OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR ABDUL'AZIZ ABUBAKAR YARI: A REMINDER TO SERIES OF UNFULFILLED PROMISES FOR THE PEOPLE OF BIRNIN ZAUMA

                                                 
                                                   Your Excellency sir,

ANCIENT WALL OF ZAUMA
(GANUWA)

Let me start by humbly drawing your attention to the brief historical background of Birnin Zauma. The populated settlement in Bukkuyum Local Government Area of Zamfara state which you have visited more than once during your campaign tours. As you may be aware, the settlement is a reputable place with historical background amplified by the famous Shaykh Usmanu bin Fodiyo's visit to Zauma in 1791 CE, 13 years before the Battle of Kwato in 1804 as mentioned in Tazyin Al-Waraqaat. Shehu met a populated settlement of devoted Muslims in Zauma and built a large mosque there. This points to the fact that Shehu could not have built such a large mosque if the settlement was new and had only few houses. Thus, Birnin Zauma was a populated and well established settlement at the time of Shaykh Usman Danfodiyo that it could had been founded some 200 years before the historical revivalist tour. This puts Birnin Zauma at a point of over 400 years old today.

However, this place of historical treasure has been in prolong developmental stagnation. The word deplorable isn't enough to describe the condition of the road from Bukkuyum to Birnin Zauma. Amazing as it may sound, it was smoothly motorable during the military era because the regime then took upon itself the task of its routine rehabilitation via the popular Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) in 1986 during Ibrahim Badamasi's military regime. I could vividly remember how as a young boy I used to come out together with other children to watch how bulldozers, caterpillars, tippers and rollers worked indefatigably before the first drizzle of every rainy season. It is a sheer paradox that the advent of democracy and it's widely proclaimed dividend is not felt by the people of the populated settlement where a piece of my navel was buried.

The politicians from the time of the first democratic governor (Ahmad Sani Yariman Bakura), Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi to the incumbent governor of Zamfara State Abdul'Aziz Abubakar Yari, have been playing politics with the lives of my people. So many sweet promises to put the 3.7 miles (5 KM) road in shape in shape were made on the campaign pulpits but dumped after successful ascendancy to the gubernatorial throne. Bukkuyum to Birnin Zauma road has never been asphalted, so it is muddy and sticky in the rainy season posing a great threat to the lives of people who have to travel through eroded, muddy potholed road to Bukkuyum for medical care, because the one block clinic in this populated settlement is without medical personnels and facilities to cater for our health needs. What then does Shehi want us to do?

I remember how Birnin Zauma electorates revolted en-masse against the former Governor, Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi on account of his failure to reconstruct the road and then you came and promised in the first pre-tenure campaign that it would be rehabilitated but you did not. Yet, our people still expressed optimism that you would do it because you have constructed roads in other places, and they supported you with their votes for the second tenure. Alas! You still fail to look at the people of Zauma with eyes of sympathy.

The very Primary School where I was weaned is now devoid of any furniture for the pupils to sit on and you boast of 6.9 billion Naira 2016 budget allocation for education. This was not the situation even in the military rule. The breeze of dividends of democracy have never been felt us as your tenure is fast running out and the opportunity to fulfill your accountable responsibilities and promises is fading with each passing day. I call it accountable responsibility because it is not a favour for a leader to serve his people, it is a responsibility you would be questioned for before Allah (SWT) in the Day of Recompense. 

GOVERNOR YARI’S UNFRIENDLY FRIENDSHIP WITH PRESIDENT BUHARI

Friendship and intimacy often determine why two or more people share common personality. This gives weight to the oft-quoted wise words ‘’Show me your friend and I will tell you the type of person you are’’. However, this is not always true because in some situations a good pair in a friendship may be doing his best to curtail the despicable behaviour of his friend.

 In relation to this fact, we are objectively studying how President Muhammadu Buhari, the man of integrity and honour is condoning an incompatible relationship with Governor Abdul’Aziz Yari of Zamfara state, who has recently been alleged by the State House of Assembly to have ‘’diverted bail-out funds’’ and engages in futile globetrotting leaving the state in a mess. As these happen, the news media are currently getting blazed with snapshots of the President posing with Governor Yari often depicting meeting sessions during the President’s foreign trips. As much as I am not averse to the President’s foreign tours because it’s beneficial to the country, I cannot fathom why the likes of Yari are his intimate friends. Is the President doing something to influence positive change in the man accused by the State House of Assembly of incessant trips and diversion of public funds? I do not want imagine a reverse case when the bad companion influences the good. If such happens, then Nigeria is doomed not only Zamfara State.

