According to Douglas MacArthur, a true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. These, among many other attributes, define Sadiya Umar Farouq, the vibrant, focused and one blessed with a golden heart to serve humanity through politics.
Born 48 years ago, Sadiya, is a Nigerian politician and the current minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development. She is a woman driven by passion, patriotism and commitment of service to humanity through politics; a passionate Nigerian whose traits are titled towards building lasting legacies where everyone will have an equal opportunity to grow; a woman herself who shares the belief that an opportunity for women to take active roles and lead in government is the best way to change the narratives in Nigeria.
Nigeria is a typical patriarchal society. Women are hardly given the opportunity or supported to assume leadership positions. Even when they do, they are often maligned and bullied. Since we began our political process, not a single woman has been found competent and elected the chief executive of a state. The under-representation of women in political participation gained grounds due to the deep-rooted cultural practices inherent in our society, which existed from the pre-colonial era to date. The appointment of Sadiya Farouq to oversee the newly created Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs left millions of Nigerians smiling and praying for her likes to always be in the corridors of power.
She has passed through the hurdles of Nigerian difficult political environment to grow and her successes are already causing some heavyweight politicians sleepless nights in Nigeria and Bauchi state in particular. She attended Federal Government College Gusau, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and later served at the National Assembly where her journey to politics began. Farouq is by age the youngest minister in the current federal cabinet having served as Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) from October 2016 to August 2019. She is a loyal party woman who earned the trust and confidence of President Muhammadu Buhari dating back to Buhari’s days as the leader and presidential candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change. Farouq was the national treasurer of CPC and later national treasurer of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
As alluded to earlier, many Nigerian women if elected or nominated for leadership positions often get bullied by detractors through unfounded and baseless rumours and allegations. Many would stop at nothing to intimidate or derail the achievements of the woman in question and go all out to dent her reputation and good works. This is unequivocally the scenario playing out over the allegations against the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. She is predestined by the Almighty Allah as she continues to rise to the peak of affairs in Nigeria and Bauchi state in particular where women are fasting and praying to have a brand new first lady who shares in their plight. Her legendary performance has outshined her critics and she is now a national gem whose successes are flipped around in all nooks and crannies of Nigeria.
It is crystal clear that some media influencers both print and social media have been recruited to carry these baseless assignments. We have read some allegations that the minister has been diverting social investment programmes meant for the entire country to Bauchi state to facilitate her husband’s mission to rescue the state from the hands of the privileged few. The pundits have failed to acknowledge that as its stands, the minister hails from Zamfara and Bauchi states by virtue of birth and now marriage to the most celebrated Air Marshall Saddique Baba Abubakar the incoming governor of Bauchi state insha Allah.
The allegations are no doubt political aimed at blackmailing and sabotaging Bauchians’ collective resolve to usher in a new leadership where the principles of equity and shared prosperity will guide those in government.
Those selling the narrative of exclusion that she abandoned Zamfara state to Bauchi are suffering from amnesia. Senator Binta Masi Garba was twice a member of House of Representatives representing Kaduna state by virtue of marriage and later a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from Adamawa state by birth. Farouq is on the verge of writing a new history having been appointed a minister from Zamfara state and will be unveiled as the first lady of Bauchi state in 2023.
The moment they failed to acknowledge that since the creation of the humanitarian ministry in August 2019, it is on record that at least 20 million Nigerians have so far been empowered through various social investment programmes and initiatives of the ministry. It is also on record that under the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, a total of 9.9 million children from primary 1 to 3 in 53,000 public schools nationwide are currently being fed one hot nutritious meal every school day. Under the National Home Grown School feeding programme, Bauchi state ranks 4th highest in terms of benefitting number of primary schools behind Kano, Benue and Kaduna states.
In addition, Kano state has the highest number of children being fed, followed by Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Jigawa and Benue before Bauchi. Where are the baseless allegations that such programmes favour only Bauchi state?
As the someone who has taken empowerment as the bedrock of human development, about 1,064,774 youths in the graduate and non graduate programmes under the N-Power scheme, Bauchi state ranks 11th out the 36 states and the FCT. The highest number of beneficiaries are from Benue, Delta, Enugu, FCT, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Osun, Oyo and Rivers states before Bauchi. This is a woman who shares the traits of President Muhammadu Buhari – commitment and passion to uplift a reasonable number of Nigerians out of poverty – and she is the one leading the implementation of this laudable project.
The latest of such baseless allegations targeted at her person is the outburst of the spokesman of Atiku Presidential Campaign Council Daniel Bwala when he appears on trust TV Daily Politics on Monday. He said such interventions have not been utilised. This is not different from the language of the other detractors. Notwithstanding, the minister has remained focused and committed to the president’s vision of empowering Nigerians by rolling out one programme after the other to ensure inclusivity for the Nigerian poor and vulnerable. Interesting and worthy of note is the fact that neither the minister nor her husband has ever been dragged before any anti-graft agency, which means the allegations are not beyond what we read on the internet and comedies we watch on YouTube.
She is unstoppable as her detractors spend time selling narratives of exclusion against her person and the incoming governor of Bauchi state Air Marshall Saddique Baba Abubakar; both of who are working to bring back the lost glory of the Bauchi state in forthcoming elections. She is indeed a master of the game and the first lady in-waiting. The All Progressives Congress (APC) chances to reclaim Bauchi state and retain the presidency in the coming elections are clear to all and sundry. This is a manifestation of hardwork, dedication and service delivery by Sadiya Umar Farouq and now the face of the Bauchi first lady in the making has been unveiled in her person.
Ukkasha, National Chairman APC Youths Progressives Forum, writes from Bauchi.
