Gov Shettima in dilemma
Commissioners, top government functionaries, council chairmen and advisers, hide under the cloak of insecurity in Borno, to milk the state dry as concerned indigenes petition BOSG 
By Mohammed Sani Abubakar and Maryam Musa
It is now no longer news, courtesy of DESERT HERALD’s revealing story in the last two editions, that Governor Kashim Shettima is engrossed in an intricate political battle of survival with his erstwhile political godfather, Senator Ali Modu Sheriif, who has vowed to stop his (Shettima’s) re-election in 2015.
Both the estranged godfather and his desperate godson are now subsumed in dangerous hard tackles, with each trying to outwit and outdo the other in their determination to wrest or maintain political power and relevance in the state ahead of the 2015 elections. With huge criticisms that Governor Shettima has derailed from what he was known to be – visionary governor that initiated many people-oriented projects – he is nevertheless assiduously and conscientiously working to move the state forward through his heart warming and public oriented transformational programmes. He started with a clear vision of making Borno work again, a sort of new beginning after witnessing torrents of human and material losses as a result of cataclysmic insurgency, counter insurgency and other forms of criminal activities which has prevailed since 2009.
So far and owing to his commitment and dedication in the face of clear sabotage by some of his closest officials, due to greed and insensitivity, the people of Maiduguri and Jere towns are now enjoying relative peace and calm, while picking up the pieces to continue to move ahead with their lives. DESERT HERALD gathered that although there are political undertones behind the scene, the emergence of youth volunteers throughout the metropolis has reasonably facilitated the peace process, as the recalcitrant insurgents have now shifted ground to other locations where they operate dangerously, appearing and disappearing intermittently to waylay travelers along the highways.
Recently, they reportedly killed more than forty innocent people along the Bama-Banki-Gwoza Federal Highway and destroyed several properties in Gulumba and other adjoining villages. Despite these security challenges, according to residents who spoke to DESERT HERALD, the Governor has been able to perform significantly well, thereby adding value to his people, in spite of hiccups and official sabotage here and there by supposedly trusted allies and confidants of the governor. According to our findings, several people in state have given the never-say-die Governor a pass mark, because of his resilience, doggedness and focus in the face of insecurity and political sabotage by cronies and lackeys of former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff, who call him Kashim “Wango” – meaning we don’t want Kashim in Kanuri language – who are determined to undermine whatever efforts he is making.
In the course of filling this report, this paper gathered from insiders within the cabinet who requested for anonymity that Mr. Shettima is surrounded by politicians and state officials who do not share the same dreams, aspirations, mission and vision with him. Most of them, especially Commissioners, Advisers and Special Assistants, according to the source, have double faces, because as he said “they just cannot abandon and discard Ali Modu Sheriff because he made them who they are through his political and economic empowerment over the years”. Only recently, Governor Shettima launched the pilot scheme for free distribution of text books to all Primary and Secondary Schools students in the state. The effort has since been described as commendable and the right step in the right direction. It has also been said to be timely too, towards assisting and ameliorating the hardships being faced by under-privileged parents, who are barely existing to make ends meet in the face of unending poverty associated with the insurgency and family responsibilities and how to cope with it.
While the Governor is said to be busy supervising and monitoring his many uncompleted projects scattered around the state, including the Mbalala – Chibok road, many of his Commissioners and Local Government Care taker Chairmen, our findings revealed, are busy hobnobbing with the political camp of SAS allegedly to undo him, despite the leeway given them by the gratuitously benevolent Governor Shettima to make hay while the sun shines.
