Just eight months into the administration, HAMIDU SABO examines the place of trust in the relationship between Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State and his deputy, Mannir Yakubu, urging all other states to emulate same.
The place of trust in any setting is one that cannot be overemphasised because without this five-letter word, a lot of things will go amiss. This appears to be working so well in Katsina where the governor, Aminu Bello Masari and his deputy, Mannir Yakubu are carrying on well the change mantra ,the All Progressives Congress slogan.
The manifestation of this trust has clearly been shown since the inception of the APC-led administration in the state. At different times, Governor Masari has heaped on his deputy’s shoulder a huge responsibility, the latest of which is appointing him as the commissioner in charge of agriculture.
The appointment carries with it a strong statement, especially at a time when the entire country is talking about diversifying the economy from oil to agriculture. For Yakubu therefore, this is one responsibility he must discharge with utmost commitment and dedication. In order word, the task of ensuring that the desired result of economic diversification in Katsina state, will be measured by the way he carefully carries out this onerous assignment. Beside agriculture, other areas the Masari administration places priority on include; education, health and water improvement among others.
Prior to this appointment to head the agriculture ministry, the governor had given nod to his deputy to represent him at several fora, well over 20. Name them; the Governors Forum meeting in Abuja as well as that of the Progressives Governors Forum meeting , which was recently held in Yankari Games Reserve in Bauchi state.
Added to this, Mannir is the present Chairman, state’s task force on polio eradication and routine immunization, chaired the transition committee, 2015 fertilizer distribution committee, while also supervising the Katsina State Road Maintenance Agency (KASROMA) and overseeing the religions affairs Ministry, pilgrims welfare board as well as local government areas and primary health care agency.
Interestingly, the set goals of these assignments were accomplished, a development that not only delighted the stakeholders in the Katsina project, but attracted the deputy governor’s school mates at the Barewa College Zaria who conferred him with a BOBA award in Kaduna, at a function attended by dignitaries across the country .
Significantly, Mannir, who is the first elected deputy governor from Katsina Central Senatorial District and the first occupant of that office to be so appointed as commissioner since the creation of the state 28 years ago.
At different times, he was also honoured by his friends, relatives and even neighbour, as an indication of his peaceful and friendly nature across the state. It is also important to stress that the state is among the polio-free states, a feat that could be credited to his leadership of the task force on polio eradication and routine immunization.
Speaking to our correspondent, the Chief Press Secretary to the deputy governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Kallah, noted that his boss’ transparent style is in tandem with the Masari’s administration’s agenda of ensuring better welfare for all residents of the state, irrespective of tribe, religion and political leaning.
Mannir, according to his CPS , clearly demonstrates how the relationship between a governor and his deputy should go. “It is a great thing of joy to people of this great state that we have an unassuming but principled governor working with a hardworking and committed deputy who believes in strictly carrying out whatever assignment the governor gives him, with diligence and a high sense of honesty.”
“In fact, Mannir is being respected by the political class as one of the politicians who has never decamped to one party or the other or engage in one anti-party activity or the other since his blossoming but modest political career started,” Kallah said.
Commenting on this, a Katsina-based political analyst, Comrade Bala Danjuma, said “different reactions to holders of political mandate, are necessities in political leadership and the response of those in authority must be characterized by appreciation, tolerance, maturity, objectivity acceptability and fairness.”
Yakubu was born in Katsina city on the 15th of August, 1954 and had his early Islamic education under the close watch of his forefather, Malam Ladan family of Tsohuwar Kasuwa Quarters Katsina. He started his primary school in 1961 at Rafindadi Katsina, after which he proceeded to Barewa College, Zaria in 1968, where he obtained his Grade I WASC.
From there, the young Mannir proceeded to the School of Basic Studies (SBS), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria for his A/Level at the end of which he stayed back in the same university to pursue a degree in surveying, emerging the best student with a second class upper in 1977.
In October 1979, the young graduate ventured into politics and became the principal secretary to the deputy governor in the old Kaduna state, Alhaji Abba Musa Rimi on the platform of the Peoples Redemptions Party (PRP). At different times, he served as the principle quantity surveyor and chief quantity surveyor ministry of works in the old Kaduna state.
Yakubu, a fellow of the Nigeria institute of Quantity Surveyors (FNIQS), contested for the Katsina Central Senatorial Seat in 2003 and 2007 on the ticket of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, and 2011 on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), but was not successful.
For the deputy governor, he has a tying bond with the present administration in the state, and this he clearly made open during the administration’s 100 days in office. At the event, he was quoted to have said the key principle of Masari administration is accountability, since, according to him, the state suffered poor governance, especially in the last eight years.
He said the state is now set out to work with defining objectives with new goals to put simile on peoples faces, stressing that the manner Governor Masari is handling the hazy situation inherited, has clearly shown that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Thus far, eight months on, Katsina is on course and it is hoped that betrayal of trust as well as rumour millers won’t be allowed the slightest space between the first and second citizens. Though, it may be too early to say Uhuru, by and large, analysts are of the view that the trend rolling out in the state should not only be sustained, but worthy of emulation by other states.
