By; UMAR IBRAHIM
On Saturday, 25th February, 2023, Senator Muhammad Adamu Aliero, former two-term governor of Kebbi State will reap the results of what he sowed so far in his political career as the Kebbi Central Senatorial District electorate will troop out to exercise their mandate.
In fact, the harvest has been manifesting in manifolds as was his misrule. His tenure as Governor between 1999 and 2007 was characterised by high-handedness and total negation of democracy. In eight years, he sacked three party chairmen – Alhaji Malami Abdul-Kadir was removed as chairman of the ANPP and replaced by Alhaji Labaran Maikano who was soon after removed in favour of Alhaji Abdullahi Lamba.
In the course of his tenure as Governor, Minister and now Senator, Aliero has humiliated and fallen-out with virtually all the respected leaders of Kebbi State. The list includes Alhaji Abubakar Malam, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Tafida Kabi, Alhaji Samaila Sambawa, Hon. Buhari Bala, General Sarkin Yaki Bello, Barrister Kabiru Tanimu Turaki and Prof. Idris Kaoje. Others are General Ishaya Bamaiyi, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Barrister Abubakar Malami, former Governor Saidu Nasamu Dakingari and incumbent Governor Atiku Bagudu.
Worse still, his woeful work as governor convinced him that he needed to become an obstacle to his successor in office – Alhaji Sa’idu Nasamu Dakingari. He struggled tooth-and-nail to distract the administration and even vowed in vain to prevent its re-election.
When the incumbent Atiku Bagudu administration came on board, Aliero connived with cronies and collected a whopping N14 billion worth of contracts using various companies. To date, none of the projects was completed not to talk of commissioned.
Today, Senator Aliero’s self-centred style of politics has left Kebbi State helpless and hopeless. For instance, more than two years after the abduction of some students of the Federal Government College Yauri, Aliero has demonstrated minimum concern over the pathetic plight of the citizens. Instead, he is exploiting his membership of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs to corner juicy contracts worth billions of Naira from the Federal Government.
Since leaving office, Aliero’s proxies, political partners and children have been floating all manner of companies collecting contracts not only from the Federal Government but also the governments of Kebbi, Zamfara and Sokoto States. None of the works were concluded and many were even cancelled. His prominent cohorts in these ventures include Alhaji Abba Aliero and Alhaji Kabiru Kamba. Their activities are complemented by Aliero’s political thugs especially Alhaji Sani Dododo and Alhaji Bunu Jega. These individuals who started out as critics and traducers of the former Governor are now full-time attack-dogs used in blackmailing power-brokers and bringing down those who refuse to play his bidding.
The electorates will never forget the allegations that he also serially cornered and diverted at least three gigantic constituency projects worth more than one billion Naira. Senator Aliero was alleged to have used his clout to corner the direly needed developments meant for the District to his farm and that of his crony.
According to the list of approved Constituency Projects in the 2017 Appropriation Act executed by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, the projects include the construction of Feeder Road which was awarded to Aliero’s Great Northern International Company (GNIC) at Gante for evacuation of agricultural products from farmlands to towns and cities in Kebbi Central Senatorial District worth #200,000,000.
Another project cornered by Senator Aliero was the supply and installation of Central Pivot Irrigation Pumps with sprinklers also in Gante village of Kebbi Central Senatorial District worth #264,000,000.
Similarly, the contract for the supply of Massey Ferguson tractors meant for farmers in Kebbi Central Senatorial District worth #200,000,000 and all the tractors delivered to his Labana Farms.
The anger of people in Aliero’s Senatorial District is that Gante village is under Lafagu/Gante ward of Kaoje District in Bagudu Local Government Area of Kebbi State. Aliero’s Labana Farm at Gante is under Kebbi North Senatorial District of Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, the incumbent Senate Majority Leader. Their anger is exacerbated by the fact that during Aliero’s first term as Senator, the #2 billion Naira Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention under the Anchor Borrowers Programme was also cornered for the exclusive development of his Labana Farms.
One of Aliero’s key fronts is Alhaji Kabiru Kamba from Dandi Local Government Area of Kebbi State, the proprietor of KK Kamba & Sons Nigeria Limited and K.M. Kamba Ventures Nigeria Limited. These two companies have been awarded billions of Naira worth of contracts by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (FMWH) and the Police Trust Fund (PTF) respectively over the past years with none executed even though fully paid for. The ‘juicy’ jobs include the procurement of operational solar energy equipment to service several communities in some states of the country, the Federal Government’s Mass Housing Scheme and the construction of police barracks in disparate locations in the country’s six geopolitical zones.
Investigations revealed that not only were the contracts not executed but they were re-awarded and paid for with the active collaboration of two ex Permanent Secretaries in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Alhaji Babangida Hussaini as well as his predecessor Alhaji Bukar Alhaji. Senator Aliero’s other proxies in these schemes are his brother, Alhaji Abba Aliero and his son, Mustapha Aliero.
Between them, they registered and run several bogus companies such as Galadi Global Resources, Net Galaxy Max, M.M. Saleh and Sons Nigeria Ltd, Waizah Global Resources Ltd and Eva Top Trading Company Ltd.
On his part, Kamba also uses a variety of other firms such as Dunkulu Global Ventures, Maidaji Global Resources, Makharaj Nigeria Ltd, Clarion Prime Associates Ltd., Wastech Engineering, GT Energy Ltd, Viaeny Global Investment Ltd, Yakubeens Nigeria Ltd and Brading Global Concept Nigeria Ltd.
Even after the EFCC initiated investigations into the dozens of non-performing contracts, only a few of the solar power projects were shoddily completed. In addition to the corruption inherent in the contract awards influenced by Senator Aliero who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, the companies completely lack the capacity and competences to carry out the works assigned.
It is believed that Senator Aliero successfully schemed the fraud by working with the Directors of Procurement and Finance who are both Indigenes of Kebbi State. Indications are that these sordid revelations maybe just a tip of the iceberg and concerned citizens of our dear country Nigeria are worried that the investigations into the shenanigans may be scuttled.
Already, only Kabiru Kamba is in EFCC custody while Abba and Mustapha Aliero remain at large, causing apprehension across the state and nation at large. It is widely feared that they could compromise the cases and escape justice by sharing the enormous earnings accrued from the corrupt practices.
The questions on the minds of everybody in the Kebbi Central Senatorial District then was: how much will be enough to satisfy the Senator and his callous cohorts and when will the dividends of democracy begin to trickle down to the people for whom the projects were meant and who really need them?
There’s palpable relief that in just days, the hapless electorate are poised to show Senator Muhammad Aliero the way out and unless he makes restitution, their next move may be to legally confiscate what rightly belongs to them.
So, Aliero’s dubious democratic career seems to be coming to a disgraceful end. Since its inception, he has been switching from one party to the other. For example, he re-decamped to PDP 2007 after spending about a year in CPC in early 2012. He later moved from PDP to APC in 2014 to PDP 2022. He and some of his close associates since 1999, like Sani Zauro, who was also former State Chairman of defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) Board of Trustees (BoT) in Kebbi State also quit PDP for APC.
It is not surprising that Aliero and his allies should suddenly become persona non-grata among the parties and electorate. After all, it is said that the tree of lies only produces leaves. It does not bear fruits.
Umar Ibrahim wrote from Bunza Local Government Area, Kebbi State.