As the Boko Haram crisis has continued to consume many homes leaving people in abject poverty and squalor, most of the commissioners have suddenly transformed into overnight millionaires even though they were known to have been bankrupt, living in perpetual penury prior to their appointments in 2011. Many have massive investments in real estate, agriculture, commerce and automobile businesses. Brief profiles and the present preoccupation of these double-faced aides of Governor Shettima will suffice:
Musa Inuwa Kubo
‘Comrade’ Musa Inuwa Kubo, the Commissioner of Education who has bid farewell to comradeship is one of them. He was known to have been ditched by SAS between 2007 and 2011 and had been maintaining a small farm while he lived in a modest residence at Abujan Talakawa beside the uncompleted stadium. Today he lives in a sprawling Bungalow estimated to cost millions, with several orchards, farmlands and one of the biggest fish ponds in the state to his ‘credit’; and obviously from proceeds of corruption at a time economic activities of almost every family in the metropolis had either collapsed or suffered considerable decline due to insecurity and mischief of some officials to take advantage of the crisis as Kubo and some of his colleagues are doing. According to a credible source in the ministry of education who pleaded not to be mentioned “Kubo is dipping his itchy fingers in the filthy lucre, conniving with contractors to compromise building standards or delay work deliberately in order to make variations to inflate costs”. He was said to have benefitted immensely from the controversial and questionable supply of school buses from China and that due to the fraud that characterized the supply, refurbished buses were supplied to the ministry, instead of brand new ones; hence the rampant cases of mechanical faults and instances where many of the school buses have broken down few months after the supply.
One of the areas Kubo made millions as exclusively gathered by DESERT HERALD is in the repair and rehabilitation of schools and education facilities destroyed by the radical Boko Haram insurgents. Costs of rehabilitation as well as that of equipping the schools, according to a petition written by concerned citizens of the state against the corrupt conduct of some commissioners a copy of which was sent exclusively to DESERT HERALD, was inflated by “Kubo in connivance with their selected and exclusive contractors by more than 300 percent.” In some instances the petitioners said “the governor is being misled and manipulated in the cause of giving approvals. We are concerned and suspicious too that top officials of the ministry of education may be behind some of the destructions in the schools because ultimately they will be the beneficiaries of the contracts that will be awarded. Several instances abound”, revealed in the petition. And when one assesses even the physical worth of Kubo now (his new multi million naira edifice) and his sudden life of affluence one will naturally wonder where he is getting the money from.
Inuwa Bwala
Although he is undoubtedly a professional in his area of responsibility, Bwala is in a dilemma of who to be loyal to between his former boss SAS and the incumbent governor, Mr. Shettima. He was amongst the few that were retained as members of the state executive council on the orders of SAS but having closely worked with Governor Shettima over the years, even though most of his professional advises and suggestions to the governor were reportedly ignored due to superior arguments and advise of the likes of the ailing Commissioner of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Baba Kaka Bashir Garbai, who has no experience in information management and media related issues, he has over the years been given the nod by Shettima, because of his vision to the state. At the moment Bwala, is among the few commissioners whose 100 percent loyalty to the government can be best described as questionable, because on one hand he doesn’t want to be seen as betraying SAS and on the other hand, he wants to retain his position in the cabinet. He has confidence in the governor’s ability to deliver, notwithstanding the fact that his views on many professional issues and decisions are not being considered probably due to the presence of the Gusau born media aide of the governor, Isa Gusau.
The taciturn and public-shy Commissioner of Information, Inuwa Bwala, did not however escape from the alleged corruption scandal rocking some members of the Borno state executive council as he was said to have built a state of the art modern hotel in his country side, which he once described as his ‘modest’ contribution to empower his people and create employment. Whether his legitimate earnings as commissioner (salary and allowances) is enough to build such a magnificent hotel as contained in the said petition by the Concerned Borno Citizens remains for them and probably the anti corruption agencies to determine or for him to prove otherwise.
