Bauchi State prides itself as the citadel of modern politics in Northern Nigeria. As early as the1940s, the Western educated indigenes in the State were politically conscious and mobilised.
A very prominent figure that readily comes to mind is late Malam Saadu Zungur of blessed memory. A teacher, poet and Politician, Zungur earned his respect among his peers for his exceptional intelligence, political foresight and radical thinking in terms of approach to development which combined to fetch him the position of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s National Secretary of the National Congress for Nigerians and the Cameroons (NCNC).
He was instrumental to the radical motivation in persons like the late Malam Aminu Kano who was his known political disciple. The late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, too, was an icon in the politics of Bauchi, the North and Nigeria as a whole. He was equally radical and firm in his political beliefs.
A very known actor in the Bauchi Discussion Circle, he rose to become the first Prime Minister of Nigeria at independence in 1960. Malam Aminu Kano once wrote that he is confident that the first political office in the Northern part of Nigeria began in Bauchi with the establishment of the Bauchi Discussion Circle. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was an active member.
With these great qualifications, the people of Bauchi have often been associated with politics of reason and class. Indeed, when the Military government of Murtala/ Obasanjo decided to return the country to civilian rule in 1979, Bauchi was very active in the formation of the winning party, the National Party of Nigeria, (NPN) and got two ministerial positions after the government was formed.
Back home, maturity played out when the three zones of Bauchi, Gombe and Katagum came to a decisive agreement to produce a government that was both responsible and responsive. The end product was a powerful and mix grill of the young and the old, the experienced and the energetic, led by late Abubakar Tarari Ali and Adamu Tafawa Balewa.
The government that time left office after four years with an achievement Bauchi people are still proud of. For the avoidance of doubt, that government built a hospital for each of the 16 local governments areas of the state where there was none, a boarding secondary school for each, and more boarding secondary schools for district headquarters as well. Inter City and intra city roads were built, thousands of Bauchi indigenes were trained abroad as Doctors and Teachers.
The Bauchi State Agricultural Development Programme, bolstered by the Green Revolution of the Federal Government, revolutionaries agriculture in the state towards mechanization.
But those were the good old times. Bickering, sentiment and lack of foresight in politics has characterised Bauchi politics since the return of democracy in 1999. Young, inexperienced and selfish politicians took over the stage and muddled the focus of the people towards the pursuit of materialism, personal gain and self service dictated by and lack of understanding (or deliberate neglect) of peoples aspirations and what politics is meant to serve.
I recall how the emerging Peoples Democratic Party then, produced the young Ahmadu Adamu Muazu as Governor, amidst strong allegation of unwholesome procedure in his emergence as governor against the All Peoples Party’s elderly, experienced and politician of the old order, Adamu Tafawa Balewa.
The new government of Ahmadu Adamu Muazu did a lot to improve infrastructure especially roads, but was deficient in engendering cohesion and unity in terms of leadership values among the people. It promoted materialism instead of manners; it promoted sentiments instead of service. These, no doubt, contributed to the pursuit of shadows by the electorates instead of substance.
Hence, the Bauchi electorates no longer weigh performance of a government at election times, but other factors that add up to nothing in the pursuit for development. No wonder the same dragon consumed Ahmadu Adamu Muazu in his Senatorial bid and his political godson, Muhammad Nadada Umar who was billed to succeed him as Governor. If that could serve as a lesson, it could have served on the government that came immediately after it.
Malam Isa Yuguda, denied ticket for the same primordial political reasons by the ruling party, was massively supported by the Bauchi electorates under another party, not because they believed he would perform better than Ahmadu Adamu Muazu, but because the electorates have been made to pursue shadows instead of substance.
To the Bauchi electorates, there was no need for a yardstick then, to measure Isa Yuguda’s edge as a leader (a Federal Minister) above the success of Muhamnad Nadada Umar as an administrator (a Secretary to the Bauchi State Government). But a decision was made which was called by the people, a change.
But Isa Yuguda also used all his eight years of supposed change to further promote sentiments instead of substance. If not anything, the eight years of his rule was considered far below the eight years rule of Ahmadu Muazu in terms if performance in the areas of development. It was time for the people of Bauchi to make yet, another change.
But instead of measuring who can do best, both the ruling and major opposition parties produced candidates who have no record to measure their ability to deliver the so called dividends of democracy. One of them eventually won.
Today, after his first four years of leadership, the electorates are saying no to his continued leadership. It was a change they now crave for, and change is, once again, here. But then, the change is a repeat of what was done in 2007 and what was done in 2015. There was no indication if conscious and constructive consideration to convince a balanced mind that the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Bala Mohammed garnered the ability to perform better than the All Peoples Congress Abdullahi Abubakar.
Bauchi people denied Nadada Umar and opted for Isa Yuguda, not because there was a convincing argument that Isa Yuguda was going to be a better leader, but because the electorates were pursuing shadows instead of substance. The same thing played out in 2015. It is the same that played out now.
The politics in Bauchi state has become all time low that the electorates who voted for a candidate under no duress, now turn around, not only to disown him, but arrogantly strip him of his indigeneship.
It has just been played on MA Abubakar, it might end up being played in the near future on another candidate, may be in a worse manner. It is all part if the price for mediocrity instead of politics of substance.
Zailani Bappa can be reached at [email protected]
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect WikkiTimes’ editorial stance.
