Public opinion analyst and Project Management Consultant to former Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam, Nat Apir, tells Special Correspondent, TERNA DOKI, that Governor Samuel Ortom is yet to learn from the experiences of his predecessor, hence some flops in some of his policy initiatives.
Obstacles to Suswam’s administration and lessons for Ortom
The issue of litigation over Gabriel Suswam’s re-election contributed immensely to the distractions and the lack of focus his administration experienced in the second term. He spent almost three and a half years in the courts defending his mandate and this took away his focus on governance. That was majorly responsible for the lapses we began to experience in his second term. My advice to the current administration in the state is to try and reach out to the aggrieved parties, so that the issues of litigations are not pushed to a level where this government would spend the first three or four years in the courts trying to defend its mandate.
Suswam’s absence during the hand-over in Makurdi
To say the least, I was most embarrassed when I heard the former governor was not at the hand-over ceremony. But I am also not unmindful of the fact that there was very serious disillusionment among the populace. People were disenchanted, frustrated and aggrieved towards the Suswam administration. And the reasons are not too far-fetched. First, the issue of non-payment of salaries that dragged on for a very long time pauperised our people. We are a predominantly civil service state and 90 per cent of our economy is driven by salaries from government. It is when the civil servant receives his salary that he goes to the market to buy, and the trader too is able to generate some revenue, and it trickles down.
But to answer your question, I think it was not the right thing that Suswam did; it is very, very embarrassing. He shouldn’t have done it. But there were also some views out there that, owing to security reports, his life was under threat. It explained why he practically absconded without handing over at the public square.
Assessing Ortom, one month after
I think Governor Samuel Ortom is floundering, because the circumstances that threw him up were not completely wholesome. If you look at section 87 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, the procedures for the emergence of the governor or any other elected officer are clearly spelt out. Now, with what has happened, I expected (I don’t know if he has done it) he would call Prince Terhemen Tarzoor, his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rival, and others who contested with him. But I am not aware that he has reached out to Tarzoor for reconciliation. I had expected that Ortom would have learnt some lessons from what happened to former Governor Suswam, who spent three and a half years in the court. Second, the issue of sacking 4,000 youths that were employed was hastily done, as no proper investigation was carried out as to how they were employed.
The actions the Ortom government has taken in one month show that there were no serious thoughts behind them. He came out and declared that the five months’ salary government was owing workers amounted to N12 billion. If you work out the ratio, that is about N2.4 billion. And this would have included pension. Ortom has collected a N10 billion loan for the payment of civil servants’ salaries. In the month of May 2015, according to the governor, the state received N1.7 billion from federal allocation and N500 million as VAT (value-added tax), which brought the total to N2.2 billion. He said, debtors took away a chunk of that money and he was able to augment to pay out N3.5 billion as salaries and pensions. That was grossly exaggerated because we have the records in this state that with political appointees and everybody, the salaries never went above N2.7 billion monthly. So, where did the additional N800 million that padded up the wage bill come from?
Ortom has a good heart and he is a good man. But I think he needs to sit down and restrain from too much haste to impress the people because that would be very dangerous. What has happened in this state in the last 16 years requires a meticulous and careful study, before you come out to make pronouncements. The administration needs to sit down and use the first two months to look at what has happened and come up with a genuine document, not just pronouncements.
Godfather factor in Benue politics
Godfather politics is everywhere democracy is practised in the world. It’s just that in our own case, we have abused it. Our problem here is that, owing to the poverty level (and I should also add that the low education of our people), we have elevated the godfather syndrome to the level of an art.
The only way to break out of this is for our political leaders to sit back and say, I am only mentoring this young man. There is a difference between being a godfather and a mentor.
APC leadership crisis in NASS
If we practise democracy, the will and wishes of the people must be respected. If the party decides to foist her candidate on the people, the outcome will be that the party will keep dictating to these people what should happen and it becomes very dangerous for us. You have a situation where a political godfather sits anywhere and decides that this is the man who should take over this position. It means they have a personal agenda and not a pan-Nigerian agenda. A pan-Nigerian agenda would say, let’s talk to our representatives, convince them, but let them decide what is best for Nigeria. When former Speaker Aminu Tambuwal emerged as Speaker against the wishes of the PDP, did the party make the hue and cry as we are witnessing from the All Progressives Congress (APC) now? They only made noise momentarily and allowed him to go, because he was their party man, though some of the decisions he took were against the interest of his party. So, why are we finding it difficult now to accept the emergence of (Bukola) Saraki as Senate president, though I am not supporting him? I think this is overheating of the polity by the APC, which is unnecessary. Let them go back to the drawing board and re-strategise. At the moment, APC is only engaged in panic reaction, and delaying the wheels of government.