Aji Kolo
Aji Kolo alias “Empire” is a well known ex-Governor Ali Sheriff’s protégée and boy. His loyalty to SAS was as far back as early 2003 when he was made the vice chairman of Bama Local Government and later chairman when his boss Babagana Ajari was impeached reportedly on the promptings of SAS. But he has today shifted the loyalty he had for SAS to Mr. Shettima who appears weaker and submissive to his selfish demand. According to the said petition by Concerned Citizens of Borno, Empire as he is popularly known, has transformed under Shettima to an overnight millionaire and appears to be among those at the forefront instigating Mr. Shettima against his former boss, SAS. Notwithstanding the fact that it was SAS that brought him to public reckoning and perhaps political limelight, Empire probably because of what he is benefitting from the incumbent governor, has shifted political base to Mr. Shettima’s camp even though those who know him well believe he is highly unreliable and that he is only taking advantage of the exclusive work he is doing to the governor. The critics of Empire believe that in as much as he will betray SAS despite the favours done to him it is only a matter of time before Mr. Shettima will discover the real character in him. They said since Shettima is in power he is not likely to know the implication of his association with Empire until after leaving office.
A source at the Maiduguri Government House told DESERT HERALD that “today Empire is the main man of Governor Kashim. He has become tenaciously attached to the Governor to the chagrin and consternation of the First Lady, Nana Kashim Shettima, who does not like the union on moral grounds. All of us know that Hajia Nana doesn’t want Empire getting closer to her husband because the humble and down to earth First Lady knows the implication and the damages Empire is doing to Kashim. No responsible wife will like such relationship with her husband”.
According to the anonymous Government House source, the man Empire in today’s Borno State Government decides who becomes what, or gets what in terms of patronage or appointment by the governor, who has however become a mere pawn in his hands owing to his alleged power of hypnosis and mesmerism through “diabolism”. He was said to have handled the contract of the only commissioned project so far by Governor Kashim after two years-the state Hajj Commission complex, which Vice President Namadi Sambo commissioned on 14th September, 2013, on the day this year’s Hajj Committee was inaugurated in Borno. “Empire has today metamorphosed into a billionaire owning many properties and investments across the state and beyond. He and the Governor were known childhood friends who grew up in the same Lawan Bukar neighbourhood of Maiduguri in the 1980s,” revealed the source.
DESERT HERALD gathered that the only qualification known to have been acquired by this “de facto Deputy Governor, Empire, is a Diploma obtained in MOGOLIS in the 1990s. He was also known to be a Petrol Attendant at AP post office filling station when his namesake – Aji Kolo, was its proprietor. Today Empire dictates things and determines what Governor Kashim does and does not do, even though he is not holding any Public office at the moment in Government. He is clearly more powerful than those holding public offices and a de facto administrator of the Government House too. He trails Governor Kashim wherever he goes and dabbles into affairs not in his domain, simply because, he has been able to fully assert control over the Governor through diabolical means and keeps him at his beck and call, against any rational thinking and imagination. Empire is considered by many in Maiduguri as the de facto Deputy Governor, even though he was not elected as such. He has caused the humbled Kashim Shettima many more harm than good”, the source lamented.
Sugun Mai Mele
Sugun Mai Mele is the Commissioner of Housing and Rural Electrification who is not visible in the state. He was said to have relocated sometime ago, to Abuja, abandoning his Residence in Bolori Area, in the height of the insecurity in the embattled city. Although he is responsible for the Housing Ministry, he was not empowered to distribute the recently occupied 1000 housing units constructed during the regime of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff who was reported to have taken about 300 of the houses for himself, while his wife, Fati Ali Sheriff formerly called Maman Borno, was also said to have taken about 200 of the houses. The incumbent Governor Kashim was also said to have taken over 200 leaving a paltry number to be given to chief executives of ministries, Boards and parastatals while the main targeted group, the public servants were not significantly considered. The commissioner is said to be making his cool millions while preferring not to be seen or heard as many of the executive council members are known for- “stay cool and chop, as being widely reported and said in Maiduguri.
Notwithstanding the fact that he hardly stays in Maiduguri like the millionaire Commissioner of Finance, Yunus, according to the content of the petition by Concerned Borno Citizens, Mele has made millions of naira in the Housing Ministry.
