Honestly, if today is this year’s December ending day, I would have nobody to name as my man of the year than His Excellency Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano state and this is because of his being an action and no nonsense governor.
To most of us, for one to be one, that person must possess certain qualities. The qualities which I see all of them in His Excellency Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf.
Without doubt, Governor Abba as a chief servant has proven to be passionate about good governance and collective prosperity which made him a listening and action governor.
That is why we witnessed his demonstration or the display of his concern and seriousness to governance and the people he is governing. From his first day in office to date, Kano has been turned into a bee hive of construction and renovations.
Works has been ongoing in every places and in every sectors of the state without discrimination. And for a leader to develop and achieve this deep-level change, he must do so on a purpose.
The purpose of which is to totally develop the state by building structures such as roads, schools, training, job assignments etc .
That is why I look at His Excellency Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf as a leader who came to office to work and deliver on all his campaign promises. Because is purposeful engagement in development has been seen everywhere in the state.
Therefore, when I received the copy of the letter of complaint of the secretary of the Kano Pillars Management Board, Dr. Sani Ibrahim aka Coach about the perpetual rift between himself together with other board members on one side with the chairman of the board, Alhaji Babangida Little on the other side which was addressed to the office of the secretary to the Government of Kano State for sidelining them.
At first I thought nothing will happen from the government side due to a number of reasons which I don’t want to disclose here.
But surprisingly, the governor on the receipt of a copy of Dr. Sani’s letter quickly directed the state commissioner of rural development who is also the acting commissioner supervising sports, Hon Hamza Safiyanu Kachako to call for a meeting with all those involved in the issue together with some aides of the governor.
As expected the chairman of the club Babangida Little, the secretary of the management board, Dr. Sani Ibrahim and other eleven members all answered the call which I guess was held at the Government House, Kano.
Without any hesitation, the governor directed for the right thing to be done in the running of the team and expected nothing else. He also directed the acting commissioner of sports to make sure that all things are done correctly and warned about its reoccurrences.
The club chairman was asked to stop acting like a sole administrator but as a chairman of a committee which he must work with and also listen to always.
The governor’s words to the chairman had really touched everybody present at the meeting and also put smiles and hopes on all the faces of the 12 remaining members of the committee including the secretary of the board.
This was because the chairman had refused them time and access to seat and discuss the team and all the problems the team is facing since their appointments.
No doubt the chairman has listened to the governor’s words because changes have been seen in his leadership style as Dr Sani along with three other board members were seen on the team’s entourage to their second away match in Abia state against Abia Warriors FC which the team lost 0-1.
It could be recalled that the secretary of the board Dr. Sani Ibrahim had reported the chairman to the office of the SSG for hiding or covering the club’s activities which they ought to know about.
He accused the chairman for doing things singly without the board’s input or approval which he sees as wrong and contravened civil service rules.
The secretary blamed the chairman of not showing any sign of purposeful leadership and commitment to serve aand carry everybody along as assigned to him by the Kano state government under leadership of Engr Abba Kabir Yusuf.
He castigated the chairman of running the club singly from 23rd of June this year, the day they were inaugurated to date without the board’s consent or approval which he said was contrary to Section 1 of the guiding rules and regulations of the board.
The secretary, Dr. Sani also revealed that under section 2 of the guiding rules for the board, the board during one of its first meetings after inauguration by the SSG formed five standing committees to ease its day to day operations but the chairman singlehandedly with no cogent reasons sacked all of them.
He also revealed the management committee’s dissatisfaction on how the chairman executed sports tours to Asaba, Delta state for NNL Super Eight, Bauchi and other trips without the board’s knowledge and approvals.
The secretary raised eyebrows on the recruitment of 30-36 technical crew positions for both Kano Pillars FC senior team, Kano Pillars FC junior team, Kano Pillars FC Under 15 and Kano Pillars Under 13 and also the recruitment of supporting staffers of all the teams listed above without board’s inputs.
The secretary also suspected the chairman of establishing his secretariat and board members out of the ones appropriately appointed by the government and operating in a different secretariat (Sports Commission) different from the one of the team for selfish interest.
Comrade Sani Ibrahim also indicted the chairman for disallowing the club’s out-gone secretary to handover the club’s activities to him.
He lastly reported that all efforts to reconcile them and make the chairman to do the right thing by the Chairman House Committee on Sports of the state assembly, former SA on Youth and Sports and SSA on Sports proved abortive as the chairman refused to change his attitudes.
There were many other issues which made the board members very angry with the chairman ranging from the exact number of old players Kano Pillars sold to other clubs and the exact amount raised.
They also want to know the amount paid on the payment of players’ registration and transfer fees.
They also want to know the exact content and amount of the contracts together with the duration the chairman signed with some firms in the state.
Therefore, if leaders are like Governor Abba or can copy from Governor Abba, I see no reason why things will go wrong or be done wrongly.
With this I commend governor Abba for being proactive which has put or brought sanity in Kano’s darling team, the Kano Pillars FC.
Allah ya kara daukaka, ameen.