Vice President Namadi Sambo (aka Namadina),
the one half of the Jonathan/ Sambo ticket hails from Kaduna State. This is no news. It is also no news anymore that the guy have
been going round the country pretending to be reciting Al-Fatiha in his effort
to woo the Muslim voters in the mistaken belief or mischief that Goodluck
Jonathan is not acceptable to them because he is a Christian. I am not aware if anyone had ever doubted
that. His recitation of the Fatiha and
his attempt at appealing to the religious sentiments of the northern voters,
whose minds have been made to kick him out of the Villa, appears pathetic and
dangerous. In his desperation to remain
the lapdog of those holding the president and the presidency hostage, he was
(is) oblivious of the danger in his antics – putting a tinderbox at the brittle
feet of an already polarised society.
But thank God, instead of establishing his religious bonafides, the man
only succeeded in exposing his ignorance.
Allah wadan naka ya lalace. The buffoonery must be maintained in
order to divert the attention of his constituents from his disastrous
failure. It is now apparent to all,
including the clown, that he is an unmitigated catastrophe to us.
The vice president might have resorted to
these base levels because there is nothing he can tell or show his immediate
constituency (the north) on what their government did for the region or even
Kaduna State. While he was busy
escorting Patience Jonathan to parties and jamborees, the northern region was
systematically decimated in all spheres due to the policies of a government he
pretends to be the second in command. The
northeast is ravaged by Boko Haram, the north central is devastated by a
contrived farmers/ herders' clash and the northwest is overwhelmed by
banditry. In this situation, how can the
people thrive? It is a race for survival
daily for the inhabitants of Namadina’s region and the plight of the people is
of no concern to him.
While Goodluck and Namadina are beating
their chest on the political hustling telling those who care to listen to them how
they have developed the north by establishing almajiri schools and ten Universities in the region, majority of
northerners are dying from hunger, banditry and insurgency. Incidentally they forgot to tell us how many
of us are almajiris or for how long
ASUU went on strike and even the amount of money pumped into these Universities
for research and infrastructural development.
The fact that the Goodluck Jonathan administration decided to establish
what they call almajiri school is
denigrating to me as a person. This
policy appears to give credence to how the creek rats like Asari Dokubo see all
northerners. But I have a question or
two to Mr. Namadina on how their government treats issues of development and
progress of the north and northerners.
They claimed on several of their campaign
stops to be interested in human development of this sick part of Nigeria – the
leeches and the parasites. That is
okay. I will like to take just one human
development institution in Kaduna which was conceived and started by the late
‘Yar Adu’a – the National College for Petroleum Studies, Kaduna. This is a project that was conceived to train
management level and middle cadre officers for the Petroleum industry. Billions has already being expended on the
project. Sadly, this laudable project
was stalled from the day Jonathan and Namadina took over. Kaduna is the home state of Namadina and a lot
of their children would have had the opportunity of being trained in the sector
since the Petroleum Training Institute, Warri is a no go area for products of “almajiri” schools. Or at least since in their magnanimity they
have established almajiri schools and
almajiri Universities in the region,
they would have completed this massive project and convert it to an almajiri technical institution.
The vice president is unmindful of the
number of people whose livelihoods have been permanently destroyed because the government
deliberately starved the project of the needed funds – the contractors, the
suppliers, the petty traders and the construction workers who were all engaged
in one way or the other when the project was on-going. Some contractors have been permanently
incapacitated by the government’s failure to pay them for work done.
Another project, also in Kaduna, with life
changing and saving implications for the people is the abandoned 44 Army
Reference Hospital. This project was
also started during the ‘Yar Adu’a period.
It is supposed to be a United Nations referral hospital for troops
deployed under the UN around the flashpoints of West and Central Africa. The hospital has also been the referral
centre for the inhabitants of Kaduna since the relocation of the Ahmadu Bello
University Teaching Hospital from Kaduna to Shika in Zaria. With the ascension of Goodluck Jonathan and
Namadina Sambo, the hospital is now of the abandoned projects that litter our
landscape.
I am not sure Namadi Sambo truly knows what
development means - what can be defined as social service or provision of
infrastructure. He is either clueless or
deliberately wicked. Take the case of
the Zaria Water works. His company,
Nalado Construction Company is the major contractor for the project and Zaria
is his supposed hometown, yet he couldn’t give them water after collecting
billions of naira from the state government for that purpose. At one time he was the contractor and the
client – owner of the construction company and governor of Kaduna state.
What happened to the Kudenda power station
that is supposed to generate 215MW for the comatose industries in the state?
Yet to be completed. Gurara? The textile industry resuscitation fund? Need
I say more? These are issues to be
discussed and explained as campaign issues not reciting the Fatiha, which in
any case have been faulted by students of tajweed. These are issues to be debated at your
crooked debates organised by your agencies and hirelings. These are the things your sidekick, Ramalan
Yero should explain to the poor, long suffering people of the state and not
making inflammatory statements.
These projects are all located in Kaduna the
vice president’s home state. For someone
like me coming from Adamawa State, the rehabilitation of the Gombe – Numan –
Yola road is of paramount importance to me.
This project was awarded by the late Umaru ‘Yar Adu’a but unfortunately
the project died with him. Those who ply
the road know what I am talking about. I
do not want to take up all the issues that are supposed to be addressed by the
vice president but failed. The size of
the whole region may be heavy for him -
but Kaduna? While they are busy accusing
General Buhari of running away from ‘their’ debate, we are inviting them to our
debate. Please address the issues raised
above and then let’s start talking.
May be you can enlighten us on why the east
– west road is a permanent fixture on your weekly Federal Executive Council
meetings while the Gombe – Numan – Yola road was consigned to the dustbin; may
be we can learn more on why the insurgency in the north east is still on while
your government spends billions on an open-ended Amnesty programme for oil
thieves; on the distinction between the almajiri
school and the conventional school, who should attend which and the need for
the segregation; on why over N670billion was allocated and released for
projects in the Niger Delta region in the 2014 fiscal year and only N26billion
for the northwest.
Mr.
Namadina, let’s meet at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna for a Town Hall
style debate for us almajiris to be
enlightened by your imperial self.
No comments:
Post a Comment