Ajimi Badu and Lawan Modu
Two Local Government Caretaker Chairmen in the ten Local Councils located in Borno North who have become notorious for financial profligacy and recklessness are, according to the content of the said petition, Ajimi Badu, a self-acclaimed comrade before, and Lawan Modu. They are all very close to the powerful, ailing and millionaire commissioner of local government, Baba Kaka Bashir. Ajimi Badu, the Chairman of Nganzai, which is the ancestral home of Governor Shettima, was a former Chairman of same council way back in the early days of democracy. He was reported to have become totally bankrupt and barely making ends meet after leaving office. He was rehabilitated and uplifted by Mr. Shettima who appointed him to improve the lot of his people of Nganzai, but that was not to be.
The turncoat chairman is now busy amassing ill-gotten wealth at the mercy of his people. He was known to have acquired three houses in the 1000 Housing Estate and reconstructed them to his taste while he erected a vast perimeter fencing around it. Millions must have been expended in the reconstruction while state of the art internal decors have been also acquired and thus making the former comrade to live the lives of kings in his palatial home while his rural poor in Nganzai continue to live under fears of insurgency in their semi-desert villages. Meanwhile, his children have also been driving around in very expensive cars and painting Maiduguri blue as “new arrivals”.
DESERT HERALD investigation further revealed that the former house he (Badu) lived at, in the Nursing Home Area of the city, has also been dismantled and is now undergoing repairs worth millions of Naira. While Lawan Modu, the hitherto pauperized political jobber who was said to be jumping from one prominent politician to another in the state, was said to have been appointed Chairman (Care-Taker) for Magumeri Local Government, courtesy of his godfather and former chairman of Magumeri, Kashim Shettima’s friend and now Commissioner of Agriculture, Usman Zanna who equally has amassed so much wealth in his ministry and remain powerful despite public outcry about resources being diverted in the ministry through procurement of fertilizer, foreign sponsorship of agric graduates and other farming implements like tractors.
Lawan Modu lived a wretched and frustrated life in the outskirts of Maiduguri in Dala Alamderi, amongst criminals and other strangers. He was reportedly influenced by the millionaire Secretary to the Borno State Government, Ambassador Baba Ahmed Jidda, who was said to be instrumental to his appointment by Kashim Shettima. He was said to have recently bought a multi-million naira house at the GRA Area and drives around in expensive cars, while the poor and traumatized people of Magumeri wallow in abject poverty in the midst of fears for the insurgents who have now moved camps to their surroundings.
Borno Local Government Joint Account: A Conduit Pipe?
DESERT HERALD can confirm that none of the 27 local government caretaker committee chairmen in Borno State are living in their areas of responsibility due to the lackluster attitude of the government that appointed them and the failure of their supervising ministries to check their insensitive excesses. While the poor people of their local governments are allegedly being shortchanged through massive looting of their monthly statutory allocations, council chairmen in Borno state have virtually relocated to the state capital, staying in the comfort of their expensive hotels waiting for monthly allocations that never goes to their respective councils for the needed development to transform localities whose economy and other means of livelihood were destroyed due to the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents and lack of government policies that would create self employment for the youths that have become nuisance to the society.
DESERT HERALD investigations revealed that virtually all the 27 local government caretaker chairmen in Borno are now living comfortably in expensive hotels in choice and secured areas in Maiduguri. The hotels they usually frequent and maintain permanent suits at the expenses of the local councils include Imperial Hotel along Circular Road, State Hotel, Government Lodge along Lagos Street and another hotel along Giwa Barracks. Their boss, the Commissioner of Local Government too, Baba Kaka Bashir and the likes of Empire are maintaining permanent suits at the state hotel along Lagos Street all at the expenses of a government that repeatedly said it has meager resources to impact on the lives of its impoverished and traumatized people. Kaka Bashir as the commissioner in charge of a sensitive ministry like local government and at a time the councils need his time and adequate supervision, only comes to Maiduguri when it is absolutely necessary or at the end of the month when the local government joint account is credited by the federal government.
