BY YAHAYA KANA ONZONU
If you’re searching for a feeble defense of a failing leader, look no further than the paid government apologists who, in their attempts to justify a leader’s poor performance, will remind you that the previous leader was also bad. It becomes even more petty if such a past leader shares your background or speaks your language.
When paid apologists like this make comments, I can only shake my head in disbelief. How did public discourse become so petty? When did we lose so much of ourselves to such unreason and tomfoolery?
Today, Governor Abdullahi Sule is at the helm in Nasarawa State. We shall judge him by his stewardship, looking at so many factors including but not limited to the financial resources at his disposal, the state of the polity and the socioeconomic situation of the governed.
Therefore, to argue that those who share the same language as the first executive governor of Nasarawa State for instance, should hold their tongues because he didn’t transform the state into Dubai is not only the weakest defense of the current leader; it also indicts him.
Individuals put themselves forward for leadership, write manifestoes, travel the entire state to convince people to give them a chance to do better than the previous administration and not use past leaders as a barometer of failure.
Those of us who criticised Abdullahi Adamu during or after his tenure did so not because of his identity but because we wanted better governance. We held his predecessors Tanko Al-Makura and late Akwe Doma to the same standards.
So, let no one guilt-trip you into silence because of your religion or tribe. We seek leadership that drives progress and development. When that is threatened, we must speak truth to power, no matter whose ox shall be gored.
Take, for example, the poorly constructed Kokona-Kufei Gwari road and the recent announcement that a mining company has committed millions of dollars to mine solid minerals in Agwada. Is this not absurd? That road was shoddily built despite prior knowledge of the area’s mineral potential.
Yet, in announcing the investment, publicists hailed the governor as the man opening up the state to investors forgetting that infrastructure plays the biggest part. Nasarawa LGA, specifically the stretch between Nasarawa town and Mararaba-Udege are today bustling with expatriate miners because president Buhari opened up the area with the Loko – Oweto connecting road.
This is why I’m convinced that rural infrastructure is the biggest chance of development we have. That Nasarawa state holds blessings beyond anyone’s imagination is not in doubt. But, you must reach it before you take it. It’s the reason why I will never support some over hyped, needless over/underpass over much needed arterial roads and connecting bridges – modernisation – beautification and all.
Again, it is why I must put it on record that some of us can’t be guilt-tripped into silence. We shall rise above guilt-tripping and challenge bad governance. Thank God we even criticised Abdullahi Adamu for his failings, proving that for us, this is not personal. If you find our resolve worrisome, well, you know what to do…
Onzonu writes from Eloyi Mba-odama!
