By Abdallah El-Kurebe
With the declaration by INEC of Aliyu Wamakko and his swearing in as governor of Sokoto state for the second term, he has only won the simpler war against opponents within his party on one hand and the opposition parties on the other.

It was simple for Wamakko to overcome the terse campaign exploits of the opponents in his own party who appeared to challenge his candidacy.

Gov Wamakko

The media war that was employed was rather pesky, which touched on personality and petitions against alleged wrongs-doings, which littered the pages of news papers.

The thorough fight that was aimed at ridding him from any attempt to return to the government house, Wamakko came out rather clean.

In addition to the home challenge, which was intrinsically valuable in view of the personalities involved which are Sen. Abubakar Gada and Yusuf Suleiman, the main opposition party, the All Nigeria Peoples Party came like a whirl wind, attempting to blow off the PDP umbrella. It failed.

Retinue of problems

One war that Wamakko is now poised to fight with full vigour and dedication is the war against saboteurs and incapable subordinates within his cabinet.

Indeed, prior to Supreme Court’s ruling and before  Wamakko’s re-election, he had  to contend with derogatory attitude of some of his Aides, who saw non compliance to their boss’ instructions as child’s play. For these aides that include Commissioners, Special Advisers/Assistants and some Permanent Secretaries, insubordination was  the order of the day.

There were incidences of some Commissioners sitting on files minuted to them by the Governor, the urgency and purpose of which suffered undue delay.

During the first term of Wamakko, whenever he traveled, most Commissioners, Advisers and Permanent Secretaries, absconded from office and never surfaced until Wamakko was back. This act held back government activities because, as the Governor traveled, government work also went to sleep.

The loyalty of some of these aides has been put on question by observers of events in the state.

While some serving aides openly supported other aspirant(s) during the last governorship electioneering other than Wamakko, many others were not seriously committed to the struggle that finally saw him to victory. Wamakko had to attend to most matters, with financial implication as less as N10,000. Most of these Aides shied away from spending from their own pockets on anything that required as less as N3,000.

Many others, serving as emissaries had to disappoint Wamakko on a number of messages that were either not delivered or done incompletely.

Taking advantage of the simplicity and gentleness of the Governor, most of these aides compromised the quality of their jobs as lieutenants, thereby,  leaving him  to do most things himself. Only very few Commissioners and Advisers, including that of “Finance, Youths and Culture, Works and ICT,” a pundit said, “were selflessly busy assisting Wamakko in the real sense.”

In view of the fact that Wamakko could not be at every Ministry, Parastatal or Agency, serious and dedicated aides that would do what is expected of them should rightly be there.

If Wamakko must succeed

If Wamakko must succeed and if his administration’s programmes and policies must excel this time around, members of his cabinet must be seen to be those who have the development of Sokoto state at heart.

They must see themselves as servants of the people in the very way and manner that Wamakko sees himself.

They must not scorn people because Wamakko does not; they must listen to people that come to them because Wamakko does; they must give to the needy because Wamakko gives and they must not hold files for more than necessary because I learned no file sleeps on Wamakko’s table unattended.

Also, Wamakko must restrain himself from being too simple, especially for his Aides who chose to be arrogantly non respectful to his instructions; who chose not to adhere strictly to the blueprint of this administration.

In their various areas, these Aides must be seen to up to task with regards to their duties. Complaints by people against Aides should be looked into and immediate action, taken. Only this will right the wrongs instead of allowing them to plague at the detriment of self service.

But this is a difficult war to be fought, one that is hard to win unless Wamakko decides to look away from those that might tame his zeal.