By Bashir Adefaka
Alhaji (Dr.) Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa, immediate past governor of Sokoto State, likes to serve his people and contribute to national political successes.  Those efforts, recognized by Sokoto State people, led to his installation by the Sokoto Sultanate and Gwandu Emirate, as the Garkuwan Sokoto, translated to mean “The Shield of the Sokoto Caliphate” in 1996. During  Bafarawa’s tenure as governor, President Olusegun Obasanjo of the ruling party in opposition to governor’s ANPP, once appreciated his good performances as governor of Sokoto State to entitle him, “The Road Master.”

Born on October 4, 1954, Bafarawa, a prince, started his political career as ward councilor, then local government chairman and later moved on, years after, to assume the office of the executive governor of Sokoto State, which he ran for eight unbroken years.  He was a contender for the office of the President of Nigeria, on the platform of Democratic People’s Party in 2007 and was ACN Presidential Aspirant in 2011. His experience in the hands of EFCC, is considered largely to be more political than it was made to look. Yet, he describes every negative experience he has in Nigeria politics as “a leadership price” that he has to pay. Excerpts:

•Dr. Attahiru Bafarawa: Talking about the EFCC issue, I think the EFCC should be ashamed of itself.

For the eight years that you were in power as governor of Sokoto State, what were your major challenges?

My major challenge was that I inherited a state that was in bad shape of economy.  I think I met only N20 million in the treasury of the state.  There was even a dispute over payment of salaries between the civil servants and the government when I took over from the military administration.  That was the first major challenge I was facing.

Also there was the problem of basic amenities; no potable water.  The education system in the state was down; there were not even furniture in primary and secondary schools as pupils and students were seen sitting on the ground while learning.  These were parts of the challenges.  The state roads too were not in good shape but alhamdulillahi, glory be to Allah, when I took over in 1999 as governor of Sokoto State, we fixed those things up.

We were aware we had about three million population by then and we had only 30 indigenous medical doctors, which was very frustrating.  That led me into sending Sokoto State indigenous students to go and read medicine in Bulgaria and at the take off, the first batch I dispatched comprised 50.  In a nutshell, within the time I was in office, I had produced not less than 100 medical doctors studying within and outside Nigeria who were Sokoto State indigenes.

On roads, I was able to construct more than 1,000 kilometres tarred roads across the state.  That was why even President Olusegun Obasanjo at that time game me the title of a ‘Road Master’ because I was the only governor, whose state Mr. President visited 14 times for inspection of projects.  The record is there and the former President is still alive.  He visited Sokoto more than any state despite the fact that I was not a member of his party, the PDP and Sokoto was not a PDP state.  But he took Sokoto to be a pilot state by inviting even foreigners to come and see what was happening in the state.

And I thank God that before I left office, I left over N11 billion in the Sokoto State treasury as a reserve for the new government coming after me to take over, despite the fact that the incoming government was not from my party; it was coming from opposition party, that is, the PDP.  I couldn’t have tampered with that money because it was not our money but money for the people.

So, you can see the many challenges I faced.  But by the time I left office, the hospitals, the roads, the state economy, all had improved.  There was also peace and stability in the land.  In the education sector, what we did was to introduce free education from primary to university levels.  Even JAMB, WAEC and NECO forms and registrations were done; all free!

These were the challenges that I faced during my eight years period in office and alhamdulillahi, I have been able to make a record that, up till now, nobody has been able to beat.

The incumbent governor used to be your deputy and he was said to have been groomed by you.  When he pulled out from you and joined the opposition party, the PDP, and turned round to face your own candidate at election, how did you feel?

Well you see, I don’t want to go far into that aspect.  You can only sit down and look at someone, whoever, whom you groomed (politically), then he left you and within one week of leaving you, he went and joined the ‘super political party’ in the country to be used to fight me.

That was the only thing they could do.  Everybody knew that I and President Obasanjo by then were not good friends even though sometimes we would be friends and sometimes it would happen that we were again not friends.  And so he went ahead to bring out my deputy to fight me in order to install him there as Governor of Sokoto State.  Whatever it was, it had happened and that’s now history.  I don’t want to talk too much about it.

Despite the structures and good things you did in Sokoto State, you still had an ugly time with the EFCC.  Do you have any regret ever serving as governor?

But you see, this is leadership price.  If you are a leader, you should anticipate good and bad things.  But as a Muslim, whatever happens to me, I see it as having been destined to happen to me.  Talking about the EFCC issue, I think the EFCC should be ashamed of itself.

