Remember the legend of Robin Hood, the English tough who stole from the rich to bless the poor?
Well, Tanko Sabo, the PDP delegate to the just concluded chain of primaries, from Sanga local government of Kaduna State, didn’t exactly steal from anyone, rich or poor.
But the way he went about re-distributing the N19.3 million he “made” from the relay of primaries, cresting with the PDP presidential convention that threw up Atiku Abubakar, sure reminds you of good, old Robin, who the English poor would rather have in their hood.
Now, thanks to sundry inducement by ticket hopefuls, Tanko Sabo reportedly grossed N19.3 million. But he only kept N1.3 million for himself. The balance he expended on soul-lifting community and charity causes, even if the cash came from soul-sinking vote inducement and political corruption.
A report in The Nation of June 4 broke down Sabo’s charity/community spends from the primaries’ “loot”: N7 million to pay the SS 3 terminal examination fees for pupils of his community; N100, 000 gift to service community folks that served as Sabo’s human logistics to pay the fees; N6.9 million for 150 orphans; N3.2 million to kit and brand “Samba Boys”, his Dogon Daji community grassroots youth football team; N700, 000 grant to the “Moroka”: a league of needy elderly, women and outright beggars; and N100, 000 gift to one Danladi Janda. The N1.3 million he retained for himself made up the N19.3 million trove.
Sabo’s value system is rather sound: N7 million went into youth education; N6.9 million went to orphans. So, N13.9 million, out of N19.3 million, bolstered the most helpless of the future generation of Sabo’s community. Another N3.2 million went into sports, a sort of youth empowerment.
Were Sabo to run for executive office, his agenda of youth empowerment/development would be quite promising. No less commendable would be his zero personal or family greed — no strong virtue among the Nigerian political elite.
If Sabo were to keep just N1.3 million for himself, out of N19.3 million “awoof”, you could see a soul consumed by compassion for community need, not personal greed. That’s rather fresh and near-novel among the hustler power folks.
Reflex commentaries suggest Nigeria’s problem is basically leadership. That’s not totally false. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have the crass monetisation of the political process that ends up impoverishing the majority.
Still, Sabo’s nobility from this rot points to the potential of a crop of followers that can demand far nobler ways. Robin Hood would be extremely proud of his Nigerian reincarnation from Kaduna State!