It’s worth our notice that the undeterred appearances of the governor with the President have only aggravated the former’s arrogance and impunity. I know my hero is constitutiono-centric and avowed advocate of rule of law, but I don’t think there is any constitutional provision that makes it a primary function of the Chairman of Governors Forum to trail the President wherever he sets his foot.

It is obvious that we hold the President in high esteem and adoration so much that we are accused of Buhariolatry because we struggle day and night on Social media to defend his unrelenting fight against corruption. We are appalled that our hero seems to condone the force of evil around him. The so-called immunity clause does not tether the President from at least telling the governor to ‘‘go and manage your state well’’ rather than accompanying him wherever he goes. The question dangling in every objective mind is: why is the President allowing Yari to mar his integrity? Politics? Well, the good people of Zamfara did not vote for President Buhari on account of any political influence either from Yari or Yarima. They voted for him because of his unmatched trustworthiness and integrity.

I am certain that I am going to be misunderstood by politicians or even accused of saying ‘’nasty’’ things but the fact remains that these words of mine are the  same imprisoned birds chirping and perching in the minds of many people who may not be able to allow lexical jailbreak for the fear of unwarranted punishment. This is the reason why we remain in bondage, we and our words which we chose to cage instead of setting them free like birds. However, the days of fear are gone. Things are going the wrong way in our dear state and the ghostly silence in the House of Zamfarawas is killing us. 

THE ALARMING STANDARD OF EDUCATION IN ZAMFARA STATE

As a teacher, I always look at issues from educational perspective while at the same time taking into cognizance the overwhelming effects of other social, political and economic ramifications in analyzing issues. Today, my attention swerves to the the educational plane of Northern Nigeria most especially Zamfara state, which is obviously caught up in the magnetic force of Bermuda Triangle and it is currently pulled down to a dangerous altitude. It is a disheartening situation that education as a fundamental human enterprise for prosperous life and development is pushed to the background in my dear state. This is not politicking or partisan criticism but an objective analysis of fact.

The elementary level of education (I mean the primary schools) has been plagued by undue neglect. Most schools especially in rural areas are understaffed and their remuneration is a chicken feed. Instructional materials are also not provided and when a teacher demands for them, the Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) would always tell him to "improvise" as if everything can be improvised from simple and affordable materials. By the way, with the obsessive desire today to recycle every dung and trash, even an empty can of Multina becomes a purchasable item, not thrown in the dustbin. The  under-staffing of rural primary schools resulted from poor payment of teachers because transfer of teachers from the overstaffed primary school in the towns and cities is not implementable as it is hard to sacrifice one's complementary businesses in the cities or towns by which he manages to keep soul and body together for a meager salary. The transfer of teachers is thus manipulated and rendered void.

There is a school I know with only headmaster and a teacher as its staff. This is because state government has made some substantial infrastructural progress building several more primary schools but the poor working condition of teachers in terms of remuneration, promotion and other incentives are left unattended and some of these newly-built schools are only empty edifices. It is true that conducive learning atmosphere is of great motivational factor for teaching and learning, yet, it is not an indispensable factor for teaching and learning process. There were/are many open space schools that had produced good students under the tutelage of well-motivated teachers. Today, despite the political show off of millennium classrooms the standard of education sinks low because the government has continued to misplace priorities. It fails to allocate to the education the required 25% fund as recommended by UNESCO. This spelt doom for education in the state owing to the government’s budgets which doled to the sector just 5% of its total budget allocation. The in-service training is unheard-of to many teachers though its importance cannot be overemphasized as it offers teachers the opportunity to update and develop their knowledge and skills. However, many a teacher in the state has never attended any workshop or seminar.

Thus, the rot at the foundation level is allowed to thrive and creep upward to post-primary schools and tertiary levels. The fresh students enrolled every year in secondary schools exhibit almost a total eclipse of education in the state. Teachers in secondary schools are put between the devil and deep blue sea when it comes to handling such students. The dilemma is that the students have missed a lot, so much that many students cannot even write their names and those who manage to scribble it, have only memorized the letters in their names and the teachers in every must strictly adhere to the secondary school syllabus. In this situation, the students are only exposed to strange babbling making no sense whatsoever. When they are assessed during third term promotion examination, we often find that 50-60 percent deserved to be demoted, but is there any justification for it? Even if there is such justification, any principal who dare attempt it, would do it at the peril of his own school. Beside the fear of mass transfer of students from his school, even a poor ignorant political loyalist whose son is demoted can threaten the seat of principal. Turning to the other way, allowing the students to move on freely from one class to another is consequentially dangerous as the school would be labelled as producer of bad products. A dilemma indeed! Thus, the last year's WAEC SSCE result index for the May/June 2015, which places Zamfara at 36th position, languishing behind Jigawa, Gombe, Katsina, Kebbi, Bauchi and Sokoto states triggers no surprise.

