By Suleiman Abbah
For the moment, it may not be clear what message Isa Yuguda, a one-time governor of Bauchi State, hopes to get across with his latest gaffe that hospitals in the state have only eighteen doctors.What is clear however, is that Yuguda is, at his core, ideologically opportunistic. He will be whatever he needs to be in order to get ahead, shifting his beliefs in whichever direction to scam a place to stay, or scratch together a few illegal naira. We’re meant to find this kind of behaviour abhorrent, I think, and at the same time shameless or perhaps plain dumb witted in the very least. But there’s something about the way Yuguda enters into this latest opportunistic endeavour of picking at the administration of Governor Bala Mohammed for irreverent treatment, that rubbed me the wrong way. Yuguda’s interference in the ongoing desperate politics to return Bauchi State to leaders who think power is an end in itself; who mobilize people only during elections, sowing seeds of division and leaving everyone poorer and more insecure than they were, is more or less in line with his past hypocrisies. Here's a man who, just seven years ago, handed over an administration that had acquired the reputation of being the worst in the history of Bauchi State in terms of any capacity to generate confidence in achieving credible national goals. For those who do not know, Yuguda became Governor in 2007 poorly-prepared and ill-equipped to lead except for his ambition for power and acquisition fantastic wealth. Consequently, he left the people of Bauchi at the mercy of armed crime, unforgiveable poverty and derision from other parts of Nigeria which once held the state in awe and marveled at its systems and quality of leadership.He came to power through an election contrived by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration on the back of the most gratitious insults to justice and fairness wrapped in the a crude cover of crass political opportunism and breathtaking ineptitude. He left Bauchi State suffering the shared legacy of his administration in the bombs and bullets of insurgents, and the deteriorating standards of living as politicians fleeced the poor of resources to develop. Yuguda presided over an administration that had resigned itself to live with murderers and rapists and left Bauchi critically endangered by leaders who failed to lead with justice and sensitivity to its plural nature.Within the eight years of Yuguda’s administration thousands of fellow citizens of Bauchi were internally displaced leaving hundreds of thousands of orphans, and hunger and malnourishment, previously unknown in Bauchi, were becoming alarming features of existence. Yuguda left Bauchi with hunger stalking thousands of homes, inflation making life difficult by the day, people losing jobs, businesses closing down, infrastructure decaying, young people losing hope of being employed and more drastically, hospitals were full of ghost, unprofessional, dubiously employed doctors and health workers while people suffered mysterious illnesses, But we will join those who remind him daily that hunger is stalking millions of homes. Inflation is making life difficult by the day. People are losing jobs. Businesses are closing down. Infrastructure is decaying. Young Nigerians are losing hope of being employed. Our hospitals are full of people who suffer mysterious illnesses, and they could not afford the fees.Yuguda’s left Bauchi State in 2015 with about N12.6 billion unpaid workers salaries which largely includes the salaries of medical and health workers he claimed to have made.It is also not possible to forget that since April 2011 Yuguda stopped the payment of all gratuities completely that including those of his medical and health workers.In 2015, he handed over to the incoming government the sum of N22 billion and N16 billion unpaid state and local government gratuities respectively which also includes bills for medical and health workers.Available records at the Office of the State Accountant General also shows a total number of 1,205 ghost Nurses and Midwives with 166 non- existent medical doctors who were illegimately consuming a whopping N50 million in monthly salaries.On paper, Yuguda claimed to have trained 150 medical students whereas in reality he only sent twenty to Egypt, one from each Local Govt, almost all of whom proved to be another of Yuguda’s several wasted ventures because at the end of his tenure, there were just one doctors in most of the hospitals across the state and in some cases, none at all. Similarly, Yuguda left for his successor a staggering sum of N1.2 billion in unpaid electricity bill mainly accrued from the hospitals as a result of which all hospitals were disconnected from power supply. Unfortunately, even the specialist hospital he claimed to have built was not completed even after 100% of the cost was hurriedly paid to the contractor who had to refund the money for the entire gas plant of the hospital while water supply project had to be carried out by the government that succeeded his. Ridiculously embarrassing also, Yuguda’s administration only succeeded in diminishing the economic viability of Bauchi State which is still bearing the burden of the ghost worker syndrome he entrenched as a result of poor financial management after posing as a trained economist of sorts. n this regard, Yuguda spent public funds recklessly on recurrent expenditure instead of capital on expenditure which was the foundation of the state's backwardness compared to other new states such as Gombe that concentrated on providing infrastructural. Governor Bala Mohammed has however reversed this downward trend by providing infrastructure and eventually checkmating their evil plan to destroy the state. Yuguda has shamelessly also spoke about the government not paying pensions whereas he himself has been receiving his monthly pension in due time..Contrary to the case during Yuguda’s tenure, Bala mohammed is paying over N200 million monthly gratuities he inherited in addition to prompt payment retirees benefits from 2012 to 2013.To further pauperize the state economically, Yuguda unilaterally without recourse to due process, placed over 20,000 of his lackeys among youths and women on government payroll which created severe difficulties for the incoming administration. At the risk of overstating the matter ghost worker phenomenum was not known to Bauchi civil service whatsoever before Yuguda came to power in 2007. Governor Bala Mohammed had to undertake the bold but necessary task of cleaning the over-blotted payroll and pensions bill by removing about 3,000 questionably employed personnel and replacing them with another set of 3000 out of which 1,000 were nurses, midwives, community health workers, medical doctors, pharmacists etc. Bala Mohammed also implemented financial promotion of more than 10,000 employees, provided an accurate record of civil servants and prevented payroll fraud and manipulation.It is on record therefore that Bala Mohammed assumed office four years after Yuguda, a combination of past abuses and mismanagement of the economy and the collapse of basic infrastructure and critical facilities have created a most challenging environment for the management of the economy and security in Bauchi.For this type of man, personally impacted by the diversification of corrupt local politics, to now rail about how Bala Mohammed should govern the state is therefore the highpoint of hypocrisy and shamelessness.It is also another in a long line of situations where Yuguda latches onto an idea not because he really believes it to be true, but rather because embracing that idea creates a crusade that others can get behind, in this case in the form of an alternative campaign featuring a candidate who he intends to use to siphon money as a corrupt campaign manager.By the time one finishes reading the remark about Bauchi hospitals having just eighteen doctors in all, said to have been made by Isa Yuguda, the first thing that comes to mind is an accurate personification of the saying, "if it does not cause a person to be ashamed, that person can do or say whatsoever he wishes."This perhaps explains why Yuguda, in apparent disregard for the rules of ordinary decency, is today judging and assessing the Bala Mohammed administration even against the failures and abuses Bauchi is having to pay for from his previous administration.It amounts to gross insensitivity for Yuguda after leading the state through eight wasted years to criticise Bala Mohammed, a man whose leadership, sacrifice, statesmanship, patriotism and unwavering commitment to the interests of the people of the state as a whole has few parallels. On a final note, unlike Yuguda, Bauchi State would forever see in Bala Mohammed's passionate belief in the organic links between generations, a great statesman, a mentor, a guardian, a living history and an embodiment of all the exemplary qualities coming generations of leaders should strive to achieve.
Abbah, an independent observer of Bauchi politics, writes from Abuja.
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