Is this Wamakko or just a terrible tale?

Although the writer started by disparaging the grammatical ability of the author of the earlier piece to which he was responding, he had himself committed over forty spelling mistakes, nineteen grammatical errors, eight syntactic peccadilloes and a dozen chronological abrasions on only the first of his two page advertorial. He gave no reason for anyone […]

Although the writer started by disparaging the grammatical ability of the author of the earlier piece to which he was responding, he had himself committed over forty spelling mistakes, nineteen grammatical errors, eight syntactic peccadilloes and a dozen chronological abrasions on only the first of his two page advertorial. He gave no reason for anyone to peruse the second page of the ad because it told, mainly, the story of an Attahiru Bafarawa who is, on one hand, admitting that an infraction had been committed regarding the State and Local Government Joint Account while he was governor and, asking that because of his past “good” deeds he should be given reprieve and on the other hand trying to portray Wamakko as an ingrate who would not forgive and forget someone who had given him the path to the limelight on a platter of gold.

But truth eludes Bafarawa and his hatchet man. While presenting the report that implores Bafarawa to refund N2.9billion of Sokoto State money that they so brazenly shoaled from the people, the states Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Inuwa Abdulkadir also told of how missing the purloined funds impacted negatively on the people of the state. It was the people, not government, who want the funds refunded. It also has nothing to do with the politics.

However, remote from the rhetoric of the ad, there is hardly anything menacing in the rejoinder, except obvious misunderstanding, misrepresentations and innuendoes, which portray the ad as an exercise in futility. And it is these futile jingoism that we set out to address one after the other.

There is another area in the advertorial where the difference between Bafarawa and Wamakko becomes as clear as water in an hour glass. The suggestion that His Excellency Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko while as Deputy Governor presided over the affairs of the Local Government ministry is nothing but unimaginative bunkum. It is known all over the federation that governors of Bafarawa’s ilk have devised a means to render people with superior knowledge and administrative skills redundant while the party goes on at the governor’s behest. In Bafarwa’s little empire, Wamakko was put away for good. But the superior administrative acumen of Wamakko, coupled with his experience as a former local government sole administrator and a seasoned technocrat who had served the state meritoriously enabled him to see, through a keyhole, the destruction that Bafarawa and his locusts were responsible for on the State and Local Government Joint accounts, among others.

The memos that were used on the advertorial, to buttress his participation in the government of that era, were only enough evidence to dupe, hoodwink or pull the wool over somebody’s eyes, chiefly, someone very naive. Lots would have happened before and after the entire transaction to which a memo is only a written aspect and not the entire transaction. In other words, believe the memo and you believe anything. Come to think of it, the memo as reproduced goes to affirm that the Bafarawa team is admitting that a lot was wrong with his administration. It does not make sense that a man whose hands are soiled with graft would be bold to probe. Wamakko is asking Bafarawa and his friends to refund N2.9billion and they are putting a memo to buttress his share of the loot? Makes sense only to an ignoramus. The people are hardly impressed.

These are the issues at stake and not the semantics of power and the innuendoes that hoodwink the unlettered, unskilled and undiscerning like the Ibn Dikko’s of this world. Like Inuwa Abdulkadir said in his address to the media, the state government is not in a hurry to prosecute anyone in this matter. The government matched these words with action when it allowed all those involved to refund the money within the ultimatum of its decided magnanimity.

However, it is obvious that the preceding government is unaware of the pain it has caused the people of Sokoto State as enunciated by its megalomaniac, Ibn Dikko. And a citation will suffice here. He said everything is “considered by many as politically motivated and configured as vendetta to settle personal scores, parts of the abnormalities that put this country to shame…If Wamakko government wants to fight its former boss for whatever reasons is understandable and acceptable but not in such uncivilized and timid manner, bringing in mundane issues that are inconsequential.”

The above statement is indicative of the insensitivity and arrogance of the Bafarawa group that they deployed in ripping the poor people of Sokoto State of their hard earned dignity. Or how else does one explain the looting of N2.9billion as mundane and inconsequential? You judge.

This administration that is led by Wamakko does not claim to be the overlord in Sokoto State. It is a responsible government that treats citizens with respect and awards to each, his rights in a dignifying manner. This government is saying please do the right thing and return to the people what belongs to them since the Muhammad Aminu Ahmad commission has determined that you took what does not belong to you. A word is enough for the wise!

Rufa’i Abubakar , a public affairs commentator, wrote from No.23A OAU Quarters, Maitama, Abuja,.