Before the 29th of May 2007 that the incoming governor would come in, I invited him to come and sit down with me so that we could discuss about his taking over and I could explain everything to him.  His Excellency, the governor elect, didn’t come to meet me.  We would both fix an appointment he would refuse to come.

On the 29th of May, 2007 when he was sworn-in, he didn’t even see the books I left for him but he went on his own inaugural speech to say that I didn’t leave anything.  That was what hurt me and I wrote a letter the following day, on the 30th of May, 2007 to the EFCC giving them a record that I was leaving N11.8 billion and that I want the EFCC to come and quickly close the accounts of the state so as to prove who was saying the truth: me, who said I left N11.8 billion; or the new governor who said I didn’t leave anything?  I didn’t even stop at that. I put the letter into some national newspapers as paid advert for people to see.

EFCC did not take any action on my letter until a year after when the Elections Tribunal nullified the governor’s election and they were trying to see where they could corner me so that I would not floor them during the re-run election.

I was then invited by the EFCC, one year after, and the letter they wrote to me was that I should come and shed more light on my letter dated 30th May, 2007.  One year after I had written them my own letter! And in their own letter written to me on the 6th of May 2008, they said I should come and shed more light. But when I went there I became a suspect.  They seized my international passport and asked me to look for somebody to bail me.  They held my passport for eight weeks. They didn’t want to release it and so, I had to go to the Federal High Court, Abuja, to challenge the seizure of my passport and the Federal High Court asked the EFCC to bring the passport and the charges.

They brought the passport but they couldn’t bring the charges.  I got back my passport and the court was waiting for them for one good year to bring the charges against me but they couldn’t bring anything.  The Federal High Court, Abuja was waiting for them to bring their charges agaisnt me but they were unable to bring charges against me before the court.  Nothing, until when they saw me together with General Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu movement and then, order from the above came again that Bafarawa should be arrested.  I was arrested at Sheraton Hotel during our meeting, in the presence of Buhari, Atiku and others and I was put in detention for one week.

I was the only governor affected who was arrested and put in detention for one week without anybody telling me what I did.  Nobody asked me to write statement.  Then after one week, my lawyers challenged that illegal detention in court.  When we got the order from the Federal High Court for me to be released, before the court’s order could get to them, they quickly took me to the airport, flew me outside Abuja and took me to Sokoto.

While the Federal High Court in Abuja was waiting for them to bring the charges agaisnt me, they took me to Sokoto and on getting to Sokoto they took me to state a High Court not Federal High Court!  And the workers of the state High Court were on strike but they called the judge and before they even got there, they had already called the Prison that they shouldn’t close doors because they were bringing a VIP for them.  It was there my charges were read to me.  My lawyers applied for bail but to no avail.  I was not granted bail and so I was taken to prison for another one week.

So, if I go on and on talking about my problem with EFCC, I will just end up not ending it today.  But the question still remains that why did it take the EFCC one year to respond to a letter that needed to have been responded to immediately?  Who was covering who and what was their plan?  The new governor declared on May 29, 2007 that I didn’t leave anything in the treasure and I wrote my letter immediately on May 30, 2007 calling on the EFCC to hasten unto Sokoto and close the state’s accounts to enable them determine the authenticity of my claims.  They didn’t respond to that letter until one year after.  What was the reason behind that?

Who headed the EFCC at that time?

It started from Ribadu to Farida.  You see the only thing I can say is that, all these things had been destined to happen to me from God and I thank God we are in court and I believe justice will prevail.  I feel no regret about the whole thing because that is the price of leadership.  I’m not complaining.  I’m okay.  I just want you to see what Nigerian situations are.

I mean how did you start out in life?

First and foremost I thank God for the family I come from.  Just about two years ago, I lost my father.  By now I am almost 57 and out of the 57 years, I was guided by my father for 55 years.  My father took very good care of me and I am always grateful to him for what he had done in my life because, I believe it was his training that brought me to where I am today.  I had learnt a lot from him and the knowledge I gained through that process has been guiding me till today.

Peer pressure?

If I start talking about my life you would know that it is very interesting, which was why I said I would always be grateful to my father.  I was born in a village where there were no good drinking water, hospital and school.  Despite the fact that, in those days, everybody wanted to have children to help them work on their farms, my father thought differently.  When it was time for me to go to primary school, he took me out of the village, that is Bafarawa, to Shinkafi (in the present day Zamfara State) and there I stayed for the period of my primary and secondary schools.

