AMBASSADOR Nuhu Audu Bajoga’s movement from the office of state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State to the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House as deputy governor was, undoubtedly, the major political melodrama that ensued in the state after the demise of erstwhile governor, Mr. Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa.The new governor, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, had, at a caucus meeting of the PDP in Kaduna shortly after he assumed office, appeared to have issued a blank political cheque to the people of Southern Kaduna. The meeting had in attendance all the important chieftains of the party in the state, including Vice-President Mohammed Namadi Sambo.
He said during the meeting that he was prepared to carry on with the good works of his late boss and was ready to accept and work with whoever was chosen and approved by the state House of Assembly to be the deputy governor. Alas, as the news spread that Bajoga’s name had featured prominently among those listed for the second most coveted office in the state, Southern Kaduna was almost torn apart and it was a season of allegations and condemnations until last Thursday when the matter was laid to rest.
Some people, had according to inside sources, flown a kite by using a section of the media to woo the widow of Yakowa, Dame Amina Yakowa, for the deputy governor’s office. She was said to have vehemently disagreed and instead, suggested that three confidants of the late governor be considered. This development had incurred the wrath of many people from that part of the state who argued that doing so would have made the office look as if it was hereditary.
However, journalist scooped that the political thinking and calculation from superior political quarters was that since Governor Yero, at 44, might, as time goes on, be a victim of youthful exuberance in executive capacity, two ‘hot heads’ in the centre of power could not solve issues that might require tact, humility and diplomacy. Therefore, pairing Governor Yero with an elderly person as deputy governor might be the solution to such situation whenever it arises. Thus, to party chieftains from Southern Kaduna and, perhaps, with the support of forces to reckon with in taking such political decisions, the choice of Bajoga was apt and timely because having served as state chairman of the PDP, he was familiar with the political terrain in the state and was also said to be accepted by the various interests in the party and across the state.
But a group of Southern Kaduna youths could not hide their anger as they, at various forums, protested and even threatened to go on hunger strike over the choice of Bajoga. Youth and professional groups from the area said at a press conference in Kaduna that they would no longer fold their arms and watch the imposition of “an old man” allegedly by a clique in the state PDP for the position of deputy governor, while many able youths fit for the position would remain idle.
A particular group led by Mr. Abuja Maigari had threatened that unless there was a change in the decision to announce Bajoga, it would have no option but to embark on hunger strike. But a chieftain of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), Modecai Sunday Ibrahim, said there was nothing wrong in the choice of Bajoga as deputy governor, but that they would have preferred him to remain as state chairman of the PDP.
The state Commissioner for Information, Saidu Adamu, had said at a press briefing that Governor Yero had nominated Nuhu Bajoga and that they were waiting for the House of Assembly to screen him before they took further action.
The youth wing of SOKAPU, also at a press conference, described Bajoga as an unpopular candidate for the position and vowed not to work with him. The group’s secretary, Nasiru Jagaba, said the aftermath of the decision might not augur well for the PDP in subsequent elections as the Southern part of the state where the party had always got bulk votes might decide to look elsewhere.
According to him, “we will continue to fight the cause of what we believe in and we wish to tell the whole world that Bajoga’s nomination is a grand design to factionalise the state. Governor Yero should reverse the nomination because the entire people of Southern Kaduna are aggrieved.”
Another group, the Concerned Southern Kaduna Professionals, had said that the decision of Bajoga to accept his nomination had revealed him as a betrayer of the people.
“He will eventually realise that he has begun a journey into the wilderness of slavery, oppression, domination and political emasculation,” a press statement from the group had said.
Dr. John Danfulani and Pendo K. Yates, who signed the statement, further said “we do not hesitate to remind Bajoga that as young men and women, if our late governor, Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, is watching and reminiscing in the grave, then, Bajoga has certainly betrayed him in death.”
There were also accusations that the vice-president might have influenced the decision to pick Bajoga for the position. Sambo’s Special Adviser on Media, Alhaji Umar Sani, had since distanced his boss from any political maneuvering in the state.
However, Southern Kaduna elders, disturbed with the raging controversy over the nomination of Bajoga, said the youth and professional groups kicking against his choice were on their own and that they ought to be disregarded. They said such groups had no right to accuse the new deputy governor of any wrongdoing and advised them to keep quiet.
