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| Former Governor of Katsina State Ibrahim Shehu Shema |
The silly idea of 'renting popularity' by the political class, irritating as it is, is not as annoying as the cheapness of the youth who willingly reduced themselves into a cheap political commodity that could be mobilized with crumbs to come out and celebrate corruption - even corruption that dealt them a deadly blow. The Delta State bill may never be known to me but, I was shocked to learn that Shema hired youth from across Katsina State with just N4.42 at N130,000 per LG. I knew they were hired. What I didn't know was how cheaply. The shelf price of our youth seem to be as constant as the no norther star. Even when every other variable is appreciating, these youth seem to be depreciating. How much is N4.42m compared to the billions meant for these youth; billions suspected to have been siphoned by the former Governor that these youth could not rise above pecuniary instincts and resist being used to score cheap political point. With this realization, nobody need to keep pondering why people like Fayose are still at the helm of affairs in some states.
Running concurrently with this irresponsible behavior is another absurdity in which seemingly enlightened people somehow chose to see the recent arraignment of former Governor Shema as a vengeful move to 'demystify' or embarrass him by Governor Aminu Bello Masari. Even funnier were those who share this sentiment laden absurd opinion today when a simple click on Google would provide numerous literature they published in the media lamenting the excesses of the previous administration at the time such excesses were being perpetrated with a seeming 'tomorrow would never come' impunity. Was their previous lamentation against the raping of the state back then induced by other things rather than patriotism?
Let's get it straight, the offence for which Shema was arraigned in this case was committed in Katsina, against Katsina and using administrative apparatuses of Katsina State by its, then, leadership structure. Does it make sense to seek redress in any court outside Katsina when there's a competent court of jurisdiction in Katsina to arbitrate? Of course, if the crime committed was suffered jointly by Katsina State and Federal Government of Nigeria, then EFCC is at liberty to decide where to dock Shema. In this case, Katsina is the only victim and the law was explicitly clear about jurisdiction. This is saying, a court in Bayelsa neither have the competence nor jurisdiction to try Shema on this case. So, how does the synchronized EFCC/Katsina State joint effort to embarrass Shema arise in the first place as being peddled by remnants of the PDP 'Group' led including the lead accused who incidentally happened to be a lawyer with require capacity to know these basics?
Some say the trial was scripted to demystify Shema. Scripted how and by whom? Does anybody wrote Shema's history as Governor of Katsina State but himself? Was it Governor Masari that gave the approvals for the withdrawals from the joint LG/State account that amounted to the N11bn which whereabouts the court is trying to determine? How then could this trial have been scripted by anybody other than the accused who used his privileged position to perpetrate illegality without recourse to futuristic consequences of his actions.
There's nothing 'mystifying' about the records left behind by Shema's administration. An average elementary student of accounting could easily solve this mystery without using a calculator. In any case, why should somebody waste time and effort to demystify Shema when he has successfully done that himself? The only mystery here, if any, is the shallowness of those buying and swallowing this crap hook, line and sinker in total neglect of their God-given ability to reason and put things in their proper perspective. It's quite normal to pursue interests other than mainstream just as it's normal to relate with individuals differently but, to do so at the expense of one's intellectual integrity is an unforgivable crime against self by self.
Certainly, if somebody is thinking of the senseless butchering of Katisna state's resources as carried out by the previous administration using fronts like the EFCC-wanted Kwado and other imported faceless contractors as a mystified history of a 'Giza Pyramids' kind that should be so difficult to decipher hence, turn into a convenient tool to distract Governor Masari from recovering what was illegally taken from the coffers of the state through constitutional means, one should brace up for more emotional pains. Governor is not restricted to the future. It works better by marrying the past to the present for a better future. If Governor Masari is reading any script, this is it!
To accuse Governor Masari of anything but honest intentions to recover what the state lost to administrative rascality in the last 8 years and apply same to mitigate myriad of problems (mostly youth related) under the present challenging situation is, to say the least, uncharitable. There's nothing vindictive about bringing principal actors of the previous regime if there's reasonable cause (which nobody is yet to deny there is) to redress the administrative gangsterism they perpetrated which, if ignored, could negatively shape public opinion about trust and build a dangerous base for building future relationships between the public and the government. By the way, if Governor Masari's motive was to be vindictive, why is he not probing the whole of Shema's double tenure as Governor? Why is he not probing hundreds of contracts executed by Shema through family members and cronies and against all laid down procurement procedures? Do we need to play frisbee with our brains just to massage whatever sentiment we harbor?
One may have to take a glimpse into the mind of Governor Masari to understand what informed his decision to redress this wrong. Most of the cases being pursued by Governor Masari were those carried out with unprecedented arrogance and unparalleled impunity. For instance, it's on record that just a day before Shema handed over to Governor Masari a colossal sum of N800m was withdrawn from the state treasury for no justifiable reason other than to fleece the state for a last time by the outgoing Governor.
Considering that Shema was handing over to an incoming administration he numerously described as 'hostile', I doubt if anybody could be more careless? Such unforgivable level of arrogance and irresistible temptation to engage corruption at any given opportunity shouldn't be left unpunished if not for the offender at least, to redesign public moral architecture to fit the new drive for a morally upright society that operates according to globally acceptable norms and traditions. For anybody to assume such a late hour heist executed with such impunity would be swept under the carpet by Governor Masari so that everybody could live happily ever after, to say the least, it's wishful thinking. Call it vengeance or whatever!
It's worrisome that after mortgaging the future of the youth by absolute neglect to their welfare while supervising the affairs of Katsina state, Shema could still find it convenient to pay N130,000 to each LG to mobilize them to create a false impression popularity and sympathy. However, we should note that, renting a crowd by a politician to pretend popularity or sympathy is nothing short of renting professional mourners to mourn the passage of a loved one in situations where the bereaved lack the character to have people share his grief as is being done mostly in west. Professional mourners shed tears to justify their pay check not to share the grief of the bereaved. Thugs hired for this event would have came if invited by the devil. The arithmetic is that easy. "Itafa tunkiya mai furfura mutum mai hankali kadai ke iya ganeta"
Maiwada Danmallam
SA Political To Honorable Minister Of Youth And Sports
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