GUSAU/Yerima’s Post-office Trauma

Can you be in two places at the same time? Yes, if your name is Sani Ahmed Yerima. After spending eight years as governor of Zamfara State, Yerima, now a senator, appears incapable of adjusting to life outside the Government House.

From his “hallowed” seat in the National Assembly, the former governor wants to keep his successor and former deputy, Mahmuda Shinkafi on a leash. Simply put, he wants to be counted as a godfather. This ambition has spawned a massive friction between him and Shinkafi, who is minded to be his own man.

That independent streak has riled Yerima, who wanted to fill state cabinet and other executive positions with his own men. This has polarised the state and soured relations between the two men. Emirs, governors and other political leaders have appealed to Yerima to let Shinkafi be, but the former governor has been implacable in his ambition to be in total control of the state.

Shinkafi’s supporters are understandably furious, arguing that Yerima cannot simultaneously be a senator and a governor.

They also insist that there is no space for a godfather in Zamfara politics, arguing that Yerima did not choose Shinkafi, but was forced to jump on the Shinkafi train when his other options became unviable.

Now, they have vowed to curb his influence and ensure that state finances are not used to feed a godfather’s greed, when many projects Yerima left undone–such as the embarrassing water situation in Gusau and the sorry state of the school system–need to be completed.

Outside the Shinkafi camp, pressures are being mounted on the state House of Assembly to probe the Yerima years. But the former governor is not folding his arms. When he visits the state, he organises noisy parades of street urchins and okada riders, ignoring police warnings that such rallies could encourage counter-rallies and degenerate into anarchy.

But Yerima, a member of the Senate Anti-corruption Committee, remains undaunted. There is an indictment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, hanging over him. Former EFCC Chairman, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, once said that the theft that occurred in Zamfara was unique because the governor himself physically took government money unlawfully.

Zamfara people are also appalled by the former governor’s shifty politics. He is a member of the All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP, but continues to flirt with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. They continue to wonder why he has failed to decamp.

– Reported by Bamidele Johnson.