A former senator from Borno told this reporter that it is perhaps because of the alarming corruption by government officials in the state that the federal government became reluctant to offer any reasonable assistance in terms of money to the state because according to him, even though the governor seems very committed to bring about positive changes and transformation to the state, the officials that “spiritually siege him use their selfish desire as usual to prevent him from doing anything that would benefit the people. “That is why Kashim could not complete virtually all the projects he started. It is believed he means well for the people and he has a good heart but truly he is presently incapacitated. He is so weak and he has taken so many chances and now it will be difficult to separate this selfish people from him because they have sufficiently used their sorcerers to take away his conscience and sense of reasoning. That is what they do to achieve their selfish desires against public interest and that is why SAS is angry with him. When SAS was the governor he didn’t take anything for granted and you will not see people like Yunus, Baba Kaka or Empire who will dictate the tune for him”, said our source.
When DESERT HERALD approached some residents of the local council for comments, most of them said there is no point allocating resources from the federation account if not for the payment of teachers because there is no sign of government activity in most of the councils. One of them, Yusuf Sanusi told this reporter that “the government is hiding under the name of Boko Haram insurgency to stop the local government election and at the same time looting our resources. Is the governor telling us that there won’t be governorship election in the state come 2015 because of insecurity? Certainly not and when the time comes all the LGs will elect a governor; then why stopping LGs election if not for reasons that have to do with corruption under the guise of Boko Haram? He is just using Baba Kaka and allowing them to divert our resources. Allah Ya isa”.
Dr. Asabe Vilita Bashir
Dr. Asabe Vilita Bashir, the Commissioner of Commerce and Industry, has been silent and ineffective since her appointment after her defeat by the PDP’s Senator, Mohammed Ali Ndume, in the 2011 elections for Borno South. She is hardly seen in the council chamber or the state house because she was said to have lost confidence in Governor Kashim Shettima, who is now hibernating with her political rival, Senator Ndume, who is also said to be thinking of joining Governor Shettima’s political camp ahead of the 2015 elections.
She was also said to be unhappy with her present portfolio in the Commerce and Industry Ministry which is considered unattractive and not lucrative. Vilita Bashir is widely known as a staunch supporter and acolyte of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff who is also her political godfather, just like Governor Shettima, before the bubble burst, and trading of hard tackles currently between the estranged godfather and his desperate political godson. Seemingly it is difficult to say who amongst the likes of Villita in the cabinet is truly with SAS or Governor Kashim due to double standards being brought to play at the moment, but it is generally believed by those that are privy to the characters that surround Shettima at the moment that he may receive the greatest shock of his life when the time comes and when he needed their loyalty more because, according to them, SAS is not leaving any stone unturned in perfecting strategies and plots using insiders to oust Mr. Shettima in 2015 by all means.
Waziri Imam
Waziri Imam is the Executive Chairman of Borno Express Corporation. He is also the younger brother to Mutawalle Kashim Imam, who was said to have worked against his party, the PDP, in the 2011 gubernatorial election, and was rewarded with the appointment of Mr. Shettima’s current Deputy Zanna Mustapha as Deputy Governor and other Commissioners as part of the 2011 political bargain. Waziri Imam was appointed the Executive Chairman of the Corporation to placate him, for not appointing him into his choice Care-Taker Chairman for the MMC, where he once served as such. He had worked before as Commercial Manager in the Corporation and was conversant with the millions being made as revenue from transport fares. Under Imam according to insiders in the Corporation millions that were generated by Borno Express are not being accounted for, while there are no proper checks and balances by the government to check the conduct of Imam and to make him accountable. Another insider confided in this reporter that sometimes last year there was a discovery of massive fraud at the Corporation but it was eventually ignored because in the opinion of the source the government doesn’t want Waziri’s brother, Mutawalle Kashim Imam, to feel offended by any disciplinary action against his brother thereby confirming the insinuation of many skeptics that it is indeed government of family, friends, close associates and cronies being supervised by a very helpless governor.
