A WAKE UP CALL TO GOVERNOR KASHIM SHETTIMA BY TUKUR MISHELIA

Inspired by the words of Mahatma Gandi; “Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.”  We the members of Borno Concerned Citizens  deem it necessary to use this forum to draw your attention to the inherent danger Borno is fast falling into and the necessity to curtail it. Borno, historically, has survived through a lot of adversities, and the Boko Haram misfortune would soon be a thing of the past Insha Allah. However, it would amount to a great disservice if the state government would constitute itself into another misfortune to the people of Borno.

Your administration came into office with a lot of hopes and expectations, riding on the political capital of the just concluded elections, then. There was this belief that you had the capacity to deliver the dividends of democracy to Borno, consolidate and even surpass past administrations. Three years down the line, we were left in total despair and utter disbelief of happenings around you and your Government. Apparently miffed  by your continued use of the current security situation as a ruse to deny the good people of Borno State any tangible dividends of democracy since your assumption of office, we felt duty bound to bring some of these pertinent issues to the fore. We are of the deep conviction that all the claims of your government in relation to the funding of the war on insurgency cannot be substantiated. The claims are not only outlandish, bogus, but evidently preposterous. As Patriots, we believe that the electoral fortunes of the APC in the State could be irretrievably compromised unless and until we check this morbid retrogression. We have resolved to set up  a platform to work unrelentingly to address the derailment from the enviable position of things during the time of the previous Administrations.

Though your emergence as the gubernatorial candidate of the ANPP in 2011 was circumstantial and a child of necessity, one would have thought  that in the past three (3) years, you ought to have found your feet and hit the ground running, but alas, that was not the case. What is even more baffling is that you were a key member of the Government that handed over to you and the good people of Borno State looked forward to building upon the firm foundations laid by  Sen. Ali Sheriff’s  administration. We are at a lost as to why your Government could be this insensitive, aloof to the needs of our people and yet be in the thick of frolicking with some of APC’s performing Governors like that of Lagos, Edo, Kano and even our next door neighbour Yobe, without batting an eyelid. The giant steps taken by your contemporaries to better the lot of their people cut no ice with you. Look at what Kano has achieved within the same period. Kano is also facing security challenges, but the government was able to rally its citizens through purposeful leadership. Governor Kwankwaso is not a magician. Today the city of Maiduguri is a shamble of its own shadows, very dirty, unkempt and always gridlocked. The entire state is begging for infrastructure left, right & centre. No thanks to your vision. Your Excellency, most of the infrastructural developments you promised during your campaigns were not  initiated, talk less of delivery. It is unfortunate that you allowed the euphoria of being a Governor with its associated paraphernalia becloud your sense of judgement.    We are dismayed that, at every turn you feel the urge to whip emotions, you choose to shed tears at public outings in respect to happenstances in the course of the insurgency challenges. And to our chagrin, how do you explain your actions of crying soberly in Konduga, and throwing money on the streets on your way back? Are you celebrating cheap political points scored at Konduga or what? It is becoming too obvious, that you are out to play with peoples’ emotions. Else, we don’t see any reason why anybody would throw money after sincerely shedding tears in Konduga, except under an influence. Crying does not solve problems. No, it doesn’t. Be a leader, give purposeful leadership, leaders do not cry always, leaders take charge. Let your followers see the courage in you, not giving them a sign of weakness and hopelessness. If Mandela could give hope and leadership while in prison, what stops you from doing so in the comfort of being a State Governor? It might surprise you to note that till date, you can boast of commissioning only a few insignificant projects, which were of little value to the lives of our teeming populace. We challenge you to mention  meaningful projects that were initiated, completed and commissioned by your administration, if any.

At times, we wonder if you are not an Agent Provocateur, in the fold of the APC but at heart a die-hard opposition apologetic. If not, why could the present administration act the ostrich, pretending all is well, while nothing is being done to meet the yearnings of the people? The good works left on ground by Sen. Ali Sheriff; a debt free and buoyant treasury, a united and stable political structure are now suffering from apparent neglect. The members of the Borno State Executive Council and your Aides have not been helping matters either, rather than focus on pursuing programs and policies that have direct bearing on the lives of the people, they are busy helping themselves, wherever the opportunity presented itself. This is the order of the day. Until we begin to get public office holders who will not accumulate illicit fortunes and displaying them lavishly in disregard to public sensitivities in a manner depicting the Mafiaso cult life styles, peoples’ perception of your administration will remain negative. Our jolly Governor, what happened to your banking background? The majority of the people are not happy with the way things are going under your stewardship. We expected a result oriented leadership with focus and prudence. It is really a pitiable situation, where a few opportunists swim in unimaginable lucre, no thanks to your carefree  posture, while the bulk majority of our people live in abject poverty. The deplorable condition of living and palpable fear of instability, all due to lack of your political will to truly  meet the yearnings and aspirations of the electorate is detrimental to development. It is on record that there has never been a time where the people of Borno have experienced abject poverty like present time, ironically, it is also alleged that there has never been a time where the treasury of Borno was looted like present time. Poverty in the midst of plenty!

