₦airaland Forum

Balarabe: Meet Nigeria’s poorest ex-governor

Alhaji Balarabe Musa’s larger-than-life image looms over the political scene like a Colossus. But the former Governor of Kaduna State, ex Chief Accountant of the Broadcasting Company of Northern Nigeria(BCNN) and one of the first set of Chartered Accountants in Northern Nigeria has almost nothing in material sense to show for all his struggles to enthrone an egalitarian society. In this analysis, IBRAHEEM MUSA looks at Musa’s odyssey in the political terrain, the sacrifices he has made and the little he has in return

Perhaps, no past or serving governor has been as consistent, principled and focused to a cause as Alhaji Balarabe Musa, a former governor of old Kaduna State. In fact, the left wing politician and social crusader, has for over 38 years, been canvassing for a new social order in Nigeria.
In 1979, he was impeached as governor, but undaunted, he had continued soldiered on with his crusade.

The removal, rather than diminish Musa, burnished his image of incorruptibility. Consequently, when the military struck in 1983, he was given a clean bill of political health, while his traducers were sent to jail. In 1990, he joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a political party formed and funded by the then General Ibrahim Babangida regime. The party, by political inclination, was “a little to the left” and like a magnet, that phrase attracted the former governor.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and Mikail Gorbachev, the 8th and final president, resigned from office as he created the Commonwealth of Independent States. Regardless, Must still stuck with socialism and till date, the octogenarian hasn’t renounced the ideology.
Right now, politics has become cash and carry but he still plays politics of principles and conviction.
Significantly, Musa has transformed over the years from a politician to a statesman, whose obsession is nation building and not winning elections.

Severally, he has intervened to resolve national crises, irrespective of partisan or ideological differences. In 1993, he opposed the annulment of June 12 presidential election on principle. The election was won by Chief M.K.O Abiola, a southerner.
However, Musa rose above class differences and denounced the injustice done to Abiola.
He, alongside Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and General Muhammadu Buhari (now president) protested against the flawed 2003 elections in Abuja despite being ideological strange bedfellows.

Largely, the mass action was successful and the arrowheads went their separate ways afterwards. In 2012, nine years later, he joined forces with labour leaders and political activists, including the current Customs boss, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd); Comrade Shehu Sani (now a serving senator) and Barr. Festus Okoye (a human rights lawyer).

At that time, the Goodluck Jonathan administration jerked up fuel prices and all over Nigeria, people came out to protest the hike. In Kaduna, Musa and the aforementioned were in the trenches with the masses, “fighting the anti-people policy,” as he puts it.
Severally, he has been at the barricades, protesting, agitating and denouncing the establishment over unpopular programmes and policies.

Ironically, Musa is a product of the establishment that he rails against. In fact, he is a blue blooded aristocrat, having been born to the District Head of Kaya, a Village in Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State in 1938.
At birth, he had all the perks, privileges and affluence of the local bourgeoisie, but he opted to be with the masses. Similarly, Musa has never been an “aluta” chanting, goatee bearded and angry unionist. By 1953, when he completed secondary school education, he was among the first set on northern educated elite, with all the attendant privileges. That year, he joined the Northern Civil Service as an Accounts Clerk.
Thereafter, he was sent to England for further studies by the regional government alongside the likes of Alhaji Aliko Mohammed and others. Subsequently, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and with that qualification, he moved to the top echelon of the civil service.

Musa, at various times, was a lecturer at the Institute of Administration Zaria, the precursor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU). Similarly, he was Company Secretary and Chief Accountant of Broadcasting Company of Northern Nigeria (BCNN), as Radio Nigeria Kaduna was then referred to. In 1979, he retired from the civil service and joined politics, culminating to his election as governor of Kaduna State.
He was however impeached by the House of Assembly in 1981, over “irreconcilable differences” with the National Party of Nigeria (NPN)-dominated legislature.

In spite of his pedigree, political antecedents and his accomplished public service, Musa has gained nothing in any material sense. Specifically, a three bedroom bungalow, a monthly pension of N741,000, a 1,200 acre farm and an old Mercedes Benz car are his only possession.
At 80, the former governor still drives himself, without a police orderly. Above all, no government monument, public building or even street has been made after him in Kaduna State.

In an interview with New Telegraph, he explained how he acquired the bungalow and three mud houses, one in Funtua, a town in Katsina State, and two others at Hayin Banki and Badarawa, all slums within Kaduna metropolis.
“Actually, the bungalow was built by Northern Nigerian Development Company (NNDC), as part of its Home Ownership Scheme,” Musa told our correspondent. Basically, the scheme was instituted to help civil servants own houses and 11 of them were built along Aliyu Turaki Road, Kaduna.