Governor Shettima has nevertheless empowered Waziri Imam himself by providing him with millions to buy Intra-City Buses with full air conditioners and Keke NAPEP Tricycles which have since been given out to favoured political apologists instead of targeting the poor majority as a means of curtailing the insecurity and crisis of unemployment. To the credit of Mr. Shettima, the Corporation has been transformed and more buses are now in its fleet, but were said to be mismanaged as many have already broken down without repairs while the Millions being made daily are being misappropriated and mismanaged.
Corruption and impunity have been massively going on in the corporation while even the terminus building cannot be maintained as there is no light, no proper ventilation and rodents and reptiles have taken over, which according to credible sources, have forced the staff to operate from outside the building. The Corporation is said to be making at least N1 Million daily from transport fares but yet could not maintain its dilapidated environment to make it decent for workers and commuters. When DESERT HERALD visited the Borno Express Corporation to ascertain the claim, it was conspicuous from the outside gate to the main office compound that the management of the corporation is not maintaining the facilities being provided by the Borno State Government.
Alhaji Abba
He is simply called and known as Alhaji Abba within Maiduguri town. Abba is the elder brother of Governor Shettima. He is undoubtedly one of the powerful shakers and movers in the current administration in Borno. Although Mr. Shettima was wise enough to leave him without any government appointment, he is nevertheless more influential than even most of the commissioners. According to credible sources at the Government House Abba along with “Empire” have been transformed to big time government contractors who are making huge profits allegedly from inflated contracts in which the Governor is insinuated to have vested pecuniary interests. The Concerned Borno Citizens in their petition have elaborated so much about Abba’s influence in the government and the contracts that were awarded to companies either allegedly incorporated by him or have substantial interest in.
Ya Abba, as he is popularly called in the Government House, has suddenly become stupendously rich and has moved from his former house situated at Bolori Area to the GRA, where he is said to be buying landed properties and houses for himself and allegedly for his brother, the Governor. This, according to the content of the petition, “is nepotism to say the least and a breach of Oath of office to say the worse, for which Governor Shettima could be held accountable some day after leaving office and losing his immunity. The governor’s brother is the single most favoured and benefited contractor in the state together with the Governor’s Father-In-Law, who though not a contractor, has been handling some contracts now with huge financial returns. Many were right to say Shettima’s government is that of Family and Friends.” For that reason the State Executive Council under Governor Shettima, according to many, is a bunch of opportunists who consider their appointments as mere platforms to enrich themselves at the expense of the ordinary people.
Even in view of massive undue government patronage of their selfish desires by way of appointments and highly inflated contracts, most of those that were unduly favoured by Mr. Shettima, DESERT HERALD weekly can confirm, are now making subtle surreptitious moves to join the political train of former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff, who is already preparing grounds to re-emerge as a Senator in 2015 and also to anoint either his brother, Alhaji Mai Mala Sheriff ,or Matawalle Kashim Imam, or indeed Mohammed Imam the next Governor of Borno to succeed Kashim Shettima in 2015.
Most of them have also vowed not to disappoint or abandon SAS, who is their political godfather that has added values to their lives, including to even that of the incumbent Governor, who has also benefited from the political sagacity and debauchery of SAS who first made him a commissioner in five ministries before giving him the ANPP ticket to contest in the 2011 elections after the death of Engr. Fannami Gubio, shortly before the election in 2011.
