Matawalle’s gifts

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Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle is in patronal mood. His administration has just sent 97 clerics to Saudi Arabia on lesser Hajj to “pray for stoppage of banditry” in the state. The clerics were mandated to engage in dedicated prayers at strategic holy sites of Makkah and Madina for peace in Zamfara and Nigeria as a whole. Deputy Governor Hassan Nasiha said it was part of strategies to restore peace and security in the state.

At the clerics’ departure last week, the deputy governor admonished them to put the state and its people in prayers in the hope that God would bring an end to multiple problems besetting the state and the entire nation. Also speaking at the departure, a cleric, Dr. Atiku Balarabe, advised the pilgrims to concentrate on worship and prayers in Saudi Arabia and seek God’s intervention to bring an end to banditry and other crimes in the state.

Earlier in the month, the Zamfara government gifted 260 Cadillac 2019 model cars to traditional rulers and commissioned an “ultra-modern headquarters” of the state council of Ulama. A statement by the government said the gesture was in recognition of traditional institutions as “custodians of our religion and culture and vehicle of cohesion and peace in our societies.” It further quoted the governor as saying: “It is in view of the high esteem with which my administration regards our traditional leaders and institutions that we decided to procure brand new cars – Cadillac 2019 model – for 17 emirs, 13 senior district heads and 230 district heads across the state.”

The governor’s largesse is obviously part of his government’s non-kinetic approach to dealing with the insecurity hobbling his state, especially in a society where some community leaders have come under suspicion of abetting terrorists. Only that care must be taken not to leave the substance and pursue shadows, in the manner of that popular maxim (among the Yoruba, if not other tongues) about ignoring leprosy and lavishing attention on curing eczema. We are a deeply religious people in Nigeria and tend to pray for spiritual solution to issues that require practical proactive efforts. Alleviating insecurity in Zamfara State, as any other area, is more a function of waging ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ wars against terrorists, and that includes ensuring socio-economic wellbeing of the general citizenry as would make them naturally intolerant of harbouring troublemakers. Much of the resources being lavished on patronages can be applied to such wars.

The Nation

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