Every time, my dad was coming to ensure that I was properly taken care of and he was always supervising my performances.  From Primary One, I was class monitor up till Primary Six when I was made junior prefect.  So I was a leader from primary school to secondary school.  When I went to secondary school in Shinkafi, we were the first set and pioneer students of the school and I was part of the first batch to be admitted into the school.  Immediately after the admission, I was appointed as house captain in charge of the hostel and senior prefect.  So I have been a leader right from my childhood.

And as businessman and politician?

I started my political career at the age of 22 when I just finished my secondary school and then I went to teachers’ training college to obtain my grade II certificate and enrolled in the Harvard Business School.  And then I opted to join politics in 1976 at the age of 22 and then I was able to become the first elected Supervisory Councillor for Education when Local Governments were just created in 1976.  And I later became vice chairman of the council, Isa Local Government.

Then, I took politics to be my career.  In the period of Great Nigeria’s Peoples’ Party (GNPP) I was there and fortunately for me I have always been in the opposition, despite the fact that the NPN’s President of Nigeria at that time, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, came from Sokoto State where I also came from.

What was the attraction in politics and what is your philosophy of political leadership?

The attraction was the need to serve my people.  I didn’t join politics to make money.  I joined politics to serve the people and I am enjoying the game because, I have already taken it as a career.

You wear kaftan and when it goes with agbada on certain occasions it is white.  Must you wear white?

Well, white means peace.  White is the symbol of peace and that’s the reason I decided to make it my own colour.  As you see my white kaftan, that is how my heart is.

People around you are growing fat, despite your greatness in all ramifications, you are slim.

You can answer this question for me.  Look at you, if you eat even a whole cow, I don’t think that you can be fatter than this (laughs).  You have the answer for me because we are having the same stature. Always appreciate what you have.  Don’t look at what someone else has.  Always appreciate what God has given you.  So, no matter what I eat, I cannot go beyond this stature.  People are just making life so difficult for themselves, whereas, life is simple.  No matter how rich you are, you cannot sleep in two rooms at the same time. You cannot ride two cars at the same time, you cannot occupy two seats in first class of a plane at a time, you cannot wear two gowns at the same time, you cannot wear two trousers at the same time and you cannot put on two, three wrist-watches at the same time because, when people see you doing that, they call you a mad man.

The only thing is, let’s see how we can help the poor people instead of accumulating wealth.  I have never seen somebody who died and left with his wealth.  No matter what you have, you will die and leave it.  So the only thing you can do is to use what God gave you and help others.  There is no reason why somebody should have more than 10, 15, 20 houses because you can only sleep in one room, one bed and you cannot even occupy the whole bed.

Unfortunately for us, nobody even knows when he’s going to die.  You can die at any bloody second whether you are well or sick.  So we should take our lives easy with ourselves.  People are just fighting for wealth, for power and then they will end up with nothing.  But when you help others, God will help you.  So, I don’t see any good in a leader that seeks things for himself most especially at this material time that people are suffering.

What is your marital life like and how much of your qualities and good characters have you been able to impact in your own children?

One good thing that I have impacted in my children is this: Since I became governor, I never moved in to spend a night in Government House.  I stayed in my private house for the eight years that I was governor and none of my children ever visited Government House or visited my office.  I have19 children and I thank God I have one of them who is doing his Ph.D. in Petro-chemical Engineering.  I have all my children educated; some with masters.  None of them has ever stepped his leg into my office and I never spent one naira to pay for their school fees from the state treasury.

And none of them feels that, “Well my father is the governor.”  There is no difference.  I never showed them anything to make them feel as such.  And to be honest with you, not many people in Sokoto know my children.  This is a fact.  Up till today, even this boy who is doing his Ph.D, I didn’t buy a car for him.

My first son is an accountant.  When he graduated and wanted to do his youth service and I was governor, he was posted to Abia State and I didn’t change that posting.  He stayed in Abia for one good year for his youth service and then came back to Lagos.  He is now in Lagos and he has been there for the past six years.  He struggled to buy a car for himself.

So this is the training that I am giving my children.  I didn’t say that, “Yes, I am a rich man before I became governor and now I’m governor, so, let me spoil you, my children.”  No.  I didn’t do that and this is on record that you can find out.  Everybody knows about it.