Spineless North-East governors
Our kith and kin in the North-East, and those of us born elsewhere but with ‘roots than run deep’ there, all thought we could see a ray of hope in the meeting, which could signal an end to particularly the security situation in some North-Eastern states. But our governors will have none of that. By […]
Our kith and kin in the North-East, and those of us born elsewhere but with ‘roots than run deep’ there, all thought we could see a ray of hope in the meeting, which could signal an end to particularly the security situation in some North-Eastern states. But our governors will have none of that. By now all Nigerians have heard the shameful tale that the six chief executives of the North-Eastern states had recorded a total 100% absence from the meeting. All of them without exception believed that a meeting which will bring all stake-holders together in order to find solutions to the sub-region’s problems was not worth their esteemed presence.
Never mind the silly excuse that they kept away because some people had a hidden agenda. Is there any one among them who cannot rise to the occasion and shout down anyone with an agenda that doesn’t suit the aims of the day? Who are they trying to fool with an excuse like that? Why did they have to make all those North-Eastern notables, most of them way older than them, travel from all corners of this country, only for them to keep away, hiding under a lame excuse. This is horrible and unfortunate.
According to General T Y Danjuma, who was the special guest of honour at the aborted summit in Bauchi. “Initially I was told that all the six governors of the sub-region will attend the inauguration, but three days ago one of them called me and told me that all of them had resolved not to come and even advised me to stay away because there is a hidden agenda.”
Again I say what is there to stop them from calling all promoters of a hidden agenda to order? One would expect the governor of Borno state, Kashim Shettima, whose state has been boiling for three years; with daily loss of lives and displacement of innocent citizens, to jump at any attempt to find solutions to their nightmare. Ditto for the governor of Yobe, Ibrahim Gaidam, whose state has since joined Borno in becoming a living hell for its residents. The governor of Bauchi, Isa Yuguda, as the host of the summit should have been there even if his state is a haven of peace, which we all know it isn’t. What about the Adamawa state governor, Murtala Nyako, whose own state is gradually becoming a theatre of war, spreading all the way to educational institutions?
The popular theory is that each of Their Excellencies would rather subject respected Septuagenarians to the rigours of travelling for the meeting and disappointing them, than court the anger of a federal politician in Abuja. If this is true then where is their pride and sense of duty? Do these governors really think they owe their positions to this one man, and that making him happy should be their main pre-occupation? What about their suffering citizens?
If indeed this much-feared Big Man had misgivings about the sub-regional summit, wasn’t it their duty to enlighten him that it posed no threat to his coveted seat than just to chicken out and disappoint all others? And now they are busy gloating that their staying away was the best because someone was already calling for secession. Isn’t it a shame that they are ready to admit they kept away because of one innocuous paragraph? I say innocuous because Alhaji Bello Kirfi’s secession threat is really nothing compared to all the muscle-flexing and sabre-rattling we’ve been hearing from the Yoruba nation, the Biafra actualizers and now the Niger Deltans.
To me the respected Wazirin Bauchi was only talking tough to draw the federal government’s attention to the North-East’s plight. Anyway, those of us who hinged our hopes and aspirations on these governors now know how spineless and incapable they are of fulfilling our expectations.