Jonathan’s possible Saminu Turaki choice as minister

Midway into his tenure, the president decided to bring in new hands into the government for the remaining two years and possibly even beyond.Now, it is also not news that Jigawa state was affected with the exit of Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai as minister of education, which has now created a vacancy that must be […]

Midway into his tenure, the president decided to bring in new hands into the government for the remaining two years and possibly even beyond.
Now, it is also not news that Jigawa state was affected with the exit of Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai as minister of education, which has now created a vacancy that must be filled.
Whereas it is the presi-dent’s absolute prerogative to appoint anyone he so wishes as a minister repressing Jigawa state, as constitutionally provided, he should not make the mistake of appointing people who will not add value to both the government and the ruling PDP.
This is important because Professor Rufai is one that must be replaced by a person of impeccable character, somebody who has track record of achievements in the past. One who must not be a professor like her but must as a matter of necessity posses those qualities that will not bring to question the decision of the president. Usually anytime people are removed from office especially ministers, it is expected that they would be replaced by a more competent people.
Without sounding immo-dest, I want to state here that I belong to the class of those tough loyalists and supporters of the PDP since its formation in 1998. Even when we were not in power in the state and some members could not bear being in the opposition and left, we did remain until the PDP became the ruling party, therefore I will not want to see anything that will jeopardise the political and electoral fortunes of our beloved party.
In Jigawa today, rumours have it that the president may nominate former governor Ibrahim Saminu Turaki as the minister from Jigawa state.
I have nothing perso-nal against Senator Turaki, so I should not be misunderstood, but if the speculations have substance, then we should be worried and concerned. If one considers his eight years as governor, and his legacy of non-performance in the period, then one would conclude that he is the highest most unqualified person to hold that position from Jigawa for many reasons enumerated here.
Since the creation of Jigawa state in 1991, no governor has had the golden opportunity to lift it out of the woods and placed it among the most economically viable states in Nigeria like Saminu Turaki had. Here was a leader who got absolute loyalty and support from all sections of our dear state, yet he succeeded in misusing such a golden opportunity and failing to provide the much needed leadership for eight consecutive years.
Everyone knows that Saminu was an absentee-governor, who never spent more than two weeks in Dutse, the state capital, at any time. For those lost eight years, many newspapers were awash with reports, stories and even cartoons of how he governed by emails, yet our people tolerated him even up to the end.
In the same vein, Nigerians are also witnesses to his role in the infamous third term project of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, pouring money that the state could ill-afford.  
Similarly, for the four years he was in the senate from June 2007 to June 2011, his senatorial zone was likened to one that had no representation because of his prolonged absenteeism in the hallowed red chamber.
Many of his constituents never had access to him and in that period, he could not influence any federal presence to his zone not to talk of securing employment for the young ones.
Since his exit from the senate in 2011, it is now more than two years that Saminu has been seen in Jigawa thereby making him lose even further the tenuous touch he had with the people.
The president may be making this move in the hope of countering the alleged presidential ambition of current Jigawa governor, Sule Lamido. He would be sorely mistaken. The president needs to be reminded, if he does not know, which is not likely, of Saminu’s status in the matter regarding Jigawa’s finances in the period he was governor.
For all we know, Jonathan may be contemplating taking the desperate but infamous path he took in the case of  his predecessor  in Bayelsa State as governor, Mr  Dipreye Alamieseigha, by announcing some premature pardon in order to smoothen the way for the a ministerial nomination. That would not wash either.
Whatever the option he chooses, the president has to contend with the consequences, one of which is that more questions about his resolve to tackle the ills that plague our society in line with the Transformation Agenda.
The 2015 elections are here already, and every government decision at this critical stage must be taken with serious caution because of its implications and tendencies to have serious backlash on the political and electoral fortunes of our great party.
Of course it is entirely within the purview of presidential prerogative to overlook these potential consequences and make his choice, if indeed the speculations turn out be based on solid evidence. Still, it would be remiss on our part not to highlight them just in case the president needs to be reminded.  He may have his grouse with Lamido, for whatever reason; that’s their politics. But on the issue of a ministerial nominee from Jigawa, the last word cannot be Saminu.
Zubairu wrote from Dutse