Last diary entry

To start with Barmu has no program of any kind. I asked him during the transition period whether he had got a committee working on a program and he said yes, three dons at the Federal University, Birnin Tafki were working on it. I asked him if the task should be left to academics alone. […]

To start with Barmu has no program of any kind. I asked him during the transition period whether he had got a committee working on a program and he said yes, three dons at the Federal University, Birnin Tafki were working on it. I asked him if the task should be left to academics alone. I said to him, “Why don’t you add some civil servants, politicians and even civil society activists to the committee? It is good to bring different perspectives to the effort.” But Barmu said no, the three people he chose are very learned and can do it. After the inauguration I asked him about the program and he said I should call the three dons and ask them. When I called their chairman Professor Almu Dan Cikingida, he told me that the committee is still at the stage of literature review and would soon move on to the theoretical perspective before it gets down to the program’s details.
I went to Barmu and told him that this committee would take half of his tenure to finish the program. He agreed to form another committee but since then Barmu has been totally absorbed by politics and ceremony. I placed ten different memos on his desk this past week, including one on the panel to draw up his program but Barmu is yet to read any of the memos. What he likes very much is different groups coming to congratulate him. Traditional rulers came; High Court and Shari’a Court judges came; senior civil servants came; heads of security agencies came; heads of Federal Government agencies in the state came; businessmen came; Local Government caretaker chairmen also came.
After these important groups all came I overheard Barmu asking the director of protocol, “What about the Achaba riders? Are they not coming? And the mechanics! And also the market women! They all played an important role during the campaign. They should come and congratulate me!” The governor himself was dictating to Protocol how many cars should be in his wives’ convoys. The protocol director came to me and said “SSG, is not better to designate one of the governor’s wives as First Lady so that we give her full protocol treatment and lesser protocol for the other two? There is confusion now because yesterday all the three wives attended public events and each one went with full siren and a long motorcade.”
So I wrote a memo to the Governor on the need to designate a First Lady. Barmu did not read the memo so when protocol pressed me, I raised the issue with him. Barmu broke into his usual roar of a laugh. He said, “SSG, you too you have three wives. Tell me, if you had won this election which one of them would you have made the First Lady?” I said, “Sir, that issue does not arise because I did win the election. You did, so you are the one who has to make that decision.” Barmu again laughed aloud and said, “Ok, I will take a decision but not now. Each of those wives suffered with me so I cannot come now that riches have come and stop anyone of them from enjoying it.”
Just before the State Assembly was inaugurated Barmu got GSL’s state chairman to gather all the members together and tell them that they should elect the member for Tudu East constituency Mansur Sabke as the speaker. Sabke’s Tudu Local Government was carved out of Barmu’s Kwazazzabo Local Government so the members rebelled, saying the governor and the speaker should not come from the same place. The party chairman came to my house in the night and said, “SSG, please help me talk to His Excellency. We should respect the zoning policy. Since he is from Tafki Central and the deputy governor is from Tafki North, the speaker should come from Tafki South.” I said, “Why don’t you go and talk to him yourself? Are you not the party chairman? Me I only entered your party two weeks ago so do I even know what zoning arrangement you made before I came in?”
The day after the party chairman came to my house, the Head of Service also came. He said, “SSG, the governor listens to you. Please help me tell him that the way he did this posting of permanent secretaries would destroy the civil service. I submitted a proposed posting list to him but he put a green biro and changed everything. He wants to put the most junior perm secs in the most senior ministries such as Finance, Education and Political Affairs.” I said, “Head of Service, I cannot help you. I have my own issues with the governor that I also need help.”
Three days ago I walked into the governor’s office and he thrust to me a piece of paper and said, “Look at my list of commissioners.” My heart sank when I looked at the list. There were 28 names on it. I said, “Governor, is this number not too much?” He said no, there are 14 LGAs in the state and he promised each LGA two commissioners. I said but there are only 16 ministries and there is even a proposal to cut down the number but he said no, he must reward the people who suffered with him during the campaign so that they will not say he is eating alone.
I began to study the names. I saw the names of three people who are stark illiterates. I said, “Your Excellency, how can Attahiru Baran Malam be a commissioner? He did not even attend primary school.” Barmu laughed and said, “Is it not certificate? He has got one. If you go under that market flyover you can get any certificate you want. He will pass screening at the state assembly.”
That night when I got home I began to ponder over what I got myself into. If this is the way the state government is going to be run then we are in for a lot of crises. I looked at the heap of files that was sent to me from Government House. The PPS said governor said I should treat all of them. From today I will not have time for diary entry. The 2015 election is over and the winners have been inaugurated so there is no more aspiration. From today I will close the Diary Of A 2015 Aspirant.