Opinion
El-Rufai’s Despotism Will End May 29
By Israel Bulus, Kaduna
By May 29, 2023, the despotic reign of the Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, will come to an abysmal end.
He stands in perfect comparison with the famous Adolf Hitler, not only in size but in the manner he ran his government that was fraught with anti-people policies which led to the unavoidable death of many citizens of the state.
With Saturday, 18th March, 2023 Governorship and Houses of Assembly election approaching, every citizen of Kaduna State is hereby availed of yet another opportunity to participate and vote in credible leaders that will heal the present wounds of disillusionment and despair for distraught communities of Kaduna State.
There’s no doubt saying that the 8-year tenure of Governor el-Rufai has been hell on earth for most citizens and residents in Kaduna State who have experienced unprecedented hardship under the present administration. His administration has been trailed with fierce agony and anti-people policies that have thrown many into the pit of abject poverty and homelessness.
It is on record that residents in the State only experienced el-Rufai’s full executive powers as demonstrated by the government’s deployment of raw power on innocent and defenceless citizens who were turned into soft targets for terrorists determined to turn our villages and towns into killing fields and decimating our once thriving communities.
For instance, communities in Birnin-Gwari on several occasions raised the alarm of imposition of levies by these terror groups before being allowed to harvest their farm produce. In some instances, they were forced to pay levies for protection as government security looked the other way without confronting those that have sworn to wipe out indigenous people from their ancestral lands.
Governor el-Rufai’s reign can be compared with that of an Egyptian pharaoh whose words were law as he equally displayed lack of empathy in the manner he treated citizens with disdain devoid of respect to the sanctity of life.
Governor el-Rufai had, during his inaugural speech in 2015, said:
“I pledge to do all that is humanly possible to move our dear state forward, beginning from today. As soon as I am sworn into office and constitute a state executive council, we shall begin work to meet your expectations of positive change.
“We are aware of your justifiably high expectations of our government. We will do our utmost to meet them. But we shall need your patience, sacrifice and support as we reform Kaduna state institutions to instill a culture of probity that insists on value for money that ensures that government procurement occurs at the most cost effective level and encourages personal responsibility. We will do whatever is humanly possible to fulfill the promises in our manifesto. Our commitment to transparency will be manifest as we reform the public sector to be an efficient deliverer of services.”
The 2015 inauguration speech, described by Nigerians as touching on critical issues that confront Kaduna State, earned el-Rufai national encomiums and filled Kaduna citizens with the hope for a new day. However, with the passing years, el-Rufai’s rule turned draconian and the economy declined, culminating into the collapse of many small scale businesses.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) took over the reins of power with great hope that Kaduna State, considered the heart of Northern Nigeria, was poised to recapture the greatness of the past. But just a few years later, el-Rufai started showing flashes of the brutal, authoritarian ruler he would become.
I think the legacy of el-Rufai’s life will be one of a leader who had so much, but missed so many opportunities and never used the knowledge he had for his own people. He has turned out to be a governor who has ruined his own state and denied it of the promised greatness.
In 2014, Bondong community in Kaura and some communities in Sanga Local Government Areas experienced the worst ruthless attacks under the administration of Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero. The incessant attacks unleashed by criminal groups dashed the hope of the Southern Kaduna people. The election of the Zaria-born quantity surveyor was seen as the only option in dealing with the monster of insecurity ravaging our communities.
Southern Kaduna and other parts of the state felt that el-Rufai’s emergence as governor would bring hope and heal their wounds. But it turned out to be a disaster. The same region he got a House of Representatives member and four State House of Assembly members, the first time since 1999, he turned against them.
Since the dawn of this broken democracy in 1999, el-Rufai remains the only opposition party that scored almost 45 percent votes from the Southern Kaduna region. His tenure has been characterised with untold hardship, poverty, communities destroyed either by bandits or government demolition of houses at wee hours.
Journalists and human right activists have become endangered species. They were treated with disdain under the dictatorial rule of the governor. Not less than 23,000 teachers, nearly 5,000 district heads and village heads have been sacked. The level of insecurity has gone over the skies and those who resigned or retired from the public service are yet to be paid their benefit.
The sacking of district heads and inability to cover the vacuum has worsened the security situation in the state. In a state that requires constant monitoring of communities, the sacking of these monarchs has left the state bereft of traditional supervisors and monitors of state security
To mentioned but a few, it was under el-Rufai’s watch that over 100 students of Bethel Baptist Science School, Green Field University students, two Nurses in Idon General Hospital, Students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Mando, and Train Passengers were kidnapped, while some gruesomely murdered.