Take a cursory look at the score card of your counterparts in Kano and Yobe and ponder how, despite the same insurgency challenges, they were able to achieve a lot. Your excuse has always been that due to the security challenges, the Government could not do anything worth saying. Please tell that to the marines; and not the discerning, but resilient people of Borno state, again. Now back to the  basics, granted that your  Government  indeed gave   so much  in assisting  the security agents in the fight against insurgency, still that cannot explain why with a  whopping sum of about Sixty Seven Billion Naira (₦67, 000,000,000.00) left to you by the past administration in 2011, One Hundred and Thirty Billion Six Hundred and Six Million Six Hundred and Seventy Four thousand Naira (₦130,606,674,000.00) in 2012, and One Hundred and Eighty Four Billion Three Hundred and Seven Million Nine Hundred and Ninety Two Thousand Two Hundred and Forty Four Naira. (₦184,307,992,244.00) in 2013 and yet, you cannot point to a single reasonable project that was successfully executed. We find it myopic and totally infantile that some of your spokesmen could even quip out that your inability to touch the lives of Borno People is as a result of interference from your mentor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, please in this 21st century,  no one  in his right senses would take such blatant bunkum. The buck stops at your desk. We have painstakingly studied your policy direction and come to the firm incontrovertible  conclusion, that your Administration’s policy thrust has been lopsided. These are clearly demonstrated in the pattern of recent employments carried out in Ramat Polytechnic, where the ratio favours one ethnic group over others.  Also, in your sham overseas training program, of which merit ought to be the determinant factor, has been jettisoned with only family and friends as the beneficiaries. Recently, you doled out the sum of One Hundred Million Naira (₦100, 000, 000.00) to  victims of insurgency and waited till massive relief materials arrived Konduga, before you left the vicinity. Whereas similar incidents have occurred in some parts of Gwoza, Hawul, Damboa and Biu and this was not the case. Till date the affected people are yet to get any gesture or relief materials from you. Could it be you forgot that they are also part and parcel of the state? Or are they victims of their geographical locations? As a Governor, we need not to remind you that you should be able to comport yourself well always, exhibit decorum and act stoically like a father-figure of all Borno People. This manner of selective treatment and open discrimination does not augur well in our quest to build a cohesive society in the State. Your Excellency, it seems you are getting it all wrong, because of the erroneous belief that  since President  Goodluck  Ebele Jonathan is  the Commander in-Chief of the Armed  Forces of Nigeria, the lingering insecurity problem in the Country, would leave the electorates  in Borno State with no choice but to accept anybody the APC can hoist on them even though we are not sure it could be you. Hence, you treat issues of very serious concern with disdain. Let it be clear to you that Borno people generally are very conscious of their rights and moreso, with this your despicable poor score card, you are inadvertently becoming a huge political liability to the APC. As APC faithfuls and keen on ensuring  that we maximize the fortunes of the party come 2015, we have taken up the gauntlet and would have no choice than to wake you up  from your deep slumber to the stark reality on ground.  If you can make amends, let us see,  else we feel the party must begin earnestly to look for a credible person who will meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people of Borno State. Take a pause and ponder on what your mentor and predecessor Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff achieved in his first tenure with less than what  have accrued to your Administration. However, in view of the foregoing and in the best interest of our great party the APC, do heed the following advice, if not our worst fears would be confirmed; Immediately take some proactive measures to check  the alleged wanton  mismanagement  of public funds in the state by your megalomaniac commissioners, aides and other top public officers. A despicable culture is setting in, where public officers brazenly busy themselves, even during office hours, imbibing drugs as you stated in DailyPost online newspaper of 27th June, 2013 “I have Drug addicts in my cabinet”, yet we have not seen or heard that members of your cabinet are either resigning, were sacked from office or checked into a Rehab centre for indulging in drug abuse and related cases, hence this must be nipped in the bud. News making the rounds reveal that these corps of unscrupulous public officers are using their ill-gotten wealth to build Mansions, petrol stations and openly displaying their opulence while the vast majority of our people are wallowing in penury and abject poverty. This sordid state of affairs fuels social discontent and explains why the menace of insurgency in the state, instead of abating, has become a recurring decimal. Our mission statement is to enlighten the people on how your Administration has short changed them, rubbished the goodwill enjoyed by your mentor and predecessors and ensure a return to the path of sanity and good governance. Wake up and get started, for soon enough, the time of reckoning will be at hand.
LONG LIVE NIGERIA LONG LIVE BORNO STATE

SIGNED TUKUR MSHELIA BORNO CONCERNED CITIZENS