The NNDC built similar houses in other major towns in the North and sold them in 1972. At that time, a three-bedroom bungalow cost N20,000, but prospective buyers, according to Musa, were expected to make an initial deposit of N1,500. Musa said he wanted one of the bungalows, but couldn’t afford the deposit, even as Company Secretary of BCNN. At that time, the top management of NNDC were his friends.
“So, they arranged to rent the house to Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) for two years,’’ Alhaji Balarabe recalled, “and the cost was N2,400, that is N1,200 per annum.” Out of that amount, Musa paid the deposit but instead of pocketing the balance, he gave the N900 to the authorities.
That action, according to him, brought down his monthly Code Number, “so that the deductions will be within the limit that could allow me to have enough to sustain my family monthly.”

Similarly, he bought the Funtua mud house for his mother, the Hayin Banki and Badarawa ones to accommodate his relatives and house helps.
The bungalow and three mud houses, according to the former governor, were the assets that he declared, when he assumed office in 1979 and they are still the properties he owns after about 40 years. Significantly, the bungalow is a modest accommodation and in these times, even a councilor can boast of a better abode.
Clean and Spartan, the building is weather beaten as the paint has faded and a few disused vehicles strewn the compound. In particular, the sitting room is not befitting of a man of Musa’s status.

The rug is threadbare, the settees are old and dilapidated and the single ceiling fan is creaking. Similarly, old pictures of Malam Aminu Kano, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi and former comrades-at-arms dot the walls, so are photographs of his student days and his official portrait as governor.
Generally, the house is of an old design, with furniture and fittings fit for the museum.

In contrast, Musa’s successors live in opulence. Specifically, Alhaji Abba Musa Rimi, the man who took over from Musa, lives along Ohinoyi Road, a high brow neighborhood in Unguwar Rimi GRA. In addition, Alhaji Dabo Mohammed Lere, the second civilian governor of the state, lived at West Jabi road, opposite President Muhammadu Buhari’s personal office in Kaduna. Similarly, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi’s palatial mansion is located along that road, adjacent Buhari’s office. In addition, his other house is at Sambo Close, a quiet haven near DITV/Radio station. Similarly, his country home at Makarfi, by local standard, is an eye-popping edifice on the town’s outskirts.
Likewise, Namadi Sambo, Makarfi’s successor and former Vice president, is tucked away at Camp Road, an elitist enclave where another former governor of the state, Col Abubakar Umar (rtd); ex-Military Administrator of Lagos State, Brig. General Buba Marwa (rtd) and several political big wigs as well as business moguls live. However, the family of late Patrick Yakowa, Sambo’s successor, lives in a modest bungalow at Imam Close, Unguwar Rimi GRA, about 1,000 metres from the former Vice president.

Similarly, the immediate past governor of the state, Alhaji Ramalan Yero, lives around that neighborhood on Lamido Crescent, close to President Buhari’s personal residence.

Significantly, all the former governors have monuments or edifices named after them, but Musa has none in his name.
In fact, there is no major road in the entire state that is named after the most popular governor Kaduna ever had. However, a fellow governor in the second Republic, Lateef Jakande of Lagos State, named a street in Ikoyi area of the state after Musa. Clearly, this is a classical case of a prophet not being honored at home.

But Musa is none the least, disturbed. He said: “When you are involved in politics of principles, things like this happen.”

Source: https://newtelegraphonline.com/politics/nigerias-poorest-ex-governor/

What I enjoyed most about the speech was the sincerity of the vice president. He reeled out areas where the present government is doing well especially in agriculture (specifically grain production) and I also heard statements like " we are doing well in Rice and Sorghum... we are not doing well in maize production... we hope to be better". This is how leaders should talk.

There is a new online game that encourages players, mostly children aged 10 to 16 years to commit suicide. The report has it that many teenagers in Russia and Europe have committed suicide after playing this killer game. The game has different names but the commonest one is BLUE WHALE.

Parents are advised to monitor their wards to stay off such killer games. Some schools in Nigeria have been sending letters to parents to keep an eye on their children's activities online.

See below:

Additional source: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-25/why-the-russian-suicide-game-went-global

In a sane environment, the claim of the man that Uche is involved should not be discarded like that. From his confession, he said he made several calls to Uche and gang to come for the gun but they refused. Now read this:

"He said , “ I am a member of the . I was arrested on my way to hand over the gun to Uche and other members in the Alaba International Market. I had called them on the telephone to come and collect it, but they refused . I told the policemen that I would have taken it to the station , but I would be detained."

