I just came across a hurriedly and shabbily knitted rebuttal by a certain group — “Arewa Unity Forum” — a supposed response to an interview with His Excellency, Governor Dikko Umaru Radda, Ph.D, conducted and aired by RFI Hausa. The rebuttal, or more accurately, media banditry, is obviously intended on one hand to deconstruct the immediate subject of the interview, the empowerment of rural women with a 40,000 enhanced specie of goats breed to fast track the rejuvenation of Katsina State’s rural economy. 

On the other hand, the rebuttal could also be said to have aimed to deconstruct as a whole the administration of Governor Radda. It’s unlikely, however, if the forum’s embarrassing outing achieved anything more than exposing the suspicious motive and the masked identity of the so called Arewa Unity Forum. Earlier before the forum’s outing a pundit was of the opinion that Katsina State is foot dragging and moving slowly by supporting rural women with goats in a fast moving AI-trending world. The two identical albeit from different directions advocacies did little more than leaving behind a bile taste in the mouths of real advocates for good governance and social justice. 

But for impulsive “adawa,” how could one throw away empowerment of rural women with special breeds of goats in favor of Artificial Intelligence? Need I remind these are women who are not equipped to operate fully a transistor radio much less, a computer yet, were known to have trained rural children with goat raring proceeds to break out of the pervading circle of poverty ruling our rural communities. Lest I digress. 

Before delving into the details of the inaccuracies of the Arewa Unity Forum’s neither-here-nor-there rebuttal on the mentioned interview, it’s reasonable to first determine the forum’s identity and its source of mandate to speak on behalf of the people of Katsina State considering the rich impression of talking on behalf of citizens of the state the forum always leaves behind with each poorly researched; ignorance laden outing. Certainly, fair minded observers will like to know the scientific method the forum adopted to arrive at the outrageously baseless verdict that “The people of Katsina State have lost hope and trust in Governor Radda’s administration.” Where did the people of Katsina State told the forum this falsity? 

It’s very funny that a forum which is hardly identifiable is claiming to be speaking on behalf of about 10 million citizens of Katsina State. Wide search on the internet provided many forums bearing the name “Arewa Unity Forum” hence making it difficult to identify the one working tediously albeit virtually to unify Katsina in as notoriously divisive and unforgivably ignorant manner as the Arewa Unity Forum under review has been conducting its bizarre kind of advocacy lately in Katsina State — although exclusively within the confines of whatsapp groups. 

Ordinarily, one will think that an advocacy forum of this nature will first strive to build the credibility and public confidence needed for as serious business as vetting governance. But then, these are no ordinary times and nothing proves this more than the obsessional responses to issues of governance by the so called Arewa Unity Forum. It’s embarrassing reading regular whatsapp releases of the forum’s unscientific conclusions on matters of governance viz-a-viz the opinions of the people of Katsina State, yet without even the most watery proof of conducting a survey to touch the pulse of the state. By the way, just few days ago the forum was on air falsely telling the world wrong stories about former Governor Masari — lies debunked convincingly by his former spokesperson and lies yet to be revisited by the forum. Apparently it’s becoming a regular habit. 

Having said that, let’s ask the forum, “Which people of Katsina State is the forum telling the world has lost hope and trust in Governor Radda’s administration?” I don’t think the forum has in mind the same people of the same Katsina State that only few days ago came out in large numbers and enthusiastically gave Governor Radda and his administration a landslide victory in the LGAs elections conducted by the administration and stamped by many observers as one of the freest and fairest LGAs elections conducted across Nigeria in recent times. 

Of course, Arewa Unity Forum may be tempted to deny or challenge the verdict of these observers in “Whatsapp courts” but then, the forum will end up with a more complex task of explaining why PDP, the major opposition party in the state, chose to be sensible by not wasting money to join the elections after considering the odds and using the obvious public satisfaction trailing Governor Radda and his result-oriented and purpose-driven administration. Of course, neither Arewa Unity Forum nor any other forum or force is yet to approach any court to challenge the credibility and validity of the elections. 

Now let’s go back to the watery issues of governance raised by the forum on which it built its fantasy about Katsina people losing hope and trust in Governor Radda despite his numerous promises and reassurances as the forum falsely averred. Playing the game even as a masquerade, I find this position by the forum as bizarre as it’s embarrassing if truly intended to be a well intentioned advocacy. Let me break it into a chewable and digestible morsel. 

Being magical is not among any of the numerous promises and assurances of Governor Radda. Truly there were promises and assurances but these were not promises and assurances that should be taken in the magical sense the forum is doing. These are realistic and implementable promises planned to salvage and restore Katsina State by a determined and meticulous administrative processes guided by intellectual finesse and patriotic commitment to serve the state. Apparently the forum must have missed Governor Radda’s blueprint while being somewhere sleeping when the blueprint was being debated in physical and virtual political spaces within Katsina State when it matters. 

Then it won’t surprise me if the forum is handicapped and cannot say which promises and assurances Governor Radda made and which are being kept or not. In any case, I don’t even believe the forum cares which promises are being kept or not. The regular rantings of the forum sounds more like a call to be noticed for other purposes rather than an advocacy for the advancement of the welfare of the good people of Katsina State.  I’m of the believe that the forum is just aiming to generate enough visibility at the expense of Governor Radda and his administration to negotiate relevance come 2027 election season. This is the only explanation I can come up with to decode the desperation guiding the illogical torrents of injurious advocacies the forum is reeling out with alarming regularity. Going at this rate and in this direction, I will be surprise if in the next few months the forum will not be accusing Governor Radda for the amount of rain Katsina State will be blessed with in the next rainy season. Yes, the forum is in such a blind pursuit of fame to notice its chasing infamy. 

