SIR: Only 10 months is left for Governor Aminu Bello Masari to exhaust his second tenure. What he does within these 10 months is significant to his reputation and posterity. A pragmatic leader can achieve a lot in 10 months. Example, late Murtala Muhammad as military head of state recorded landmark achievements in six months.
If I were Aminu Bello Masari, the governor of Katsina State, I will focus on completing and consolidating my recorded success in the remaining days of my tenure. Enough of politicking!
The trouble with Governor Masari is that he seems determined to placate the losers of the last primaries of his political party. But the trouble with history is that it will not record this as an achievement. The governor should forget those losers and focus on governance. After all, in every election, there are winners and losers, so why should he continue to waste his valuable time persuading undemocratic elements who never believe in accepting result in good faith?
Come back to governance issues: There is no gainsaying the fact that Governor Masari is either not willing to sign Open Government Partnership (OGP) or he is being misled by selfish and overzealous officials about OGP. This is because at different times, the good people of Katsina State have expressed their demand to the governor to sign OGP but at no avail.
Many states like Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa ,etc have signed OGP and have gone far in implementing their action plans, while Katsina State under Masari is dragging.
The fact that the governor is not showing much commitment to OGP puts a question mark on the transparency and accountability of his administration. You can’t claim you are transparent or accountable when your body language loathes OGP.
Also, it arouses suspicion that the government operates citizen budget but reluctant to join OGP. It means that they are less accountable and transparent.
Finally, like I want to repeat, that time is irredeemable, Masari has ten months; forget about politicking and focus more on governance and completing many projects you started.
- Comrade Bishir Dauda Sabuwar,
Unguwa Katsina.