Now read this part again:

“ He was only trying to drag people into the matter . We brought the man ( Uche) he mentioned before him . The man asked whether he ( Nwede ) knew him , but he denied, ” the policeman said.

Now my point is this, let the police check with network providers the call logs between the suspect and Uche to see if it was true that the suspect had been calling him in the past as claimed. This is not rocket science; very simple.

Educative

I have a very simple logic that will end this discussion. This is it: If the earth is NOT round, how is it possible to travel by air from tokyo in Japan to Vancouver in the USA (in just eight hours) without having to come back through asia, europe and the America (which will probably take up to 48 hrs)?

I need your answer if you understood my question, lol.

Great!

Amazing!

laudate:
Yes!! Saratu Atta is a nice, cultured, easy-going lady. She is also the daughter of former Governor of old Kwara State, the late Alhaji Adamu Attah. Her mother is a Ghanaian, though. She had one daughter for FFK, named Folake who is a graduate of a British university. Her younger sister Nana, is Femi Otedola's wife.

Some of her uncles and aunts include the late Alhaji Abdulaziz Atta, Nigeria’s first Head of Service and Secretary to the Federal Military Government during Gowon's regime. He is also the late father of Sefi Atta, the published novelist, prize-winning Nigerian author and playwright who is married to Gboyega Ransome-Kuti, one of the sons of the late Minister of health, Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti;

One of her uncles is Alhaji Mahmud Atta, who was once the Protocol Officer to the former Premier of the old Northern region. He later became Chairman of First Bank Plc, Nigeria.

Another uncle of hers' is Dr. AbdulMumini Atta, the second qualified medical doctor in Northern Nigeria while her paternal aunt is Judith Sefi Atta, first female Chief Education Officer in the North who later became an Ambassador to Italy and the first Minister for Federal Ministry of Women Affairs. Judith Sefinat Atta was the wife of the late poet Christopher Okigbo, who fought in the civil war.

Classic!

Thanks for the confusion

Seriously, I don't get it when people pick up their pen (sorry, computer keyboard) and type a lot of epistle criticizing amount budget for each of these ministries. There are several reasons behind these budget which cannot be understood for somebody using emotion to type. Let me break it down for the OP.


There are ministries that only 'consume' money; they don't 'generate' money as such. Good examples are Agric and Defence. I am not saying you don't need a lot of money to fund Agriculture but if you look at it objectively, you need more to fund defence. (A bag of fertilizer is not as expensive as an AK47). So if a govt budget more for defence, it is because the millitary hardware and operations are very expensive (you can ask countries that are involved in wars in other countries such as US and Russia, they will tell you).

The sad part of the above is that Agric will bring physical revenue for the country while defence will not.

Perfect

ok

Cool cake. I love it



Meanwhile, Harmattan is here again and PMB has not issue any official statement welcoming us into the harmattan season. Later they will say we are wailers.

Rubbish thread

lol

I can't imagine the embarrassment the men whose names were mentioned will be going through now.

Cool

Good

classy

You must have used the wrong drug

ednoville:
oh boy i kan lose dynamo Kiev vs shakta donesk betting yesterday. still mourning....... betting is like wanking very hard to stop. congrats keshi on your disappointment and appointment of oliseh as our new president of super eagles.oliseh the lips man olipsseh , our minimum target for u is to win the world cup, but first under you Nigeria must win the English premiership cup this coming season. am feeling fine of you that wanna ask, have also taken my drugs

Yoruba people eye don open tay tay. They are the first to civilization in Nigeria. Nobody can take a that away from them

Olugbenga, Funwontan, esa ogbin ara ogbojo, omo ase buruku se rere, omo osekatan tese morin.
Jengbetiele
Multitalented
International Outstanding African Comedian and Classical Musician.
Just like yesterday, You are surely missed bro.

RIP

I saw two goats.

whizjay:
I was expecting what you were expecting too!!


This OP sef ehhnn!

I was expecting what you were expecting that he was expecting

@OP, I was agreeing to all what you wrote until number 15 where you mentioned Oyedepo : [/b]Clergy men should never show openly preference between two parties.(Oyedepo, Guru Maraji etc.)[b]

The truth of the matter is that the man of God never ordered anybody to vote Goodluck. The so called gate of hell story had been shown severally to be untrue. Unfortunately people like you prefer the lies because it suits your purpose.

Let s watch what we say

I am not worried about the guy, I am only concerned about the people that bought the tickets

Great compilation especially the Cameroon vs Italy

Better

The commentator finished the SA with this statement[b] "Even if you are a Bafana Bafana fan, you need to appreciate the skill in the delivery of this beautiful goal"[/b]

Osun not Ogun