By LUKA BINNIYAT
A motley crowd of largely unruly youths carrying screaming banners hailing Governor Mukhtar Ramallan Yero of Kaduna State took over the Murtata Sqaure, Kaduna, on Tuesday, at a ceremony marking Yero’s 100 days since becoming governor of a state equally shared by the Muslim North and the Christian South.
Kaduna State is perhaps where religion and ethnicity count very much in all spheres of governance.
Yero, ensconced by top guns of his government, watched and listened to drummers, dancers, praise singers and beggars all blaring different songs from their megaphones at the same time, to create what looked like a perfect state of cacophony.
But the most colourful of the groups were those that looked like the official scumbags of the governor, or “Yero Boys”.
They wore fine adire flowing gowns with a hue of green, over which a huge good looking face of the governor stared out. Their trousers were white, with green and red long strips from the waist to the edge. But the trade mark of Yero was the green velvety skull cap which they wore.
And, indeed, that seemed to be the governor’s political signature headwear – the green cap. All his commissioners, local government chairmen, even members of the state House of Assembly and important guests wore the green caps, except Yero, and his deputy, Ambassador Nuhu Bajoga.
Once a while, a VIP, happy with the outing of the the “Yero Boys”, would throw a wad of cash to the crowd. They would momentarily suspend their performance and dive at the cash, rolling and tearing at themselves amidst profane languages in Hausa from the losers.
Street urchins or Alamajiris, as they are known here, also had a good fill as they became emergency PDP boys.
That kind of spectacle was uncommon under the late Governor Ibrahim Yakowa, who managed to rule without a battery of hoodlums, and screaming faithful disrupting public functions as was the culture with his two predecessors, Senator Ahmed Makarfi and Arc Namadi Sambo.
Yero was an accountant in the Nalado Enterprise, owned by Sambo. When Sambo became governor in 2007, he brough in Yero to be his Commissioner for Finance. Yero became deputy governor after Sambo was elevated to Vice President in 2009, rising to be governor after the demise of Yakowa last December.
*Gov Yero of Kaduna State.
“If there is anything that you must give to Yero”, said a reporter with a foreign based broadcast company who does not want his name mentioned, “it is that he has returned the unruly PDP boys to their jobs.”
But, Yero and his team said there was indeed a good reason to celebrate the governor’s one year in office. And it was evident that day.
Spread under the scotching sun, about 500 metres from the stand of the VIP behind the excited rowdy crowd, were N869 million worth of goodies for the poor on loan: 15 luxury buses, 35 mini buses, 40 taxis and 700 tricycles all under the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) purchased by the late Yakowa, who died before sharing them out.
And that was not all. According to the Director General, Media and Publicity to the Governor, Alh. Ahmed Maiyaki, “the governor has met with both Christian and Muslim leaders including traditional leaders seeking sustained peace in Kaduna State.
“He has also concluded plans to empower 6,000 unemployed women in the 23 local government areas of the state. The governor has improved the health care system in the state. In the 2013 budget, there is a provision to construct 30 new health facilities in the state, in addition to genuine commitment towards the eradication of polio and measles.
“The governor has also kept his word to run an all exclusive government”.
To the last one, however, the Southern Kaduna Progressive Youth Movement, led by Mr Caleb Samuel Abbott, felt very differently.
At a press conference, Abbott alleged that there was not a single Christian in Kaduna State Government House that held any viable responsibility, accusing Yero of transferring or sacking all Christians he inherited.
According to the group, only Muslims serving under Yakowa survived the alleged purge to make present occupants of these offices all Muslims: Chief Security Officer to the Governor, Chief Detail, Aide de Camp (ADC), Police Orderly, SSS Orderly, and Private Principal Secretary (PPS).
Others include the Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff, Secretary to Kaduna State Government, Director General, Media, Director, Finance/Accounts, Government House, Senour Special Assistant, Media, Senior Special Assistant Public Affairs.
The rest are: Director Admin/Supply, Transport Officer, Chief Driver, Government House Cashier, and Director of Works.
“We have it on authority that even long serving domestic and staff in Government House who are not Muslims were relived of the jobs and replaced by Muslims”, the group said.
But Maiyaki defended Yero, this saying, ”It is the tradition at all levels of government. The appointment made so far was done without malice. His Excellency has repeated this over and over again. He does not have any problem with the people of Southern Kaduna and he has promised to carry all citizens in the state along”.
He said that the accusers of the government forgot to include that the Protocol Officer to the Governor, Mr. Ibrahim Kure, is a Christian, even though the Director of Protocol is a Muslim.
“Even the Head of Service, Mr. Nathaniel Hayab, appointed under Yakowa is a Christian. If the governor wanted, he could have removed him. But he did not do that because he believes in fairness”, he added.
The governor got another damming assessment from an expected quarter – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
On Yero’s 100 days in office, the state Chairman of the ACN, Mohammed Sani Soba, in a press statement on Tuesday, said: “As the administration of Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero marks its 100 days in office, the Kaduna State Chapter of the ACN wishes to make the following observations:
“Yero administration has not recorded any meaningful progress in its 100 days in office largely due to the absence of a clearly defined direction and poor information management mechanism which keeps the people of Kaduna State in suspense.
“The administration came with a lot of goodwill and sympathy considering the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of the former Governor Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa. However, in the last 100 days, the Yero administration has not done enough to convince the populace that it is indeed a continuation of the Yakowa administration.
“Instead, the Yero administration has so far proved to be an off-shoot of the Namadi Administration that was well known for its exclusivism, suspicious implementation of projects that have no direct bearing on the lives of the citizens of Kaduna State such as the new Governor’s Office that gulped over N10 billion (and still not utilized) and award of fictitious contracts like the provision of uniforms for Primary School pupils which are still being paid for, years after the departure of the Namadi Administration even though no one could see the uniforms.
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