Gandujegate: In defence of Dr. A. B. Baffa

By Laminu Danyaro Dawakin Tofa

“Our greatest problem is management of information at home and abroad .we must use our talents to correct these wrongs feeling about our country and ourselves ” – Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto.

Our democracy is yet at another critical stage when Nigerians and particularly people of Kano will choose their leaders to various elective offices. Unfulfilled promises and disappointed expectations of the past are mainly responsible for the seeming apathy and disillusionment about elected leaders. Democratic leadership is about honest service to the people without seeking material rewards in return. The race is not about personal benefit but passion to use wealth of experience in the service of the people.

In the wake of the Ganduje Gate alleged bribe taking videos, there have been series of attacks targeted at the Executive Secretary of TETFUND, Dr Abdullahi Bichi Baffa which have been deliberately ignored.

However due to the gravity of the lies contained in several sponsored media propaganda by loyalist of Governor Ganduje, it is pertinent to respond in order to correct them so as not to mislead the public   by the agent of the drowning administration.

Thomas Mann once declared that ‘the destiny of man presents is meaning in political terms ‘. That is to say, in our contemporary experience, it is difficult to make clear separations or distinctions between the politics of life and the life of politics. Once again , Executive Secretary, TETFUND, Dr Abdullahi Bichi Baffa add yet another cap to his feather as one of the most exemplary public servants in the current administration .

In any civilized nation, one of the major innovations to entrenching good governance, socio- political right and accountability to the citizens is the media. It serves as the pivot to uplift true democratic government.In simpler sense, the role the media plays in the building of a society can never be relegated to the background because information is power and information shared is empowerment. It is through the media that we can get comprehensive information about happenings in the world.

As institutions central to the democratic process, media serve several critical functions among which is offering a comprehensive account of the broadest range of events, therefore ,serving the society with corpus of information and knowledge of sufficient of making informed choices .the media also maintain wide range of opinion and analysis of issues unfolding in society. It is therefore commendable for investigative journalism, the sting operation leading to the release of the Ganduje gate bribery allegation by Daily Nigerian online newspaper which is currently under investigation by Kano state House of Assembly.

Various political interest and forces among the Kano political are now positioning themselves to determine who become the next governor of Kano State in the next general election. With the grand corruption allegation against Governor Ganduje, it is becoming clearer that he is not the best bet for President Buhari’s party that preached the gospel of fight against corruption and greed.

What is then is corruption? Corruption in theological thinking is according to F. F. Bruce “the transience of the present world order….The liability of the material universe to change and decay ”.In modern usage , corruption connotes “immoral ,impure, perversion, deprivation; and as a transit verb, corrupt also means “ to destroy or subvert the honesty or integrity of ….” All these are regular traits of the greedy.

In our Nigerian context, corruption has become the epitome of whatever is not right particularly in the public sector.  Eradicating corruption from Nigeria entails building societal norms and values that promote good behavior, integrity, accountability and justice.

Greed on the other hand is that excessive, uncontrolled, burning passion to have more of anything than one really needs or deserves .Greed is a rapacious desire to own more and more of anything. It is an insatiable appetite for more. A greedy person therefore is he who is self-centered that all matters to him is have more and more of everything. He is never satisfied .The more he has, the more he wants to have. The greedy is avaricious and covetous.

The current desperate attempt to drag the good name of Dr Abdullahi Bichi Baffa into the Ganduje Gate in order to diminish his political profile and lead the party into political abyss by fielding candidates with integrity issues at key elective positions. A decision must be taken to avert such political disaster from happening. The major lesson that ought to have been learnt is the party at national level must take the hard decision to save its electoral fortune and consider people of unblemished record to fly the party’s flag in Kano.

The concern to salvage the party which has become a laughing stock in Kano state due to the lingering crisis arising from primary elections and the huge bribe allegation against Governor Ganduje. Such destruction has lowered the morale of party members across board and many are threatening to work against the party if the gubernatorial candidate is not substituted.

One of the most aspects of human life is to pursue successful life career. Some people made it through day and night struggles. In fact to some, succeeding in as a single career is enough while to others perceived that they have to engage in many careers s that by the time they look back at their past records they would certainly agree with themselves that they were among those who did a lot in emancipating the human race.

However, there are number of dedicated public servants one would admire for their patriotism, human relations and diplomatic disposition. These also are when in leadership position exhibits unusual vision and creativity. Those generations can be successful at anything they pursue with much verve. They are determined and exhibit fairness and transparency and they are ready to serve any time and are competent qualification and career wise. Such individuals of unique poise are celebrated everywhere, an action which encourages them to reach their peak .thereby, serving as an impetus to younger generation. How else can one describe the Dr A.B Baffa, Executive Secretary TETFUND?

Dr Baffa’s foray into the volatile political terrain from the serene confines of his academic engagement has set a new research trend on the professionals /technocrats  in politics as his actions and utterances have redefined politics from the pejorative sense of the word. He has completely rubbished the beautiful and well researched theory of the English philosopher and social analyst, Dr New Clive, who claimed that“…….. What politicians lack is not shortage of towering promises what they appear to have in abundance is a congenital capacity to default on their promises”.

By any benchmark one deploys to assess him, and in whatever clime in our firmament  of the planet earth , A.B  Baffa  , is a stunning success , a unique gift to Kano  at this its critical moment in history and he deserve to be celebrated by all and sundry within the Nigerian geography.

Believed widely as a person who matches his words with sustained action, Baffa Bichi is one of the few leaders who have never been involved in any form of scandal, dishonesty or betray of public trust, traits reminiscence of most our modern day politicians.

For most of the few weeks, Dr Baffa Bichi has been the subject of a vicious attack. This multi-dimensional campaign has one central objective: to destroy the personal reputation, public standing and political career of the Kano’s powerful man. Those enemies of his towering political profile can never bring him down through fake accusations, sponsored lies, reeked with falsehood, ignorance, and reckless, dumb and illogical analysis.

Dr Abdullahi is one of the few executives who stood firm to ensure that they are not swallowed by the position they occupy, or the power they muster, the chance they got, the excuses they may give, the financial status they may possess, and the institutions they may have as defenders .Many others in his shoes, got intoxicated by the unlimited paraphernalia of power and ultimately got swallowed shrewdly by their positions thereby, forgetting their roles as servants and public servants.

There comes a time in the annals of a community when s0cio-political events and issues are thrown up by providence with the intention of testing the human will and resolve. Such events may be positive or negative, right or wrong. Well intended or ill- intended. Such a situation may be manipulated or given a free reign, simple or complicated as the case may be. This is the time to clean up the state from people with tinted integrity  and corruption tendencies as we march to 2019 elections working towards restoring Kano back to glory days.

*Laminu wrote in from Dawakin Tofa, Kano