Southern Kaduna over the last 8-years of the Governor el-Rufai administration was known as an enclave of bloodshed and tears, following persistent mass murder of farmers in bloody attacks described by the government as ethnic clashes. It is on record that the Kaduna State Government has not brought any attacker to justice over the incessant bloody attacks unleashed by criminal groups in the state.
One of the most deadly of such unprovoked attacks were the one that occurred on September 26 in Madamai community, and 18th December, 2022, all in Kaura Local Government Area of the state where a total of 90 people were killed, and no fewer than 200 houses burnt. It is unfortunate the el-Rufai administration has remained handicapped in the face of the mass killing of defenceless villagers.
The carnage of the past eight years has been senseless and cruel, just as the flood of bloodshed has continued unabated, leading to tens of thousands fleeing to Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps in search for refuge and succour in their own ancestral lands.
Kaduna citizens are yearning for a leadership that will restore their hope, sanity and never experience the reign of despotism. Come next Saturday, march 18, Kaduna State citizens must unite and throw away a reign of impunity that was unleashed on the state eight years ago.
We must try to reclaim our state from forces that seek to divide us on the basis of ethnicity and religion.
By Suleiman Hassan Gimba Esq
I do not speak for Buni, for I am neither the voice nor the vessel of government. I do not speak for the flyover, for I am neither its foundation nor its asphalt. And I do not speak for the detractors of the flyover, for I am neither their echo nor their intent.
But I do speak for myself—as a citizen who will drive on this flyover and the existing roads in Yobe.
I speak as a husband, as a potential father who understands that government policies shape my ability to provide for my family. The roads I travel, the infrastructure around me, and the decisions made in government halls all influence my capacity to build a future where my child can grow in safety and my wife can nurture them in a stable, supportive environment.
I do not speak for power, nor for opposition—I speak for the everyday man whose life is shaped by these choices, for the citizen who desires not just development in name but development that truly serves the people.
As a child, I struggled to grasp the saying, “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.” One of my teachers at FECOET Demonstration Secondary School, Prof. Adam M. Abubakar, used to say it often.
It was plain, simple, and straightforward, yet my young mind could not understand how failing to plant during the rainy season meant sowing the seeds of hunger in the dry season. But I have since come to understand that development that truly serves the people is built on planning.
I have followed the political career of His Excellency Mai Mala Buni, and I hope to write a book about him one day, for his is a career rooted in planning.
Everywhere he goes, he excels. There was a clear plan when he was a Special Adviser to the Governor, there was one when he led the APC, and there is a bold one in his leadership of Yobe State. The APC enjoyed its best days under his watch; he was National Secretary of the first and only opposition party in Nigeria’s history to defeat a sitting president; he was Chairman of the Caretaker Committee that rescued the APC from implosion.
The importance of planning is best illustrated when comparing Abuja and Lagos. Both are Nigeria’s biggest cities, but in terms of road convenience, Abuja is far ahead. Why? Because Abuja was built with a master plan to last the ages, while Lagos has had to adapt as it grows. The roads in Abuja were constructed before congestion set in, with flyover pillars pre-installed in strategic locations, waiting for activation. Lagos did not have that foresight. Today, its people sleep in traffic, and all remedial efforts are expensive and disruptive.
It is no different with Damaturu. As urbanization increases, road congestion will become a major challenge. A flyover can significantly ease traffic, reduce travel time, and improve road safety by minimizing accident-prone intersections.
It will also enhance the work of agencies like YOROTA, YEMABUS, fire services, police, and other security bodies by allowing them to move more efficiently.
I cannot speak for the flyover, but I can speak for large infrastructure projects. I have been around long enough to know that such projects create employment, directly and indirectly. The flyover will not only provide construction jobs but will also stimulate economic activity by improving connectivity. It sits on roads that link at least three other local governments, another state, and three neighboring countries. Property values around it will rise, increasing local wealth and boosting Internally Generated Revenue through modernized property taxation under YOGIS.
And what is Damaturu if not our own Abuja, our own FCT? Whether we acknowledge it or not, the city will experience population growth and commercial expansion. What we can decide is whether we prepare for it—and H.E. Mai Mala Buni is doing just that. Strip Dubai of its infrastructure, and it is nothing but a Yusufari in the Middle East. We, too, must build the kind of infrastructure that attracts investment.
