Advising Governor Nyako
Governor Murtala Hammanyero Nyako, retired Admiral of the Nigerian Navy, a farmer and industrialist, is many things to many people. Only former Governor of Anambra state, Chris Ngige can equal him as the most controversial governor in the current dispensation. He was described as the best of all who contested the governorship seat of Adamawa in terms of credentials, his past records and everything. He is the man of the time and to be fair to him received widespread support never seen in the recent history of Adamawa politics. The Governor himself testify to that when he said on the day he was re-elected as governor, after his earlier elections were annulled by the election tribunal, ‘ I won the re-run election basically because of the trust, which the people of Adamawa have on me. The previous administration that ruled the state for eight years did practically nothing. It did so badly, hence the people trusted me with their votes’.
No sooner was he sworn in than accusations started emerging on the way he runs his government. First of all he was accused by his opponents of using public funds to renovate his personal apartment. In addition, he was also accused of nepotism among other things. And to me, these are very serious allegations. The issue generated so much noise in Adamawa to the extent that some people went ahead to call the governor all sort of unprintable names. He was accused of giving his three wives stupendous amount of money as feeding allowances every month.
These are just some of the few allegations leveled against the governor. Although it can be very difficult for someone far from the governor to substantiate these allegations however it is also very difficult for us to dismiss them as handy work of detractors.
Another issue is for instance what the ThisDay, 9/12/2008 reported that in the wake of his re-election in June, over 2000 special assistants were discovered to be in possession of forged appointment letters, and benefiting from allowances meant for poverty alleviation scheme. Some media organization revealed that some top government functionaries were discovered to have brought in their boys as special assistants thereby enriching themselves at the expense of beneficiaries.
During a screening exercise been carried out, it was revealed that one of the personal assistants to the wife of a top functionary and who is incidentally a sister to the wife was found to have been collecting the allowances in 17 slots using different names but bearing same passport photograph. Another wife of the functionary was also said to have submitted 36 names of which were non-indigenes and were enjoying the money. But all these are considered trivial issues as they did not affect him directly and he would hardly account for it after leaving office.
The serious and most dangerous is the allegation of involvement of his family members; (sons, daughters, brothers) into the act of governance and contracts. Because that might have negative consequences for both the family and his person after he might have left office. We have seen how families who were made part of government in so many countries were subjected to all kinds of humiliations from government that immediately succeeded them. The Suharto family is a good example. After serving his country diligently, Suharto found himself in trouble after he left office, because he was accused of using his position to enrich his family.
The Abacha family case here in Nigeria is also a very good example. Abacha’s family was so much involved in the affairs of government that one cannot differentiate between what is Abacha or the government he is running. We are all leaving witnesses of what the family went through after the demise of Abacha. Some may ask ‘me ruwan biri da gada’, as a boy, Nyako was one of my role models and I grow to like him. I felt happy for Adamawa people to have a man like him as their governor. And every Adama son can testify to that, but my likeness for him cannot stop me from calling his attention in what I feel is wrong. It will be embarrassing and painful for his admirers including this writer to see his family going through what the Abacha’s went through after he might have left office.
One of the allegations leveled against the Governor, which was even listed in the impeachment letter served him by the State House of Assembly was the controversial loan the state collected from a company. The loan turned out to be that the financier, the consultant and contractor, Messrs SNECOU Group of Companies Ltd happened to be the same company. Despite advises from close associates against the collection of the loan, Governor Nyako went ahead to collect the loan. And that landed him in serious trouble with the state assembly. One of the sad aspects of the allegation was that he was facilitated by one of his wives to collect the loan. Though, I don’t want to believe the story.
Apart from that it was also alleged that many of his children are fully engaged in the execution of juicy contracts awarded in the state and one of his distant relatives, Sado Maliki is alleged to have been carrying out or overseeing state government contracts. This to me does not augur well for Governor Nyako. I know some people might say’in bai musu ba wa zai yiwa’ but the issue is that will these people stop the EFCC from harassing him or any of his family members if he leaves office after 4 or 8 years?
Nobody, even his critics can doubt the integrity of Governor Nyako, but he has to be very careful. He should run his family separate from governance, especially his children. No provision is made in the constitution whatsoever as to the role of Governor’s children in governance and it will be good for them to distance themselves from that. That might be harsh to some sycophants but I believe Nyako will know that this is a honest advice from someone that loves him dearly.
Kabiru Danladi,
Lawanti Village, KM25, Along Gombe-Bauchi Road,
Akko LGA Gombe State.
kblondon2003@yahoo.com
08035150369, 08054546764