Yari’s crucifixion and sundry frustrations
[FILE PHOTO] Gov. Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara
Alhaji Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari is not only the governor of Zamfara State, he is also the chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), a voluntary association of state governors in the country. Yari was chosen to head NGF to pull the organisation out of its painful and trenchant past.
Perhaps worried that his predecessor operated much like a lion, leading the forum from one controversy to another political belligerence, the governors decided to settle for a pussy cat-like personality, which can only purr, but not claw, so that the association could glide along with some good-natured and graceful steps.
To that end, it could be said that Yari, a prince, is a man of peace. By education and training he is a typist, not minding that his course of study was secretarial studies and later public administration.
Governor Yari is one of the few lucky Nigerians that the country’s democracy brought humongous dividends. His political, and therefore, socio-economic progression reads like a fairy tale: Nearly five years after fetching his diploma in secretarial studies, Yari was made the secretary of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
In 2003 he became ANPP state chairman, from where he was catapulted to the position of national financial secretary, only to be elected subsequently to represent Anka/Talata Mafara Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
It was from the House of Representatives that the man from Talata Mafara returned to become Zamfara State governor, after dethroning his father-in-law, Aliu Shinkafi in 2011. It is obvious that Governor Yari has not rested from 1999 till date, because he has never allowed any election cycle to pass him by without being on the ballot.
It was perhaps on account of his ascension to the seat of governor from the federal legislature that Yari continued to wage domestic political battle against the senator representing Zamfara Central in the Senate, Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa, from walking a similar path to the governorship seat.
Since 2015 when Yari won his second term mandate, he has not known peace because, if it is not Senator Marafa standing up in the Red Chamber to point out the perceived ineptitude of the governor, cattle rustlers and criminal bandits would be levying death and despoliation on the citizens he presides over.
As a man long ceased from the staccato sounds of typewriters, especially the analogue brands, Yari did not like the sound of guns and long arguments.
So, feeling that the seat of governorship has become hot by Senator Marafa’s constant meddling, and the state made ungovernable by the untoward acts of violent gangs, the governor found Abuja a welcome, safe haven.
At least, he seemed to justify his choice of Abuja as his base by the fact that as the NGF chairman, he ought to be at the federal capital, where he could not only be easily accessed by brother governors, but also enjoy some peace and quiet from the deafening din of murderous confusion in Gusau and neighbouring communities.
Yet when the heat of public commentaries on the state of anomie in Zamfara increased, just as some well-to-do natives decided to emulate their governor by withdrawing to Sokoto, Katsina or Abuja, Governor Yari demonstrated his frustration in a sarcastic mode by relinquishing the office of Chief Security Officer of Zamfara State.
That obvious escapist approach seemed to be Yari’s only way of condemning the apparent stupidity of public intellectuals, who instead of blaming the mistake of the nation on the nebulous and malicious constitution are fixated on bashing the governor.
Also, as chairman of NGF, he decided to sulk metaphorical against a federal structure that places virtually every aspect of governance on the table of an aloof president, thereby compounding the troubles of state governors, whose financial umbilical cords and political apron strings are tied to Abuja.
It was as if Yari was drawing a contrast between the 2011 to 2015 dispensation when he served his first term in office as governor and the subsisting scheme of things. By resigning as his state’s chief security officer, which is the moral equivalent of abdicating his role as governor, it was not the first time the number one citizen of Zamfara was expressing his frustrations with the polity.
On a visit to Enugu State, the chairman of NGF had said, “This is not a good time to be state governor” as a way of mouthing his frustrations about the seeping economic depression that became the nation’s lot after the 2015 general election, which made it hard for state chief executives to pay salaries and fulfill other fiduciary responsibilities.
Perhaps it was out of a native sense of relief that the governor saw the bailout funds from the presidency as a generous handout and therefore proclaimed that the 2019 election would be opportunity for the governors to reciprocate the presidential gesture, which sounds like a reference to the origin of vote buying that pervaded the 2019 general elections.
It is possible that to Yari, the Shatiman Mafara, everything about governance begins and ends with money. He once announced a bounty of N1 million each to any citizen or resident of Zamfara who returns an AK-47 rifle, as a way of stemming the ugly tides of increased banditry, abductions and mindless killings in the state.
Extending further his subtle contrast between pre- and post-2015 eras, Yari told journalists in Gusau that it was incomprehensible that while in 2015, “with just about 250 soldiers, the crime rate was low, but with over 1,600 soldiers of different categories, we cannot contain crime in the state.”
It would have made more sense if the NGF chairman had taken that matter to the council of state or even for a robust discussion in their governors’ meetings. But he seems not to be cut out for stirring disputes. He is a man of ‘peace’, whose deputy, Mallam Ibrahim Wakkala, once accused of sidelining him in the governance of the state.
Judging from his visage, Yari cuts the picture of a cross between a not-too-smart fellow and ajebo (privileged child). But on each score, it is evident that circumstances around him do not dispose him to the peace and quiet he craves. Just last week, some Zamfara natives decided to ruffle his nest by taking the troublesome happenings to his Abuja lair. It was a protest march to the right quarters, even though the irate darts of the agitated protesters were aimed at Yari.
To make matters worse, instead of Senator Marafa or any of the political irritants that have been eyeing his seat, the protesters were young people led by two women, who decided to parody the crucifixion story of the bible by standing, one at his right and the other to his left.
The one to the left, who happened to be a broadcast journalist, taunted the outgoing governor for his former offer to quit as governor if state of emergency would restore peace and order in Zamfara.
She recalled how the governor pledged to quit office after resigning as the Chief Security Officer, saying, “I don’t know what he is still doing in office; he doesn’t care.”
But while the journalist showed deference by “calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to show the people of Zamfara the same regards they have shown him (by) coming out in large numbers to vote for him,” the lady on the right came to Yari’s defense by laying the blame where it belongs.
Identifying herself as ‘Miss NextLevel’ in a video that has gone viral, Yari’s defender castigated the president for leaving the people at the mercy of brigands and criminals, even as she voiced her regrets for defending the president and perhaps voting for Yari again to represent the state in the Senate out of that sentiment.
It happens that the current heightened but divisive debates about the failure of governance in Zamafra State find expression in the Yari persona.
In Yari’s political odyssey, we find that apart from politics, he has not plied his trade anywhere else. And presenting a placid disposition and vacant facial expression, most political godfathers and even the voters found him attractive to invest their votes and hope.
From the latest expletives, which the Zamfara governor has been forced to endure, it could be deduced that if the leader of state governors in Nigeria has been described as useless and hopeless, it could be concluded that the NGF is made of such persons.
And remembering also that Yari’s colleague and chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum had coined and introduced a new word into the country’s political lexicon known as iberiberism, it would be a source of consolation to Governor Abdul’aziz Yari that he is not alone in the manifestation of iberibeist tendencies in governing Zamfara State.
In Yari, we learn that success in politics or electoral triumphs does not translate to magical moments in mandate delivery or governance. Even in exile one can be haunted by one’s failures and failings.
Those are the twin burdens Governor Yari will carry to the 9th Senate, because the protest in Abuja has served the dual purpose of sending him forth from governorship seat with ignominy and welcoming him to his new assignment with infamy.
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