What many may not realize is that the flyover will actually save them money—on fuel, on vehicle maintenance. Smoother traffic flow means lower fuel consumption and less wear-and-tear on vehicles. It also means reduced carbon emissions due to less idling in traffic, aligning with the governor’s environmental sustainability plan and the broader Damaturu Development Plan.
What we can hope for is transparency in budgeting, procurement, and contract execution to ensure that the project is completed on time and to standard.
To close this write-up, I return once more to my childhood—boring, I know. I grew up seeing the NPN shops in Potiskum. Built in the late ’70s and early ’80s, they were the first all-concrete, fire-resistant shops in Nigeria. At the time, many saw them as wasteful and too ambitious. But today, development has caught up with them. No one stands at Kasuwan NPN and questions whether we were ready for them.
The same will be said of the five modern markets built by His Excellency Mai Mala Buni, the Potiskum Cattle Market, and now, the flyover. These projects will stand the test of time. And though I can never speak for Buni, they will speak for him—because they were planned with the people in mind. And when they start improving lives, the people will listen. The people will rejoice. Years and decades may pass, but these projects will remain, honoring the man who built them and serving the people he holds dear.
By Jumai Ahmadu
It is no longer news that there was an altercation between Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, but what it underscores is how women in elective positions in Nigeria continue to face severe under-representation.
Senator Natasha Akpoti, who was almost suspended from parliament by the Senate President, is just one out of similar cases in the recent past. Sen. Ireti Kingibe and Sen. Remi Tinubu (now First Lady) all had bitter experiences at the upper chamber.
It is in the light of these awful experiences that Seat Reservation for Women Bill by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, becomes urgent to only boost gender parity, but to unlock national prosperity of which women are a critical segment of.
Nigerian women’s political engagement in Nigeria has quantitatively shown that there is grossly low levels of female election to the National Assembly. The issue of female electiveness is one of myriad of issues women face in Nigeria – poor economic power, discrimination, cultural and religious inhibitions as well as societal biases.
The very notion that the country’s political sphere since 1999 has not witnessed any seismic shift in terms of gender equity and parity rather has remained largely dominated by men despite several efforts by both government and the private sector to enhance women participation and representation in elective politics does not inspire confidence in terms of inclusion and diversity.
A statistical report in 2017 on women and men in Nigeria shows that representation of high-ranking government officials with decision-making powers is heavily lopsided in favour of men. The representation of women in the 9th Assembly is not a significant improvement from past Assemblies.
In 1999, sixteen (16) women were elected into the National Assembly with thirteen (13) in the House of Representatives and three (3) in the Senate. The total number increased to 25 in 2003 with twenty-one (21) in the House and four (4) in the Senate.
The highest number of women ever to be elected into the National Assembly is thirty (36) in 2007 with twenty-seven (27) in the House and nine (9) in the Senate. Since then, there has been a steady decline to thirty-two (32) in 2011, twenty-nine (29) in 2015 and seventeen (17) in 2019.
In the 9th National Assembly, there were eight (8) female Senators (7.3%) and thirteen (13) female Members of the House of Representatives (3.6%), which represents 4.5% of the entire Assembly.
The 10th Assembly has women occupying four (4) out of 109 seats (2.7%) in the Senate and 17 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives (4.7%), which represents 4.2% of the 469-member Assembly.
Therefore, after seven general election cycles since 1999, the number of women in the Senate has dropped to what it was at Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.
It is thus significant to note that the cumulative percentage of women in the two chambers of Nigeria’s incoming 10th National Assembly is below 5%. It is also important to note that no woman was elected in 15 out of Nigeria’s 36 State Houses of Assembly following the state level general elections in March 2023.
With current figures for the 10th National Assembly, Nigeria shamefully places at the lowest neighborhood of the ranking of countries on women in public leadership especially African Parliaments.
The National Assembly must take action to support increase in the number of women represented in government by passing the specific Constitution Alteration bills to achieve this.
The Temporary Special Measures bill, with more than 80 other House of Representatives members co-sponsoring it, was debated but failed to pass in the 9th Assembly. It is instructive that women groups are continuing work on the bill in the current 10th National Assembly and needs to work harder not to lose this opportunity again.