The worse part of it is that, the situation rolls into a vicious circle which propels such students to the Colleges of Education where lecturers are compelled by unfortunate necessity to employ let-my-people-go syndrome  because failing 90% of the students raises questions on their instructional efficiency. So, the products of this haphazard metamorphosis would finally beget a generation of unprofessional teachers. The future is bleak unless we unite to revive the crumbling hope. Let's us acknowledge the fact that, a quack doctor is less dangerous than a bad teacher.   

NEW TURN OF SECULARIST ARGUMENT: BORROWING A LEAF FROM FAYOSE

When the arguments of secularists in favour of Film Village and the First Lady's mode of dress during her visit to the US, crumble down like a pack of cards in the face of defying force of ''moral police'' and ''eshaykhs'', one of the vanquished soul pops up in the midst of broken pieces of his argument and dishes a query: '' Why were the moral police mute when one highly placed cleric was mentioned among the beneficiaries of ‪#‎DasukiGate‬''
To this I respond that it's not right to pass judgement based on mistaken identity. You are falling into the same mistake Fayose and Pro-Fayose has fallen by accusing innocent Aisha Buhari of involvement in Halliburton scandal just because there is one Aisha in the list of the accused. You see, the so-called highly placed cleric assumed to be mentioned among the beneficiaries of #DasukiGate is Shaykh Abdullahi Bala Lau. However, the document as reported by all the newspapers didn't mention ''ABDULLAHI BALA LAU'' but one ''BALA ABDULLAHI'' with red dots in the lists. The following links and screenshots back my assertion:

FIRST LADY'S DRESS DEBATE: THE RELATIVITY FACTOR

In Nigeria a spark of flint triggers a conflagaration. The simple analysis of the First Lady's dress from Islamic perspective, (the faith she professes) sparks boisterous arguments on social media. However, the points being presented by the arguing parties are hanging on the springs of relativity. Everything is seen in a certain shape determined by the perspective from which it's viewed. From the Islamic angle, her dress has not fulfilled the requirement of decency. From other perspectives, it may be seen as decent as it should be. The upper hand is that which judges by the laws which the accused believes in. The fact that she is representing NIgeria does not negate her status as Muslimah. So, do not find fault with us if we look at issues from our own angle. It's a matter of let-us-rebuke-ourselves''. She is part of us and Islam enjoins self-rebuke and correcting evil either by force of authority, by tongue (verbal preaching against evil) or else belong to the category of people who are silently sad at heart.
It's either by pre-planned wardrobe schedule or effect of the views expressed that the First Lady decided to alter her dressing pattern to a little better mode as soon as her programmes started.The contentious dress only lasted from the time she boarded the plane to her reception party. I find this a reason to be lenient to her.

THE TUSSLE BETWEEN SPIRITUALITY AND SECULARISM ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

The surge of Nigerian Islamic scholars on social media seems to send some grimaces on the face of secularists who scornfully view them as conservative intruders, spewing ''dogmatic'' archaic ideology. God forbid! They erroneously assume that Islamic scholars have nothing to say in the affairs of the modern world. They are programmed with the belief in the superiority of western values, often beguiled by the humanistic philanthropy and the material beauty of the western development.
However, Islam is a religion of all time and situations. There is nothing mundane or outside its scope. It's a divinely-ordained way of life which has much to contribute in every aspect of human endeavor. Islam is a religion of knowledge as clearly portrayed in the first revelation of the Glorious Quran which begins with the Divine command ''Iqra' '' which means ''Read....''. Long before the Europe scrambled out of the abyss of ignorance, the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) did indeed acted as fountain of knowledge from which his close associates first drank and fed others and that was why the medieval Muslims excelled in many fields of science. The prosperous Islamic Andalus (Today's Spain) paved way to European renaissance. The Muslim Ummah has been put to trial of relegation because it has drifted from knowledge to ignorance, from true and pure teachings of Islam to materialism. The recorded knowledge of its luminaries like Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (Algorism}, Ibn Sina (AvIcenna), Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Ibn Firnas etc was hijacked and their discoveries and researches and even their names were europeanised so as to hide their identity. When Leprosy swept Europe in 1313, king Philip gave an order to set all the leprous people in fire and burn them, while the Muslims built the first leprosy hospital in Damascus and started to treat people from all races and colors. Whatever we learn today is the shadow of the medieval discovery. As Muslims, we go to school only to take back our stolen property.
Why then are these brainwashed souls trying to gag Islamic scholars on the social media with their foul criticisms and mockery? Wallowing in their transgression, they even label a Khutbah which was woven with golden strings of the Glorious Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet as ''ranting'' and ''uneducated demagoguery''. Islamic scholars who are using the social media to convey the message of Allah and His Apostle are sarcastically tagged ''eShaykh'', ''eUstaz'' and other such coinages. Beware! The flesh of Islamic scholars is venomous!

