“In war, truth is the first casualty”
- Aeschylus, the Greek dramatist
Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto of Sokoto state clearly understands that in the murky waters of Nigeria’s politics you get killed several times over; and like Bob Marley said people must learn the act of surviving so they can live to fight another day, unlike in war where they have no second chance of survival. In November 2018, Governor Aliyu had resigned as the deputy governor to former governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal over irreconcilable differences.
And Tambuwal, despite being the incumbent, only managed to defeat Governor Aliyu by a mere 342 votes in the 2019 general elections. To date, the people of Sokoto state continue to insist that Governor Aliyu, indeed, won that election. But Governor Aliyu, convinced he won, prepared for the 2023 general elections and roundly defeated Saidu Umar, the governorship candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
One thing is certain, and that’s that whatever illusions Governor Aliyu has about the opposition PDP have been cleared by their continued political mischief.
Governor Aliyu’s crime for which the PDP has vowed retaliation and has, in fact, demonstrated by words and deeds its readiness to make the state ungovernable is the defeat of their mentor’s candidate. The defeat demystified Tambuwal with the likes of Nyesome Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) describing him as a political neophyte with no home base. How can the PDP allow the governor to have respite when he dealt a fatal blow to the presidential ambition of Tambuwal, their leader? Governor Aliyu shouldn’t expect the PDP to be decent and must also understand that nothing would be off the table in their desire to make his tenure miserable.
This background is important for Nigerians to understand the basis to the various controversies that the Sokoto state government seems to be embroiled in.
Nigerians woke up to the calculated mischief spear headed by Mahdi Shehu, a Kaduna based “private whistwhistleblower” who in saner climes would have quietly retired to his rural Katsina state tending goats and sheep. Shehu has been proved to be lacking in credibility and not trustworthy with facts. Former governor of Katsina state Aminu Masari dragged him before a Katsina High Court over several unsubstantiated allegations of corruption against Masari. When he was arraigned, he shamelessly resorted to an elaborate medical scam to avoid accountability.
Mahmud Jega, in an article published in Thisday Newspaper in 2022, described Mahdi Shehu as lacking in reputation. He said:” Mahdi Shehu’s standing as an actor was enhanced, but his credibility as anti-corruption crusader suffered an image blow”.
The highly controversial Shehu without the slightest of effort at subjecting the patent falsehood to scrutiny joined the opposition in crucifying the Sokoto state government for awarding a whopping N1.2 billion contract for the “rehabilitation” of 25 boreholes. He went on to castigate and impugn the reputation of the government by making conclusions that can never be supported.
For the benefit of the likes of Shehu, the facts of the N1.2 billion project are these as opposed to their tales by moonlight.
Sokoto state, like the other northern states, has some serious environmental challenges, land degradation, deforestation, desertification, depletion of water resources, low agricultural yields, siltation of water bodies and flooding which requires immediate action.
To aggressively combat the problems of environmental degradation, improve access to water, increased food security and the creation of job opportunities for its teeming youths, the government entered into a collaborative partnership with the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) and the World Bank. The programme with a six years life span is also being executed in other northern states.
It’s a fact that the total contract sum is N1.2 billion. But contrary to the falsehood by Shehu the project is not limited to the rehabilitation of 25 boreholes because in the first place the Tambuwal administration didn’t build any borehole in the benefitting communities to be rehabilitated. It’s also a fact that the 25 solar powered boreholes are brand new and not “tokunbo”. It’s also true that the Sokoto state government, unlike the Tambuwal administration, fully paid up its counterpart funding.
Contrary to the falsehoods by Shehu and his cohorts; there are other critical components in the contract, which by the way was awarded by the World Bank. This fact can be cross checked with the bank.
The other components of the contract include a 40 km shelter belt as well as the 500 hectares forest enrichment and perimeter fencing. The 40-km shelter belt entails the planting of vegetation to protect the nine communities from wind and erosion, the protection of crops, and the communities from dust, wind, and other environmental factors. The overall activity is aimed at improving the food security of the beneficiary communities.
While the 500 Hectares of Forest Enrichment involves improving the quality of the forest area by planting of additional trees, managing the existing vegetation, and enhancing biodiversity and the restoration of degraded lands to increase forest cover, and the improvement of ecological balance.
Governor Aliyu said, “We have established a 500 hectares forest enrichment plantation in Wurno LGA, designed to improve the vegetation cover and alleviate sheet and rill erosion that threatens the fertile Fadama land in Wurno catchment. This work will ensure that the irrigation activities in Wurno and surrounding areas continue unhindered”.
The perimeter fencing is intended to protect the shelter belt and forest area from unauthorised access, grazing animals, and other potential threats.
These components are all part of the environmental and protective measures covered by the N1.2 billion contract, designed primarily to enhance sustainability and conservation in more than eight communities. Hopefully, the implementation would lead to sustainable development and the desired outcome. The project is more than providing water for man and animals (biodiversity) but also the mitigation of climate change, which would improve human health and livelihood.
The opposition must not jubilate that they temporarily succeeded in their plot to distract and demonise the government because even some gullible Nigerians that initially bought their story hook, line and sinker have since changed their mind on coming to know the truth. The PDP is certainly pained that the Governor Aliyu Sokoto administration is succeeding where they woefully failed.
Governor Aliyu has, no doubt developed a thick skin and would no longer be shocked by the low level the Tambuwal political family would descend in making Sokoto state ungovernable.
Musa writes from Kaduna, Kaduna state
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