Women’s lack of adequate participation in legislative processes has negatively impacted promotion and enforcement of their rights, and despite the low representation of women in the National Assembly, the bills sponsored by female legislators has had significant impact on the lives of all Nigerians. Men’s efforts, if any, to promote these rights are not sufficient, because they are not direct beneficiaries.
Structural biases and barriers to women’s political participation indicate that the few women who show active interest in politics are discouraged by factors that include prevailing gender stereotypes, cultural/religious reasons, unfavourable political environment, lack of financial capacity, electoral violence and restrictive party structures and processes, amongst others.
Political hurdles, socio-cultural issues such as patriarchy, religious dogma, and conventional views of women in politics and socio-economic hurdles such as low income, lack of resources, electoral processes and political party structures, have all been identified as barriers to women’s political engagement.
While women are making significant contributions to Nigerian politics, their representation in political and decision-making positions needs to be improved.
And 30 years after the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) we are nowhere near the 35% affirmative action.
Women groups plan to participate in the 69th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Conference scheduled to hold March 10 to 21, 2025.
The main focus of the sixty-ninth session will be on the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly.
It is therefore recommended that the country’s 35 per cent affirmative action for women’s representation in politics be codified into law. Having legislation that requires government at all levels to have at least 35 per cent representation of women in appointive public service positions will be a good way to engender greater participation of women in politics.
Considering the importance of their presence in governance, we urge women in public leadership to stand firm and continue representing their constituents. They should never ever lose their voice, but rather continue to stand strong in your commitment to citizens and prove that representation matters.
Dr. Jumai Ahmadu is the Acting Director, Reform Coordination and Service Improvement Department, of the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF
The history of abandoned nation’s city centre roads by the previous administration’s was brought to a halt, soon after the assumption of office of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and appointment of Hon Minister, Nyesom Wike as the handler of the FCT in May , 2023.
Not long after his announcement and swearing as Minister of FCT, Wike visibly disturbed with the state of decayed infrastructure in the Federal Capital Territory FCT, particularly the state of roads across all Areas, sessions, districts, Zones and locations swung into action by embarking on major roads repairs , resumption of construction, embarking on new ones that was commissioned during the first year anniversary of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu under his Renewed Hope Agenda.
The massive repairs by the Nyesom Wike led Federal Capital Territory made both major and linkages of roads weared a new look and brought fresh air to motorists, travelers, pedestrians among many other road users across the FCT.
As at January 2025, Wike had not only completed most of the nations city roads , but connecting them with high capacity fly over bridges across areas abandoned for many decades as part of the master plan and opening up roads in the rural areas of the six area councils of Abaji , Kwali, Gwagwalada, Kuje , AMAC and Bwari areas.
Major and adjoining roads across the six area councils with those abandoned for many years close to a decade have been reconstructed between weeks and months returning back to these areas good life of motorable roads to the area councils.
His style of leadership in the area of roads construction across the nooks and crannies of FCT including the interior part of the councils was the engagement of construction companies in each of the six area councils, with allocation of roads to be constructed in batches with no time limit, but to ensure good motorable roads in the six area councils with a dedicated funds of about 300Billion approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to revive rural roads across the six FCT area councils.
Twenty one months down the line , the improved infrastructure and roads construction has improved and competing favorably with those of the nations city, that was once a cynosure and shadow of itself due to leadership without foresight in the previous administrations.
The implications of the provision of good roads across the nations city and area councils has reduced to the barest minimum the influx of people from all walks of life into the city centre, as people now found comfort at area councils as a result of good network of roads and Infrastructural development.
Wike road projects all over the FCT has also linked many towns and villages to the FCT from Nasssarawa, Niger , Kogi among many other states reducing the high cost of renting houses in the city centre, as people have found refuge in area councils with network of good roads and cheap accommodation against the cut throat prices at the city centre.
The FCT Minister under Nyesom Wike has changed the narration of construction of one fly over for many years in the city centre, and construction of only one rural road in the area councils as FCT intervention projects.
Currently over ten flyovers are undergoing construction, reconstruction and completion in the FCT, while area councils has witnessed roads construction of more than ten areas in each councils with the stationing of construction companies in each area councils.
Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has brought a new lease of life to residents and occupants of FCT through the infrastructure upgrade by reconstructing and re-awarding and construction of new roads in the nations city.
Written BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF on yus.abubakar3@gmail.com.