Why Gov Al-Makura must look forward, not backward

The situation has got so bad that if the sun fails to rise in Nasarawa State or if his traducers are unable to fulfil their marital obligations to their wives, Alhaji Doma must be responsible. This Doma-phobia has equally gripped the officials of the state government, most especially Governor Tanko Al-Makura who has embarked on […]

The situation has got so bad that if the sun fails to rise in Nasarawa State or if his traducers are unable to fulfil their marital obligations to their wives, Alhaji Doma must be responsible. This Doma-phobia has equally gripped the officials of the state government, most especially Governor Tanko Al-Makura who has embarked on the unholy enterprise of pulling his predecessor down at all costs through the manufacture of baseless allegations against the later.

It is in this light that Doma’s present ordeal with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should be viewed. This has indeed, exposed the folly and hypocrisy of the fumbling Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) government in the state. To further confirm the involvement of the Al-Makura administration in the entire sordid saga, few weeks before Doma honoured EFCC’s invitation, Al-Makura had said through clenched teeth that a whopping N17billion Paris Club refund disappeared from the state treasury during the tenure of Doma. It is like the case of the owl howling in the night and the child dying the following morning. Does one need the services of a soothsayer to know what killed that child?

It is an unfortunate practice in our public communications in Nigeria that anyone can just wake up and peddle jaundiced disinformation to disparage the hard-earned reputation of citizens and a section of the mass media will eagerly provide the platform to achieve this diabolical enterprise for no other reason than profit.

To put the records straight, the money in question was captured in the 2008/2009 budget as revenue that accrued to the state and was duly appropriated to various developmental projects executed by that administration.

Come to think of it; how can Doma who fought assiduously for the creation of Nasarawa State, turn around to perpetrate acts that will be detrimental to the progress of his brain child? Is it possible that a whopping sum of N17billion could just develop wings and vamoose from the state treasury?

It appears that people like taking undue advantage of Doma’s elastic patience and humility to fabricate all manners of lies against him.  Ordinarily, it would not have been necessary to dignify the peddlers of grievous lies against Doma with a reply, but now that the handshake has gone beyond the elbows in a manner of speaking, it has become imperative to expose these merchants of blackmail.

In spite of the amateurish attempt by officials of the Nasarawa State government to hide under the cloak of anonymity and fraudulent garb, no one is deceived that the voice might be that of Jacob, but the hands of course, hairy as ever, is that of Esau. It is clear as the day who the masquerade behind Doma’s current ordeal is in Lafia.

Like the proverbial ostrich which hides its head in the sand thinking that it cannot be seen simply because it cannot see others, the sponsor’s signature of blackmail and falsehood is writ large on the tendentious fabrication of absolute lies against the former governor, all in an attempt to silence him politically. In a nutshell, Doma’s current case with the EFCC is politically-motivated by the selfish desires of officials of the Nasarawa State government who are currently living in mortal fear of even the ex-governor’s shadow.

By concocting a cocktail of fiction against Doma, the obvious motives are: to bamboozle gullible members of the public into seeing the victim in negative light and to cover up the incumbent administration’s unpardonable inefficiency. The question remains, is there no limit to political rascality?

Clearly, Doma’s traducers have a bagful of allegations but not even a grain of fact! Since the entire fabrications are riddled with street talks and drunken gossip, I invite readers to come along with me as we unfold the former governor’s scorecard.

Through his pet project called Badakoshi, he revolutionalized agriculture in the state by providing tractors, fertilizer at subsidized rates and high-yield improved seedlings to farmers. His administration also substantially tackled the rot in the education sector through the construction and equipping of several secondary schools in the state; recruitment of over 2,000 teachers; implementation of Teachers Salary Scheme and payment of counterpart funding to the Universal Basic Education.

Equally, over 150 multi-purpose healthcare centres in rural areas were upgraded and revamped; establishment of breast and cervix cancer screening centre in Lafia; renovation of Healthcare Development Agency; equipment of School of Nursing, Lafia and School of Health Technology.

In the same vein, the following roads were either rehabilitated or constructed: Gitata-Panda-Karu; Doma-Agyaragu; Agaza-Agwatashi; Kadarko-Giza-Keana; Obi-Assako; Doma-Agwada-Udege Beki; Keffi/Kokona Junction-Agwada-Udege Beki; Adodo-Azara-Wuse; Gudi Junction-Agwai Zaria

Before he left office on May 29, 2011, the following projects were completed: Maraban Udege-Udegem Beki; Nasarawa Eggon-Baki Yano-Arikya; Andaha-Anainghaan Gudi-Bassa feeder road; Odu electricity project; connection of Awogeshen-Akpata to national grid; procurement of 20 500KVA transformers, which the incumbent government commissioned recently with fanfare.

His administration also established the Bureau for Economic Empowerment; constructed, upgraded and equipped Vocational and Technology Centre to full-fledged Skills Acquisition Centres and donated 50 patrol vehicles to security agencies to tackle the menace of criminality. This is in addition to restoring the dignity of traditional institutions through enhancing the status of traditional rulers. Space constraint would not permit me to fully enumerate other tangible achievements of Doma, but suffice it to say that all these achievements are verifiable.

In the face of the evident fact-deficiency of the allegation, it is surprising indeed that the anti-graft body could be swayed to belief such crap and to lend credence to the antics of the purveyors of such blackmail and spurious allegations. In spite of the laborious attempts by his blackmailers and their sponsor(s) to diminish the lofty achievements of this illustrious citizen of Nasarawa State, Doma’s position as a great contributor to the development of the state is eminently assured. No amount of false propaganda or spurious accusation can distort this fact.

Musa, an indigene of Nasarawa State and a political scientist, sent in this piece from Lafia