WHAT A SELECTIVE MOURNING!

To mourn the death of someone is not a crime but it is when the death of ONE reputable elite is given weight much more than the death of hundreds others massacred in single swoop in different locations by cattle rustlers. Such selective mourning depicting heartlessness and despicable sycophancy is clearly shown by Zamfara Radio which for three days has been mourning the demise of Umaru Shinkafi, with spiritual songs, putting a halt to all its programmes.
How on earth is the life of such an elite better than the lives of 79 people killed at 'Yar Galadima village or the 42 peasants lynched at Gidan Kaso village, or the 48 people slain at Kizara village and several other places in the state!
I wonder if the lives of these people are not worth mourning! It is disheartening that social or political status is unashamedly taken as determining factor for the value of human life. Come to think of it, what would any sane man expect of a sentuagenarian hitting close to 80 years old if not the natural withering of the body and the ultimate demise? Now, compare this with the loss of muscled-bodied youths who as rustic farmers and cattle herders have been feeding the people of the cities with the toil of their own hands.
In the house of empty skulls called Zamfara Radio, humanity is trampled by the hordes of boot-licking ignoramuses and chattering baboons who never tell a leader to mind his path in any of their editorial. The only thing they are good at is spewing balderdash coated in lies upon lies to serve their masters for cheap scores. It is obvious that Sokoto shares the painful bereavement owing to Umaru Shinkafi’s royal, marital and residential relation with the state, yet Rima Radio didn’t spend three days mourning. The deceased relation with Sokoto seemed to have even outweighed that of Zamfara, the fact acknowledged by the President Buhari via his spokesman Femi Adesina, who only condoled and commiserated with the people of Sokoto and not Zamfara.

FILM VILLAGE: A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVES

The Film Village has gone down the drain for good, having been smothered by the forceful outcry of the masses on the social media and well-evidenced verdict of the Islamic scholars from the lofty pulpits of the Masaajeeds. 
However, there is conflicting opinion from the West-programmed souls who cite economic benefits of the project and believe it is the beauty of modernity. However, modernity is not stuff to be swallowed whole, there are fragments to throw away in the same way you throw hard bones away when you eat meat. So, I am also of the opinion that if economy is your religion, then you are free to hold such view and likewise if Islam is your religion then you must be ready to submit to the dictates of Islam. They point to the obvious fact that many anti-Film village ''rhetorics'' are aired by people who are actually addicted to movies. This they label as utmost ''hypocrisy''. Well, that is pure speculation because there no data to prove such an accusation. Let's assume for assume for a moment that we (the anti-Film Village ''hypocrites'') are patronizing such movies behind the scene, is it right for a sick person to consume something that makes our sickness worse? I think Abubakar Abdulsalam should answer this question. His write-up on the issue is neatly-woven textually but semantically abhorrent especially at the point where the writer clearly attribute insanity to anyone who share not his view, asserting that people like me should ''consult psychiatrist''. Nobody is claiming to be a saint just because he expresses displeasure over Film Village project. Some pro-Film Village rhetoricians have gone too far as to describe the action of the Islamic scholars in so harsh a word. Listen to Jaafar Jaafar when he said: ''They switched on their microphones, mounted the pulpit and started ranting.'' Labeling a Khutbah which was woven with golden strings of the Glorious Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet as ''ranting'' is objectionable.
Opinion is a matter of perspective but I am amazed whenever an issue is viewed from wrong perspective. Political analysts like my friend Nuruddeen Shuaib Copa should be making objective analysis not such narrow thinking as to equate Film Village to internet.