Now the die is cast and daggers have been drawn in the crucial political encounter between godfather and godson for the control of power in 2015. Governor Kashim’s luring of some former politicians in the camps of former Governor Ali Sheriff and candidate for the ANPP in the 2011 Senatorial elections to his side, such as Kadiri Rahiz, the current Care-Taker Chairman of Maiduguri Metropolitan Council, is considered by many as suspect. Many have observed wrongly or rightly that Kadiri Rahiz, who was Youth Chairman under SAS administration, and benefited materially from him, cannot abdicate or jettison SAS no matter how much he now gets under Kashim. According to insiders many of such politicians are said to have been playing double standards and it is a matter of time before they abandon Kashim for SAS.
Bello Ayuba
The commissioner of Higher Education, Bello Ayuba, has in particular, defied transparency, loyalty, probity and accountability in the discharge of his duties to adequately supervise the seven Tertiary institutions under his Ministry. Many people spoken to observed that the man is not capable of supervising these institutions, which has manifested into all kinds of abuse of office, vendetta, persecution of some staff, deprivations, malfeasance and incompetence in some of the institutions under him, such as MOGCOLIS, a college founded in 1982 by the Muhammad Goni administration. As a college of legal and Islamic studies, it has graduated thousands of students some of who are holding exalted positions in the state today like High court Justices Musa Adamu Zamdai, Aishatu Kumalia and Umar Fadawu, who are all serving High Court Judges in the state judiciary. The present Acting Grand Khadi of the state, Abubakar Imam, and the state Attorney General, Kaka Shehu Lawan, were also former students of the college who had obtained Diplomas in Law before proceeding to read LL.B in Law prior to eventually becoming what they are today in the state.
This once reputable and esteemed college, which is hitherto the pride of the people of old Borno State, is the threshold of total eclipse and perdition due to poor and inept leadership under a corrupt, incapable and poorly educated Provost, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Mustapha, who has converted the college into his personal property to do as he wants.
According to credible sources in the Ministry of Higher Education, he has been encouraged to misappropriate public funds being generated as Registration Fees and special Grants from ETF and state Government. The Borno State Government has recently voted over four hundred million naira to build new classroom blocks, lecture theatre and renovate the dilapidated infrastructure but the incompetent and corrupt provost working in tandem with corrupt officials and contractors have conspired amongst themselves to do a sub-standard job while the work is being deliberately prolonged to cut corners through illegal variations.
DESERT HERALD finding in the institution revealed that the provost of the college which motto is justice and knowledge has introduced politics and polarized and divided the college along party lines and sympathies for the ruling party in the state. Partisan politicians have taken over and are all over the college daily trooping in large numbers to collect money from the overbearing provost, who according to his critics can neither read nor write in English Language. “He has been riding on the backs of some prominent politicians to stay on knowing fully he is not fit and proper to head such an intellectual community, which he has now bastardized and made nonsense of.
According to sources in the college, he has been removing competent and capable hands with years of experience and proven track records of good behavior, conduct and commitment to give ways for his cronies and agents who will be compromised to extort money from students under the false pretext of registration fees, departmental levies, sports levies, union Dues and other illegal levies which he allegedly shares with ministry officials every day. The college has sadly been converted into a gold mine for him and his “Boys” while abandoning learning and scholarship to suffer the ignoble and dire consequences.
Our investigation reveals that one Malam Sani Muhammad, the hitherto college librarian, who also served previously as Deputy Registrar, was unfairly and unreasonably removed from office and dumped for over a year since 2012, only to later be transferred, mischievously against his wish to elsewhere not done in good faith thereby causing him untold hardship, for always standing by the truth and defending it at all times, whether in the Academic board, or in administrative matters concerning staff welfare and promotions.
A lecturer in the institution confided in this reporter that “Malam Sani has been in the service of the college since 1988 and was even instrumental to the appointments of both the so-called provost and his friend, Kachallah Makinta, in 1999 and processed their transfers from primary school to the college. Seniority has been thrown to the dogs and this coupled with glaring inability and incompetence, the provost has dubiously maneuvered his way through corrupt and selfish ministry officials, to become the head of an institution where those who had taught him as a student of the secondary section and later, diploma, still hold sway as lecturers, some of who are his victims of wicked and selfish antecedents, like Umar Mamud who he removed as principal of higher Islamic college.