Fact is, hate him or like him, Governor Radda is a trailblazer; an achiever with foresight and uncanny abilities to circumvent knotty problems; provide easy solutions and resolve persistently defying situations. His courage and confidence generates hope among the people rather than have them lose hope. While not denying there are issues of insecurity in Katsina State as in other places in the northwestern part of Nigeria, I can say without fear of contradiction that no one could deny the fact that Governor Radda has done excellently in checking and reducing the menace of banditry in Katsina State unarguably more than expected in a two-year period. 

Banditry is an inherited and prolonged problem which couldn’t be wished away mere words of mouths. It’s a complex and enveloping problem that requires the best of intentions, sincerity of purpose, critical thinking, determination, commitment, huge resources and ability to circumvent traditional ways of doing things. Governor Radda, without being the Chief of Army Staff or the IGP of the Nigerian Police Force, actually took full charge of security situation in Katsina State that he’s receiving accolades even from members of the opposition; those operating with the correct template. And his efforts are paying dividends; so much so that opposition is largely reduced to pages of the social media guided by virtual armchair critics. 

Even more impressive, despite the huge burden of securing Katsina State, no sector is neglected under the administration of Governor Radda. While dealing with the menace of banditry, he also came top on the list of states with the most pragmatic approach to handle the devastating impact of banditry on rural communities. His achievements in this regard are bigger than to be thrown away by malnourished and idealess political groups masquerading as advocates of good governance while mostly operating from within the safe confines of whatsapp groups. 

Only recently Governor Radda went through the Batsari axis of the state; a notorious bandits’ enclave, hitherto a no-go area. Numerous reports by credible media outlets reported how life is gradually returning back to normal in the areas with farming and rural business activities picking up. Then, what better time could there be to support rural women to jumpstart the rural economy than now when the menace of banditry is being suffocated? 

Is it not silly to question the logic of empowering rural women by supporting them with special breeds of goats to jumpstart the rural economy with a special focus on the role of women in this regard? Who among the members of the Arewa Unity Forum will deny not benefiting from the proceeds of goats rearing if the forum is not a congregation of “city boys” without rural roots? As they say, you cannot shave a man’s head in absence. This is a challenge to Arewa Unity Forum to go deep into Katsina rural communities, conduct a survey and bring out the opinion of real rural dwellers on whether Governor Radda’s initiatives to enhance rural economy are beneficial and paying off or not. 

And to pundits blaming Governor Radda for sending computers to rural communities or teaching rural women Artificial Intelligence (AI), let me say he was there long before they arrive at the reality of Artificial intelligence in global economy and how it’s critical to the future development of any community. This explains why he nominated the best brains among the children of the downtrodden and sent them abroad to learn Artificial Intelligence and get them prepared for a modern world. Rome was not built in a day and neither will Katsina be built in a day. It takes time to build a good and functional society but we have to start somewhere and Governor Radda has started on the right footing. Rather than aimlessly attack his agendas and policies, I expect superior agendas and policies. 

Truth is, if anybody is disconnected with reality it’s Arewa Unity Forum even if by just missing the revolutionary strides of Governor Radda which, if I must say, are a clearly result of his meticulous approach to governance. That Governor Radda is dealing with the menace of banditry did not stop him to improve healthcare services or stop him from revitalizing the education and agricultural sectors. Schools and healthcare centers are either enjoying facelifts or being provided where hitherto none exist before across the state. 

Citizens’ welfare is also on Governor Radda’s priority list. Numerous empowerment programs aimed at alleviating poverty among women and youths are being implemented by KASEDA with an amazing regularity that one could only wonder how so much could be done within the 2-year life of the administration and especially with the challenges of insecurity that has robbed the state of much of the resources needed to tackle its problems. Ditto, The Katsina State Community Development Programme (CDP), a pragmatic poverty alleviation initiative of Governor Radda, has empowered more than 118,200 residents through various agricultural initiatives since its establishment only two months ago given life to the administration’s claim of possessing a comprehensive and implementable blueprint which is being adhered to religiously.

The newly launched “Rumbun Sauki” — another solace-driven initiative by the administration is aimed towards providing workers a decent and respectable to alternative to loan sharks who are preying on workers and exploiting them by giving them loans using outrageously inhuman terms and wickedly exorbitant interest rates. “Rumbun Sauki” is also ingeniously designed to reduce pressure on local markets whenever salaries and pensions are paid which is very regular and predictable to make workers susceptible to sharp practices by unscrupulous businessmen who always make a killing by exploiting areas hitherto considered blind spots but which today are receiving government’s attention. The “Rumbun Sauki” initiative will go a long way in enhancing food security and price stability in our markets. Any good governance advocates that fails to see this for what is may as well close shop and start looking better things to do. 

In addition to all these, Government workers and retirees are smiling to their banks either for regular and prompt payments of salaries and pensions or for payments of backlog of gratuities which so far, Governor Radda has settled about N30bn backlog of while simultaneously investing about N30bn to enhance agricultural mechanization with a clear motive to rejuvenate and modernize the agricultural sector which undeniably is the bedrock of Katsina State’s economy. 

Interestingly, to Arewa Unity Forum this pragmatism in governance as well as the billions of Naira being invested by the administration to make lives better for citizens of the state in different sectors are not beneficial to the people.  What could be more preposterous?!!!!