Go for a full clean revolution in Niger State Government House -By BM Dzukogi

Go for a full blown revolution and pick a fresh character as our Deputy Governor; one who will not sit and watch; whose presence will evoke confidence and hope in the people; one who knows how the state purse works. Anything half-measure will slip us back to mediocrity and lull of the past to make our hopelessness eternal. I have two people in mind whose ascension, to my estimation, will make a new beginning for the expected overhaul of Niger State towards development. They are Yakubu Garba and Bala Kwatu.

Bala Kwatu’s thirst for development is inextinguishable which makes him a desirable character for engagement for the next generation of leaders to emerge in the unfolding scenario in Niger State. However, making him a Deputy Governor is to hold that thirst hostage as a Deputy Governor which mostly, is a warehouse of docility unless you have an active political participant like Atiku during his tenure with Obasanjo. Therefore, a future development plan and execution for the state should have Bala Kwatu as its head, away from direct government house sidon-look business. Meanwhile, Yakubu has proved to be a decent and responsible manager of human and material resources, he must be a good student of politics to have successfully been able to retain the confidence of Niger State workers and citizens for this long.

Labour is a critical sector of our society that no leader goes into and comes out undented, today. It is always leaving the leader at crossroads, often between standing for the people or aligning with the establishment to ruin the people. However, I do not know the trick Yakubu Garba has been using to survive the treachery of the establishment and still retain high reputation among citizens across zones of the State. It is the trick that I am of the opinion that he could deploy as the 2nd occupant of Government House to augment the perception-shortfall of statesmanship people may want to attach to Bago. I am using Bago because the talk of revolution is coming out from his camp, and I love it. So, if there is anybody that is revolutionary among the Gbagyi contending forces, it is Yakubu Garba of the Labour House. I am for a Gbagyi Deputy Governorship. They constitute the largest contributors to the growth of writing in Nigeria through HCAF by their revolutionary interventions. So, this is where we are!

The ‘revolution’ which all these boys of Bago want to claim will also be total if it could attract the confidence of elders of Niger who have never pertook in the previous damaging of the future of our children. The proximity of Yakubu Garba to the new Governor may be a confidence route to the chief executive (Bago) away from the awkward perception such elders and critical citizens carry, at the moment. I, too, is doubtful of his comportment in his new task, if he wins. With Yakubu around, I should be at peace of good advisory and guide about sense of responsibility.

Lastly, tokumbo politicians of the Gbagyi extraction angling for the Deputy Governorship position gives me little or no attraction. It is not that they are incapable, but the fact that they were once there means they could be susceptible to manipulative tendencies of the existing and previous order that will derail this quasi impromptu ‘revolution’ bandied by Bago boys. These previous participants should be engaged elsewhere, towards the total development of the State.

Meanwhile, Senator Muhammad Sani Musa (313) must be in a serious political dilemma now, because he is the number one strongest factor in the emergence of the next Deputy Governor of Niger State. Make no mistake about this new reality. If I weren’t forcefully toning down my conviction in this piece, I would have outrightly said that, it is 313 that will single-handedly pick the next Deputy Governor for Niger State. My eternal advice to him is that, since picking a Gbagyi Deputy Governor is his first sacred duty for Niger State, if he picks a non-quality person and go for the old order, Bago may run into his first fundamental problem that will unbalance his first tenure. God forbid.