Attahiru Bafarawa: When Statesmanship Dies…

By Louis Achi

Valid statesmanship is not earned by self-proclamation but through enduring merit. ‘Statesmanship’ is not a job description despite how much we wish it were. But using the term implies recognition that someone has the character and understanding to exercise certain virtues in political or state affairs.

The misunderstanding of this elevated construct ultimately misleads those who wrongly believe they are statesmen. Unfortunately, this is the self-inflicted dilemma the former governor of Sokoto State Attahiru Bafarawa has walked himself into by leveling extremely flawed allegations against Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko.

Wamakko is a respected former governor, circumspect national parliamentarian, astute political leader, notable national statesman who envisioned a new Sokoto State and most importantly mentored a youthful successor in the person of Governor Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto, the current chief executive of the state.

Bafarawa served Sokoto State between 1999 to 2007 while Wamakko administered the state between 2007 to 2015, while of them all served two consecutive terms in office.

Recently, Bafarawa claimed his administration left N13 billion in the coffers of the state when he left office in 2007. This curious claim coming 17 years after he left office appears a scheme to trifle with the intelligence of the people and to whip up sentiments for some imagined political gains – given the traffic it has generated in cyberspace.

Bafarawa made this claim – not for the first time – when he spoke recently while delivering a speech at an event tagged “Giving Back,” organized by the Attahiru Bafarawa Foundation in the state.

As it were, Aristotle’s “Ethics”, within the context of this analysis should aid proceedings. According to the ancient sage, greatness of soul means judging rightly that you are capable of doing great things and worthy of the greatest responsibilities, which can only be the case if you have considerable virtue. Did Bafarawa pass this simple test? He failed it woefully.

Incidentally, the former Accountant General of the state, Alhaji Aminu Abdullahi, who could not stomach the deliberate falsehood, sharply contradicted Bafarawa. Aminu Abdullah later presented some detailed bank documents which testified that the former Governor Bafarawa left only N254 million in the state government’s coffers when Senator Aliyu Magatarkada Wamakko took over from him in 2007.

Addressing a press briefing on Thursday, Abdullahi, a professional to the core, debunked the claims made by Bafarawa while inaugurating his N1billion foundation on Wednesday in Sokoto.

According to Abdullahi, based on Bafarawa’s claim, the then administration of former Gov. Aliyu Wamakko, constituted an investigative committee which was headed by Alhaji Abdurrahman Namadina, and there was nowhere such amount was traced.

In Abdullahi’s words: “The committee scrutinised all the then government banks’ accounts and tendered statements to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) during a prolonged trial. The then UBA main account carried the balance of N254. 5 million as at May 29, 2007 while only N7. 3 million was discovered in the state government’s VAT account.”

He further explained that the then Gov. Wamakko refused to operate any of the 27 bank accounts inherited from Bafarawa’s administration and they were all closed because they became subject of litigation during the period. Hear him again: “Every responsible person should know that Bafarawa’s claim had been proven false as a Court had delivered a verdict on the issue.”

Abdullahi firmly said that Bafarawa’s claim was baseless, misleading the people or mischievous for simple political gain because an issue of 17 years has been resurrected, noting that, “The question still remains which account was that N13 billion domiciled, as we provided all the bank account numbers and statements, the former governor needed to provide the same detailed explanation.”

The sheer firmness and professionalism of Abdullahi’s reactions speaks to forthrightness and principle in the face of statesmanship in retreat, surprisingly represented by Bafarawa.

As it were, Bafarawa’s successor, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko inherited, not a phantom N13billion but rather a number of unfinished projects. It was no secret that Wamakko subsequently worked assiduously to improve the lot of the people of Sokoto State and left legacies which are still visible all over the state. This scenario perhaps suggests why Bafarawa has chosen an unstatesmanlike path to create division by strangely unearthing a sad part of his own (mis)stewardship. This is clearly the death of statesmanship.

It must be conceded that Bafarawa approached the gates of statesmanship when he stated at his foundation launch that he has “mixed feelings each time” he looks back to his years as governor and even conceded that thoughts of scenarios of misappropriation of funds through acts of omission or commission could be “troubling” and “prick the conscience”.

Bafarawa further said: “I must confess that I entertain some mixed feelings each time I look back to my years as governor. As the executive governor of Sokoto State, I was entrusted with the resources of the people.

“Given the enormous powers of an executive governor, the temptation to transgress is always there. It is therefore possible that one may have taken one action or the other that did not serve the best interest of the general public.

“In other words, one could, through acts of omission or commission, misappropriate funds that could have gone into productive and rewarding ventures. Thoughts of scenarios such as this could be troubling. They prick the conscience. This situation, in my opinion, calls for restitution.”

These were statesmanlike introspection. But why did he choose to kill such elevated thinking by lying and pushing out totally flawed allegations against Senator Wamakko who he probably sees as a rival in the Sokoto State and Northern Nigeria’s story? Big question!!

By deliberately walking this low path, Bafarawa has failed to morph into a true statesman – beyond his puzzling, frequent self-proclamations to that arcane status. He could have become a legitimate heir to several Northern sages who seized their milieux by the scruff of the neck and altered them for good.

But perhaps the flip side to Bafarawa’s fixation with being a statesman is in its Nollywood value, a scenario that nicely accommodates the ex-governor’s gruff humour. Nollywood-isation of Nigeria’s political space is probably a useful project in the sense of providing comic relief in a genuinely stressful socio-economic milieu.

Finally, the question still remains: which account was Bafarawa’s phantom N13billion lodged into? So long as this question is not answered, the contrived fog would continue linger on. And so also the embarrassment for Bafarawa!