By Muhammadu Dan Sa’idu
My attention was drawn to a newspaper opinion article titled Dear Governor Abba Kabir, Beware of Waiya authored by one Isma’il Auwal.
Ordinarily, I may not have bothered to respond to the baseless submissions of the author, but silence in the face of falsehood and misrepresentation of issues amounts to consent and endorsement of such reckless personal attacks on innocent law-abiding citizens who by share destiny were called to serve his people.
The writer in the figment of his imagination thinks he can rubbish the decision of His Excellency, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf in choosing one of the best brains in the civil society community, Comrade Ibrahim Waiya to serve as a member of the State Executive Council and Commissioner of Information and Internal Affairs.
This is in addition to other ad-hoc assignments such as the Chairmanship of the High-Powered Committee on the profiling of CSOs and NGOs in Kano State.
From the submission of Isma’il, it is clear that the writer lacks even elementary knowledge of how government works and how decisions are made.
Also, it was clear the writer was acting a script of some unpatriotic and unscrupulous elements who are not pleased with the sterling performance of Comrade Waiya since he assumed office as the state Commissioner of Information.
Moreover, the writer didn’t only show personal hatred and envy for Comrade Waiya but went so low as to attempt to arm-twist the Governor into sacking the workaholic, vibrant, energetic, and creative Commissioner.
This is uncharitable and uncouth for someone claiming to be a member of an enlightened society, the CSO.
The write-up was populated with fat lies, misrepresentation of facts, and attempts to ignite an in-house inferno among the appointees of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.
The writer failed to rewrite history by refusing to acknowledge the contributions of Comrade Waiya who was one of the leaders of the CSOs that stood behind Governor Abba Kabir in the 2019 and 2023 political and legal struggles to ensure justice was done in the face of glaring attempts to deny justice for the people of Kano State.
Contextually, the write-up was a
U-turn against earlier resistance and rejection of the state high-powered committee on the profiling of CSOs and NGOs by some dishonest, unrealistic individuals claiming to be speaking for the CSO/ NGO communities.
This is because, having failed to arm-twist, blackmail and intimidate the state government to rescind its decisions on the creation of the committee by dissolving and discarding the idea of profiling the CSOs and NGOs, the sponsors of the move resort to personal attacks on the Chairman of the Committee and Honourable Commissioner of Information, Comrade Ibrahim Waiya.
It is clear that the battle for the disbanding the High-Powered Committee was dead on arrival hence the resort to attack on the personality of the Chairman of the Committee.
This too will definitely fail as the Governor has high confidence in the ability of Comrade Waiya to deliver on assignments given to him with optimum results.
This is even more instructive going by the excellent performance of Comrade Waiya since he assumed duty as the state Commissioner for Information.
Clearly, credible and genuine CSOs and NGOs don’t have any problem with both the profiling and the composition of the Committee let alone its Chairman. This is because as the saying goes ‘only the guilty are afraid’.
Now we know, those that are likely to be exposed by the committee are the ones spearheading the move to cause confusion and distract the government from undertaking this all-important assignment.
In the argument of the author of the sponsored attacks on the personality of Comrade Waiya, he argued that Comrade Waiya was a wrong choice for the job. I beg to disagree, this clearly shows the naivety of the writer who failed to understand that for Waiya to be so appointed as a Commissioner, he has indeed undergone serious security due diligence and received all the necessary clearance less more of an ad-hoc committee work either as Chairman or a member.
For the benefit of the author of the ill-fated opinion article, committee Chairmanship of any sort doesn’t bestow absolute power on the Chairman.
In the instant case, it is even an insult for the committee and the government that formed it to insinuate that the Chairman will use the platform to settle scores and advance his vindictive agenda.
I urge Isma’il Auwal to apologize to the committee.
This is because looking at the composition of the committee, the Chairman, Waiya is too small to outsmart them. Please Isma’il, I urge you to be humble and apologize to the committee for portraying them to be a willing tool in the hands of Comrade Waiya.
This is disgusting, reprehensible, and irrational of you.
On citing some government appointees such as Sanusi Bature, Iro Ma’aji, and Muhiyi Magaji by Isma’il Auwal in his write-up, this is tantamount to igniting an in-house unhealthy rivalry that will not do anyone any good thereby distracting the government.
In this regard, I expect the aforementioned appointees to caution the writer, demand a retraction, and dissociate themselves from the write-up. That is the only way to ensure cohesion and unity of purpose in serving the good-hearted people of Kano State under the government of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf. Anything to the contrary will send a wrong signal.
As for the genuine, law-abiding and
patriotic CSOs and NGOs, it is expected that you will rise to the occasion and support the High-Powered Committee on Profiling to undertake its assignment diligently to sanitize your operations for the common good of all.
Dan Sa’idu writes from Hotoro Quarters, Kano
