Senior special assistant on Public Enlightenment to national chairman All Progressives Congress (APC) Chief Oliver Okpala yesterday said Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State has abandoned his primary assignment of serving the people of Kano State and, providing democratic dividends and has assumed the position of an anti-corruption crusader.
Governor Yusuf recently inaugurated two judicial commissions of inquiry, to investigate allegations of misappropriation of public property, political violence, and missing persons that occurred between 2015 and 2023, during the tenure of former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
But Okpala, in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja queried: “how can a governor of a state on assumption of office resort to setting up of investigation panel to probe only one person alone, his predecessor Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje?”
“This action he has resorted to for the past eight months while other Governors are busy since assuming office providing public infrastructure in their states.
“One is therefore tempted to conclude that his present attacks and actions against Ganduje is a clear case of bias and vendetta
“As we speak, the people of Kano state are complaining and weeping bitterly over water scarcity and the government is busy chasing shadows and diversionary platforms.
“Ganduje is not the only person who has governed Kano State, either as civilian or military governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso the leader of Governor Abba’s party, the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP governed the state for eight years. So why not extend the so-called probe from 2011 to 2023 so that it would be holistic to include even when Kwankwaso was in power.
“The All Progressives Congress, APC in Kano State and other groups have also accused Kwankwaso of not having run a clean administration.”
He added that if the governor wants to undertake a probe he should begin from 1999 when this democratic dispensation began, adding that he should know that those who governed the state in the past including the NNPP leader, Kwankwaso were not saints.
Okpala added that the governor should attend to the acute water shortage in Kano city which is the capital of the state.
“The responsibility of a governor so elected is to provide the people with dividends of good governance, including critical infrastructure and other benefits to help alleviate their sufferings, rather than chasing the past which would take the government backwards.
“History is rife with a plethora of examples that those who focus on bitter wars of attrition don’t achieve progress for their people. It is a journey of decay.”
He added that those who look back are always doomed to fall into great potholes because their vision would be beclouded.
“The most intriguing thing about this case is that the government’s assaults are not based on reality but wild fascinations of disjointed thoughts on a mangled mindset.
“One wonders if Governor Yusuf was elected as an anti-corruption crusader or to work for the economic development of the people.
“This question becomes pertinent because all he has done since he assumed office is attacking Ganduje, accusing him of corruption, as if that was the purpose of his election.
“From the way he is moving, it appears the people of Kano would reconsider his re-election in 2027.
“What the people need is a governor that would serve them, attend to their economic problems, stand with them in their plight, give the downtrodden hope and not some one who would only be telling them of who has taken money or who has not stolen.
“Yusuf must be told that he cannot leave his responsibilities as Governor of Kano and be chasing shadows or using diversionary tactics to deprive them of their basic needs.
“He has been receiving prompt allocations from the federation account. What has he done with it?
“Soon he would be marking one year in office, what has he to show for it? Would he list fighting Ganduje as his achievement in office?
“By now he should be listing his achievements, telling the people the things he has done, that is what would make the people happy for electing him.
“Would his attacks and phantom probe on Ganduje be listed on his score card?
“When Ganduje was elected Governor of Kano he quickly hit the ground running, providing dividends of democracy to the people and that is why his developmental projects are scattered across Kano state till date.
“What would Yusuf say he has achieved so far as Governor? That is the basic question he must answer now and not who he succeeded in accusing of graft. The time is ticking and history is recording.
“For Ganduje, he remains focused and unperturbed because he knows that posterity would vindicate him” Okpala said.