We all owe Governor Bala apology

Sir: In the Glorious Qur’an, chapter two (2), verse 216, the Almighty Allah says:  “…..and it may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you, and it may be that you love a thing while it is evil for you, and Allah knows while you know not.” I may not be an Islamic cleric to provide a detailed explanation of the verse but I have seen the emergence of Bala Mohammad as the executive governor of Bauchi State, as the practical translation of this verse.

In 2015 when Mohammad was FCT minister; the then President Goodluck Jonathan; PDP National Chairman, Ahmad Mu’azu among other top officials were in Bauchi for their electioneering campaign ahead of 2015 poll. As these men were standing on the podium at the IBB square, they were booed and stoned. It was Mohammad whose cap was hit with table water out of hatred, not knowing he would be the driving force who would later come and revolutionise the socio-economic and political landscape of Bauchi State.  In less than two years, under his leadership, Bauchi State is becoming the “ameerah” among its sisters in the Northeast. Oh Allah! Forgive us for the misconception!

We were brainwashed against the governor. His image was intentionally portrayed in bad light by the haters of Nigeria and so, we were given a distorted image of him. Now the truth is emanating looking at the bold steps and giant stride the governor is making towards taking Bauchi State to the highest height; think about infrastructure, health care, education and improvement in other critical issues that are germane to the existence of people. I believe we all are now having a guilty conscience for our mess up in the past.

On September 26, 2020, out of curiosity and inquisitiveness, I forwarded  an open letter to the governor in which I demanded answers to some questions as to how he gets resources he utilises to subject Bauchi State into an amazing metamorphosis, in terms of infrastructure; particularly in view of direct contradiction between what the former governor told us and used as a reason for lack of developmental projects and what he did in practical reality with characteristic modesty.

This was in September last year and my questions are still relevant. This year, I left Bauchi in early January when some projects were in progress. From what we used to know, only God knows the timeframe within which a project would be completed but, to my greatest surprise, I turned back to Bauchi this month, three months after I left, to discover that a number of roads construction have been completed 100 per cent and some have reached an appreciable stage.

We knew not that, Mohammad would be the driver for the roadmap in our quest for a better life.

Sulaiman Maijama’a is of Faculty of Communication, Bayero University Kano (BUK).