The executive Governor once visited the college in February 2012 and was dismayed by what he saw- his host could not address his entourage, nor conduct official affairs in English Language but, allowed his registrar who he has since abandoned, to do all the talking while he kept quiet throughout the period”. The source told DESERT HERALD weekly that Mr. Shettima then had to ask the provost during the said visit that “why are you not talking?” despite all these shortcomings coupled with the challenges of leadership, which has caused disunity, alienation, witch- hunt and outright failure to smoothly run the affairs of the college accordingly. But Governor Kashim, even though according to the lecturers interviewed by this reporter had realize that the provost actually could not even speak English, has failed to remove him and appoint a more qualified and competent person to lead the college, even if it means appointing someone from the university like he did for Ramat Polytechnic, when he brought in Engr. Umaru to become the saving grace and pride of the polytechnic, which is now enjoying peace and development.
DESERT HERALD gathered that Borno state is still searching for a credible, reliable, purposeful and courageous leader, who will be firm, assertive and resolute in discharging the public mandate without fear or favour. Many people spoken to responded that Governor Shettima, “although kind hearted and well-meaning, lacks these essential qualities to steer the ship of a state which is under the firm grips of political demagogues and their agents, who are behaving in ways and manners which run contrary to decency, civility and proper conduct. They behave like Neo-Fascists”. To many, Borno State will not break new grounds under such corrupted, lopsided, unjust and pervasive situation. They said the governor has given his executives too much space to operate at will without sanctions.
Many observers of the political firmament in Borno have said that the Kashim Shettma’s administration, which to some extent is an extension of his godfather’s regime in principles and inclination, is performing far less than his predecessor’s which did not allow financial impropriety, fraud and impunity by contractors to take place. This, according to some keen observers of Borno politics, is why SAS left behind in the states treasury a whopping N61billion as stated by both SAS and Mr. Shettima during the handing over ceremony on May, 29, 2011. “Under Kashim Shettima, however, every head of ministry, Department and agency is busy helping themselves greedily with public funds entrusted upon them for public good. There is too much impunity and the governor is helplessly watching as the treasury is emptied,” said a lecturer at MOGCOLIS who asked not to be mentioned.
Already on the political scene, Hon. Mohammed Imam was reported to have twice come to Maiduguri and doled out millions to his array of supporters including some elders, all in an attempt to prepare the grounds for the 2015 gubernatorial elections. DESERT HERALD learnt within the political camp of SAS that as part of the strategy to oust Mr. Shettima in 2015, Mohammed Imam a.k.a Mamman Million will be appointed by SAS as the State Chairman of the newly formed APC. Ali Sheriff is a major stakeholder and one of the financiers of the party even though lately, according to credible sources, Mr. Shettima too is investing hugely on the party and its national leaders so as to get their support in the event of the expected and predictable crisis of interest that may undoubtedly erupt between him and SAS in 2015.
Many have opined that Governor Shettima’s many unfulfilled promises to numerous people in the state will be his major undoing and may worsen his crisis, as they have already started to address his government as one of “Friends and Family,” according to our usual credible sources. One thing which appears unarguable and visible today in Maiduguri is Kashim’s giant posters and billboards urging him to run in 2015 against all odds, but, whether he can squarely face the huge challenges of his political career against the glaring interest of his godfather and in view of the lackluster attitude of his government on issues of corruption and corrupt enrichment by those that are very close to him remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, the people of Borno are watching and deciding what to do in 2015, with many hoping that the reckless use of their resources which can only be seen on the conspicuous and flamboyant life styles of the governor’s officials and on young jobless girls that are being giving brand new cars intimidating people across the state will be permanently checked by the governor even because of his political ambition in 2015 and for the sake of posterity.
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