Beyond the ruckus over Gaidam’s personal residence

Such is the case with the ruckus generated by a piece written by Isa Umar Gusau in the Daily Trust, which tried fruitlessly to create a crisis around renovation works going on in Governor Ibrahim Gaidam’s personal residence in Damaturu. Gusau’s piece segued tightly with what he has been doing for the best part of […]

Such is the case with the ruckus generated by a piece written by Isa Umar Gusau in the Daily Trust, which tried fruitlessly to create a crisis around renovation works going on in Governor Ibrahim Gaidam’s personal residence in Damaturu. Gusau’s piece segued tightly with what he has been doing for the best part of three years since the Gaidam administration came to power: Writing in the service of the government’s political opponents.  

Even a cursory content analysis of the Trust titles would show that during these years, Gusau has remained consistently biased in his mostly run-of-the-mill ‘analyses’, preferring to ignore the modest progress that the government is making in positively transforming the lives of the people of the state and concentrating almost exclusively on those shades of opinion championed by what remains of the opposition. From his article on Yobe government ‘relocating to Saudi Arabia’, to the warped analogies he always drew on the governorship election issue and now to the governor’s personal life, Gusau has written in sync with the vitriol, rhythms and rituals of the opposition.

His latest line in this charade exposes the desperation of Governor Gaidam’s political opponents to take even the dirtiest of plunges to make political capital, as elections draw near. Although there was some attempt at ‘balancing’ his ‘castle’ buildup, Gusau spared no time to go to the kernel of his mission, writing about his ‘investigations’ into how many number of rooms and toilets for women and children the governor’s personal residence of 20-year standing had before it was ‘demolished’ and a ‘presidential’ looking ‘mansion’ erected in its place.

For starters, Governor Gaidam did not buy the houses of neighbours  and ‘demolished them to create additional land before building an entirely new multi-million naira imposing country home’, as Gusau has written. If Gaidam had wanted to build a country home (assuming Gusau knows what a country home means), he would have gone to his hometown of Bukarti in Yunusari local government area to build one.

It is true that the governor had embarked on the renovation of his residence, which even by Gusau’s admission was of 20 years standing. Except for a one-storey structure added to the existing land owned for long by the governor, no new buildings were erected. His Excellency, contrary to the lies peddled by Isa Gusau, has made no offers to a police AIG neighbor to buy his ‘blue house’ at the ‘staggering cost of N60 million’. This is simply a script given to Isa Gusau to act. Anyone sufficiently concerned can check with the AIG.

For the purpose of clarity, the ‘blue house’ belonging to the police AIG is currently inhabited by Alhaji Sidi Yakubu Karasuwa, Governor Gaidam’s housing commissioner, who is related to the owner of the house and who has just lost his own personal house to an unfortunate fire outbreak.

In addition, it is no secret that many people go out of the country or some other remote locations to build houses. Governor Gaidam decided to remain where he was 20 years ago and to build what little structure he wanted to add within the same property. In other climes, this can be celebrated as one signature of a leadership being with the people.

Also built into Gusau’s ‘castle analysis’ is the conclusion that, because Gaidam is a serving governor, he must have ‘stole’ the money to renovate his house and that he does not have any right to introduce any changes into his personal lifestyle. Nothing could be goofier or misinformed. And nothing could be more off the mark.

As a public servant of over 30 years standing, Governor Gaidam is thankful to the Almighty that, through the various legitimate benefits and entitlements of the services he has rendered, he could afford to renovate a 20-year old structure and make it amenable to the social height on which the Almighty has currently placed him. Even his retirement benefits as a former permanent secretary could comfortably serve his need to introduce some changes into his personal life. This is not to talk of his entitlements as deputy governor for 20 months.

The timing of the renovation works is also entirely the governor’s choice. Despite politics or governance or public office, it requires no references or appendages to convince the right thinking that everyone has a personal life to live, and decency, even in journalism, requires that the personal life of individuals remain just that.

It is instructive that Isa Gusau relied principally on the chairman of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Yobe State, Abba Gana Tata to consummate his line of reasoning. Tata’s comments are meaninglessly theatrical. I do not know what is unconscionable or unimaginable for any person to live within their means. Whatever happens to Tata’s Islamic doctrinal knowledge that the Almighty ‘enriches whom He wills’ and that wealth and poverty are all but trials from Him?

The good thing is that while Tata could make Gaidam’s personal residence the straw man, the governor himself has continued to remain undistracted, constantly keeping sight of his mission to transform Yobe State and improve social services. It is this same commitment and the result thereof that made it possible for Abba Gana Tata’s son to pursue a University degree, along with tens of others, in the Republic of Turkey under a scholarship fund provided by the Gaidam administration.

It is this same commitment, also, that ensures that the major road linking Abba Gana Tata’s home local government area of Bursari is now being reconstructed by the Gaidam administration under the Kaliyari-Bayamari-Gaidam road project.

As we head for elections, no one will be nonplussed to see fifth columns, warts and all parading as political analysis on Yobe State. In the contest for political space, this would probably not be the last time that some desperate politicians try to cling onto anything in the service of political interests.

In the end, however, it is the people of Yobe State that will determine its political future. As I wrote in a similar posting recently, Governor Gaidam is not desperate about political power. But as long as the Almighty and the people of Yobe State decide to keep him in charge, he will continue to give his best in the service of the people, undeterred by the parochialism and narrow-mindedness that define the political engagement of some of his opponents.

Bego writes from Government House, Damaturu. [email protected]