By Ibraheem Musa
Perhaps, no past or serving governor has been as consistent, principled and focused to a cause as Alhaji AbdulKadir Balarabe Musa, the ex governor of old Kaduna State. In fact, the left wing politician and social crusader, for over 38 years, has been canvassing for a new social order in Nigeria. In 1979, he was impeachment from office but undaunted, he soldiered on with his crusade. The removal, rather than diminish him, burnished Balarabe’s image of incorruptibility. Consequently, when the military struck in 1983, Balarabe was given a clean bill of political health while his traducers were sent to jail.
In 1990, he joined the Social Democratic Party(SDP), a political party formed and funded by the Babangida administration. The party, by political inclination, was ‘’a little to the left’’ and like a magnet, that phrase attracted Balarabe to SDP. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and Mikail Gorbachev, the 8th and final president, resigned from office as he created the Commonwealth of Independent States. Regardless, Balarabe still stuck with socialism and till date, the octogenarian hasn’t renounced the ideology. Right now, politics has become cash and carry but Balarabe still plays the politics of principles and conviction.
Significantly, over the years, Alhaji Balarabe Musa has transformed from a politician to a statesman whose obsession is nation building and not winning elections. Severally, he has intervened to resolve national crises, irrespective of partisan or ideological differences. In 1993, he opposed the annulment of June 12 presidential election on principle. The election, according to reports, was won by Chief M.K.O Abiola, a southerner and a millionaire businessman. However, Balarabe rose above class differences and denounced the injustice done to Abiola. Balarabe, Chief Emeka Ojukwu and retired General Muhammadu Buhari, ideological strange bedfellows, protested against the flawed 2003 election results in Abuja. Largely, the mass action was successful and the arrowheads went their separate ways afterwards.
In 2012, nine years later, he joined forces with labour leaders and political activists, including retired Col Hameed Ali, the current Customs boss, Comrade Shehu Sani, now a serving senator and Barrister Festus Okoye, a human rights lawyer. At that time, the Jonathan administration jerked up fuel prices and all over Nigeria, people came out to protest the hike. In Kaduna, Balarabe and the aforementioned, was in the trenches with the masses, ‘’fighting the anti people policy,’’ as he put it. Severally, he has been at the barricades, protesting, agitating and denouncing the establishment over unpopular programmes and policies.
Ironically, Balarabe Musa is a product of the establishment that he rails against. In fact, he is a blue blooded aristocrat, having been born to the District Head of Kaya, a Village in Giwa Local Government, in 1938. At birth, he had all the perks, privileges and affluence of the local bourgeoisie but he sided with the masses. Similarly, Balarabe has never been an ‘’aluta’’ chanting, goatee bearded and angry unionist. By 1953, when he finished secondary school, he was among the first set on northern educated elite, with all the attendant privileges. That year, he joined the Northern Civil Service as an Accounts Clerk. Thereafter, he was sent to England, along with Alhaji Aliko Mohammed and others, to study by the regional government. Subsequently, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and with that qualification, he moved to the top echelon of the Civil Service. In 1979, he retired from service and joined politics, culminating to his election as governor of Kaduna state. Subsequently, he was impeached by the House of Assembly, according to reports, due to irreconcilable differences with the NPN-dominated legislature.
In spite of his pedigree, political antecedents and his accomplished public service records, Alhaji Balarabe Musa has gained nothing in any material sense. Specifically, a three bedroom bungalow, a monthly pension of N741,000, a 1,200 acre farm and an old jalopy are his only possession. At 81, the old man still drives himself, without a police orderly. Above all, no government monument, public building or even street has been made after Balarabe Musa in Kaduna state.
Last week, Balarabe turned 81 and President Buhari, in a rare tribute, saluted the octogenarian who has been a thorn in his flesh since he assumed office. Buhari, in a signed statement, had described Balarabe as a “man of unassailable integrity and untainted record of public service.” According to the president, even the celebrant’s ‘’worst enemies and critics cannot dispute his remarkable reputation for integrity and selfless service to the people.” Not done, the president said that Balarabe ‘’ is one of Nigeria’s brightest stars of integrity and sterling principles”, adding that, “the octogenarian has lived to his reputation by avoiding any conduct associated with corruption and dishonour.”
More than anyone, this is the best testimonials that Balarabe has ever received from the ruling class and to boot, it will be a befitting epitaph for a man whose contribution to society will be better appreciated when he is no more.
In a way, the tribute underscored Buhari’s sterling quality; of recognizing great men even if they are on different sides of the barricade.
