Shagari as a missed opportunity for Sokoto

They are “handbags” on account of their not having constitutionally-assigned responsibilities beyond what roles the governors, at their pleasure, assign to them.  Unless in the few cases where some have gone up to take over as substantive governors, the deputy governor, regardless of his brilliant personal attributes ends up like a flower that blooms and […]

They are “handbags” on account of their not having constitutionally-assigned responsibilities beyond what roles the governors, at their pleasure, assign to them.  Unless in the few cases where some have gone up to take over as substantive governors, the deputy governor, regardless of his brilliant personal attributes ends up like a flower that blooms and withers away alone and unknown in the wilderness.
In the case of Shagari however, even though his experience has not been any different from others, it should be yet a moment for celebration.  His tenure speaks for his unusual attributes of patience, perseverance and faith stretching back to his days in the service of Sokoto State; his years as the nation’s Minister of Water Resources through to his tenure as the Deputy Governor of Sokoto State.
I was also a close observer, in fact, a witness to his two scuttled attempts, first in 2007 and lately in 2015, at the governorship race in his home state. “Scuttled attempts” because, while he had convincingly won the PDP’s primary election in readiness for the 2007 governorship contest, political intrigues, machinations and conspiracies of adversaries led to his being asked to hand over the ticket to a defecting candidate from the opposition political party on the eve of the election.  For the 2015 stanza of the contest, he could not have had the chance to fly his party’s flag because, in Sokoto, as it was in most states, the PDP conducted anything but a primary election in the nomination of its gubernatorial candidate. In all the situations, say whatever of him, one cannot take away the fact of his austere lifestyle, simplicity and humility.  
Most key players, especially those in the sector, did not give him a chance when he was assigned the Ministry of Water Resources because as a lawyer, Shagari was not seen as a suitable candidate for an otherwise technical and specialized department of water resources.  For whatever reason that informed his decision, President Obasanjo was later proved not to have made a wrong choice in the assignment of the ministry to him.
An interesting incident worthy of note in the process of establishment of the steel pipe factory was a story told by Engineer Markus Gundiri, then the Director of Dams in the Water Resources Ministry. According to him, the incident took place in 2001 when Shagari led a team of experts from his ministry together with representatives of the pipe line contractors for a meeting in Edinburg, Scotland. At a point in the meeting when Shagari took leave to attend the Friday congregational prayers, the team leader of the technical partners asked Engineer Gundiri: “Is that young man really the Nigerian Minister of Water Resources?” In response to his own question, the team leader answered: “Well, he appears to be too young, too determined and focused and I’m also surprised that so far in our discussions, he has not indicated interest in what he would gain personally from the contract.”  He explained that such an attitude was contrary to his experience in previous encounters with Nigerian senior government officials. Excited, Engineer Markus Gundiri retorted by saying the posture of his minister was a manifestation of the new trend in Nigeria.
Under the supervision of Shagari, the Federal Government embarked on and completed hundreds of rural water projects just as the perennial crisis of water in a number of the nation’s tertiary institutions were surmounted through the construction of a myriad of boreholes and water treatment plants. In addition to medium-sized earth dams that enhanced irrigation, fishing and water supply in rural and semi-urban settings, all the erstwhile moribund River Basin Development projects were resuscitated.  The gigantic Kano River Irrigation Project in Kano, the Goronyo dam irrigation project, the Owena River Basin Development project, the Niger River Basin, the Chad Basin and the Bakolori Dam Irrigation projects came back to life performing the functions of irrigation, water supply and fishing among others for which they were meant to provide.
The great Orji river regional water project, the Gombe water project which is the most modern in the country, the Azare, Galma, Hadeija, the Falalia, and the Kano irrigation project as well as, the Upper and Lower Ogun River Basin Development Project, the Agaie and Lapai dams in Niger State, the Northern Ishan water project in Edo and the Mangu Regional water project and treatment plant in plateau State were a few of the plethora of the water projects initiated and completed by the Obasanjo’s Presidency with Mukhtari Shehu Shagari as the supervising Minister. No wonder, the Emir of Kumo, Gombe State appropriately called him Ministan Talakawa, meaning, the people’s Minister.
There is the view that Shagari would have gone much further in his quest for the number one political office in Sokoto State if he had just compromised a little on his principle of rigid adherence to laid-down rules of the game. He was unable to correctly discern the signal indicating the impending collapse of the PDP.  If he had jumped boat alongside his principal, Governor Aliyu Wamakko to the then nascent All Progressive Congress, APC, it is said that the party’s gubernatorial ticket would have been given to him on a platter of gold.  Alternatively, he would have been deemed a veritable candidate for yet another critical assignment at the center stage of the nation. But Mukhtari Shagari did not, expectedly, jump boat from the PDP to the APC because, as a man of principle and honour, to him, doing so would have been tantamount to crass opportunism.
As he takes his bow out of office in the days ahead as a loyal and diligent deputy governor, Mukhtari Shagari’s exit is for all the good reasons worth all the celebration. Coming at a time that the political wind of change visibly blowing in the direction of national rebirth or something looking like a Nigerian renaissance, that demands that all those piloting the ship of state are people of proven vision, innovation, integrity, patriotism and altruism in service, it is rather sad that this unique man of honour and integrity is not on board the ship. He would have been one of those called to put their hands on deck.
Ahmad wrote in from Kaduna.