Spokesman for the elders’ group, Mr Barnabas Yero, said it was unfortunate that such groups, which he said were hitherto nonexistent, had sprung up after the demise of Yakowa to cause confusion in the polity.
“We query the locus standi of the groups to even question the happenings in Southern Kaduna political circles. Until the demise of the former governor, the group, Southern Kaduna Professionals, was unknown to both Kaduna politics in general and the people of Southern Kaduna in particular,” he said.
“We can remember as well that the late Yakowa was also accused of and criticised for accepting to serve as Secretary to the State Government (SSG), simply because he was a one-time minister. But the same Yakowa rose to become governor in the state, the first to be so elected from Southern Kaduna.
“Our worry, however, is that we wonder how Bajoga has betrayed the so-called professionals from Southern Kaduna. These so-called professionals are not known until after the demise of Yakowa. In the first place, the election of Bajoga as chairman of the PDP was not done by Southern Kaduna people alone, but by the entire PDP in Kaduna State. When Bajoga offered himself for election, he did not enter into any agreement with Southern Kaduna people or the so-called professionals that he would not accept any other appointment during the existence of his chairmanship in Kaduna State.
“Some people are concerned about age and we wonder if the brain diminishes in performance at the age of 60 or 70. We know that President Barrack Obama of the United States of America is far younger than his deputy. And even if we come back home, Stephen Shekari (first deputy to Ahmed Makarfi) of blessed memory was far older than Senator Makarfi, and both performed well in office. Let the young ones wait for their turn.
“The office of the deputy governor is for the entire state, irrespective of political party. But a PDP chairmanship position is for a political party only. So, how can the position of a chairman of a party be more important than that of the state deputy governor?” they queried.
The elders, therefore, called on sons and daughters of Southern Kaduna to accept and cooperate with anybody from Southern Kaduna who had been chosen to hold any office for the people of Kaduna State.
They said all should support and cooperate with Bajoga as deputy governor of Kaduna State because he was chosen by God and as a citizen of Nigeria in Southern part of Kaduna who was qualified to be appointed deputy governor.
Last Thursday, therefore, at the Kaduna Sate House of Assembly, Bajoga was confirmed to be the deputy governor of the state, a development that ended the bitter debate over his nomination which had dominated the airwaves for over 72 hours.
Bajoga, an indigene of Kaduna State from Kwoi in Jaba Local Government Area of Southern Kaduna, was 63 years old as of time of his confirmation.
The Southern Kaduna youths had confided in journalists that they would have preferred a much younger person from the area to work with the 44-year-old Governor Yero and had even suggested names like those of a former Commissioner for Justice in the state, Mark Jacobs; Reverend John Joseph Hayab, Honourable Edward Percy Masha, Honourable Jonathan Asake, Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, among others.
They said those names fell within the generational change they clamoured for and that they had demonstrated energy and zeal in all the places they had earlier served. However, some of the protesting youths made a U-turn on Thursday, saying they were not against Bajoga becoming the deputy governor, but that they felt bad seeing the position of state party chairman leaving the Southern part of the state. That is now history.
Bajoga was Nigerian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Poland and was concurrently accredited to the Czech Republic between 2004 and 2007. He was elected Kaduna state PDP chairman in March 2012. He was born in Kwoi, Kaduna State in 1949 to a Christian family and is married with children.
Members of the state House of Assembly unanimously confirmed the new deputy governor who was nominated by Governor Yero on Monday. Speaker of the House, Alhaji Mu’azu Usman Gangara, had confirmed the appointment at the end of a 10-minute closed-door session of the Assembly. Also, Honourable Aliyu Balarabe Jigo, representing Magajin Gari Constituency of Birnin Gwari, told journalists that Bajoga was declared okay to be the new deputy governor of the state.
According to him, “the deputy governor is a senior person and this is a welcome development in the state, considering the fact that the governor is a young gentleman. They will all work for the development of the state. So, the elderly man will assist him. Bajoga has the experience and maturity to assist the governor.”
For the people of Kaduna State, all eyes are now on the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House where the duo of Yero and Bajoga would be expected to provide leadership that would propel ‘the crocodile state’ to greater heights.
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