Re: Katsina: Shema and opposition parties
including Sunday Trust on 11th May 2014, the writer made futile attempt to be seen as protesting Governor Ibrahim Shema’s recent interview in which he dismissed the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) as a political force in Katsina State. The content revealed the writer’s real intention, which was obviously meant to promote Alhaji Yakubu Lado Danmarke, […]
including Sunday Trust on 11th May 2014, the writer made futile attempt to be seen as protesting Governor Ibrahim Shema’s recent interview in which he dismissed the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) as a political force in Katsina State. The content revealed the writer’s real intention, which was obviously meant to promote Alhaji Yakubu Lado Danmarke, who lost his gubernatorial bid to Shema in 2011.
I would have no reason to respond to the article but for the fact that the writer strayed to besmirch Governor Shema’s political reputation. He also tried to drag the respected leader of the APC, General Muhammadu Buhari into the fray to set him on a collision course against Governor Shema.
He failed because neither Buhari nor Shema is an ‘Area-Boy’ politician. So, this sort of street approach to cause disaffection between the two leaders is bound for zero impact.
His assertion: “So it is true that the contest in Katsina is between the APC and PDM” falls flat as he made no logical argument leading to it. But it is a fact that the PDP has been in firm grip of Katsina since 1999, and its impact in terms of human and capital development gives reasons to believe that it will so remain in the foreseeable future.
The many opposition parties which General Buhari led since he joined partisan politics ahead of the 2003 elections have made some political statements in Katsina. Yes, but that was politics, made possible by the fact that the leaders in those parties had some good estimation in the eyes of the people of Katsina.
However, to say that the troubled PDM, which has been unable to conduct congresses and convention about ten months after its registration is a party to reckon with in any corner of the country tantamount to lack of understanding of the dynamics of Nigerian politics. If Shema had dismissed the PDM as posing no threat in Katsina, it is because of his assessment of the state of the party in general and the characters behind it in Katsina State.
For instance, is it not an unpleasant surprise that elderly and experienced politicians such as Mamman Abubakar Danmusa who was Speaker of the old Kaduna State House of Assembly way back in 1980; Dr Yusha’u Armaya’u; Senator Yandoma should all put their pedigree aside and be led by Yakubu Lado Danmarke who was barely eligible to vote in an election when Honourable Danmusa was Speaker?
What is the catch, for as the Hausa proverb goes, “Water doesn’t go sour without reason”?
The writers’s claim that Senator Lado supported Shema in 2011 is not only ridiculous but a deliberate attempt to rewrite Shema’s history in bad light.
Concerning Governor Shema’s record of work which the article made conflicting efforts to dismiss, it is pitiable that after a long-winding explanation, the writer admits the presence of a lot of projects in the state. But in a desperate attempt to get something to say mischievously, the writer said most if not all the projects were initiated during the late President Yar’adua while serving as governor of the state.
This statement is not a surprise because it indicates that the nature of the sponsoring politicians who believe in abandoning projects which they did not initiate when they are voted into office. This is either due to complete ignorance of what governance entails or arrogant display of egocentrism.
Those of us who witnessed previous republics will explain the reason abandoned projects litter the length and breadth of northern Nigeria, and beyond. It is with this in mind that when Governor Shema took office, he pledged to complete all projects initiated by his predecessor, late President Yar’adua, before laying foundation for any new ones. He achieved that and, mischief aside, anyone in his right faculty must see that as a standard for succeeding governors.
Shema is not known as one given to politicising development issues, which are the very essence of government. Indeed the people of Katsina and visitors alike acknowledge the level of physical and human transformation that has taken place in the last seven years under Shema’s watch. This is reflected in virtually every sector. More instructive, his administration has done all these without taking loans from anywhere. No wonder that the attempt to disparage him can only come in such a disjointed, unintelligent manner as it is in the article in question.
Sayyadi wrote from College of Education, Zuba, FCT