By Adamu Mai-bödi
The last thing any well-meaning son of katagum zone will do is to draw a battle line between katagum Local Government (Azare town to be precise) and the other six LGAs of Zaki, Jama’are, Itas/GAdau, Shira, Giade and Gamawa. Unfortunately, this is the destructive mission some unscrupulous elements embark upon.
An article published by the Leadership Newspaper on August 18, 2020 credited to one Jibrin Alhassan, a writer not known to anybody in Azare, titled; Katagum Zone: “Who Will Rescue Other LGAs From Grip Of Azare Politicians?” The mysterious writer aggressively attacked Azare politicians and accused them of marginalization and or domination that has reached exploitative levels. Hence the reason why the zone’s unity and agitation for governorship always crumbles.
Believe this, you will believe anything. You don’t need rocket science to see the glaring elephant in the room and understand this is the handiwork of political entrepreneurs, whose blueprint is only a divide-and-rule strategy.
They always come with a hypocritical theory of; Azare is dominating everything meant for Katagum zone, thereby fanning the flame of disunity and discrimination between our people and carting away the gullible ones on their bandwagon of deceit and empty promises.
This is the only leverage that kept them in political arena, not their popularity or any feat recorded in the service of people.
Let me rejig the memories of whoever the writer is and that of his benefactors, I believe they are suffering from dementia. Katagum zone has intentionally or otherwise been sharing political placements between the seven LGAs ever since it’s creation.
It may interest you to know that the first Executive Governor of Bauchi State and the only governor produced by the zone, Tatari Ali was from Zaki, Abdulmalik Mahmoud from Itas/Gadau was given the deputy governor’s slot on a platter of gold by Alhaji Kaulaha Aliyu, where he served for 8yrs with Adamu Mu’azu.
The late Babayo Garba Gamawa was a deputy governor for 3yrs and later a Senator for another 4yrs, Nazif Gamawa served as the zone’s Senator for 8yrs, Nuhu Gidado from Jama’are was a deputy governor for 2yrs until his resignation. Prior to the democratic governance Hamza Sakuwa was a minister from Zaki LG, Prof G L Abdullahi was a minister from Itas/Gadau.
Yayale Ahmed a former SGF and Defense Minister is from shira LGA. Amb Tuggar from Gamawa is currently in office for another tenure of 4yrs, Justice Tanko, the Chief Judge of the Federation is from Giade, etc. etc.
Speaking about current politicking in the zone, the writer alleged that there are about seven gubernatorial aspirants under the banner APC from Azare Town, but he wittingly mentioned only those that decamped to PDP.
Meanwhile ignoring the original APC members like Captain Bala JIbrin who are equally aspiring for the seat. This gives away the writers clear intent, which is to campaign for a particular candidate that is in the APC from the beginning and who held from outside Azare Town.
Because the scope of his attack is limited to Azare people, specifically the PDP decampees, probably for the fear of their political prowess that cannot be overcome by a seasonal politician.
I’m not oblivious to the fact that there are cracks here and there, which we tend to amend, but the mysterious writer’s attack on Malam Adamu Adamu, kaulaha Aliyu, Maryam Katagum, Adamu Bulkacuwa, Dr Musa Babayo, Farouk Mustapha and Tijjani Aliyu betrayed his intention of hiding behind Azare-Others dispute to promote their selfish aggrandizement.
This amplifies that the writer and his benefactors are only concerned about the 2023 gubernatorial candidature not the interest of other LGAs as dubiously implied.
It is on record that Katagum LGA has been sharing the local government chair between Azare, Chinade, and Madara since the return of democracy. So also, the state house of assembly membership has been a subject of unwritten zoning between Azare and Madangala.
Even the mighty majority leader who caught the writer’s eye for reasons I’m yet to comprehend, held from Madangala village not Azare. With this concatenation, I believe no sane person from Katagum zone would ever again fall into the trap of these agents of disunity.
The person or persons behind this attempted disruption of our effort to solidify the unity and brotherhood in Katagum Zone should please desist from doing so, because they will insha-Allah never succeed.
Our people have gotten wiser now, no seasonal politician or political entrepreneur that appears in the zone only at the dawn of elections can easily fool or lure them into a rat track.
Believe you me, those of us that can read between the lines are very much aware of the hidden sponsors of this heinous act against our zone.
I wish, the people of katagum will ignore those prophets of doom and keep working and praying toward our unity in order to have sound leadership that will pave way for us to champion a common agenda for the greater good of all.
Adamu Bello Mäi-bödi
Writes from Gidado Bombiyo Residence
K/Kaji Azare.
