YAR`ADUA PROFILE: Yar`Adua: From Katsina to Aso Rock May 27, 2007 | posted by Mobolaji Aluko (Archives)

 

---

 

THE NATION

May 27, 2007

Yar’Adua: From Katsina to Aso Rock

 

The Yar’adua Quarters in Katsina city does not in modern township standards offer anything extraordinary. This will contrast with the majestic and ornate home he will inhabit in the next four years, all things being equal. In Katsina, the man was weaned on a different environment. Leading to the grey bungalow surrounded by adjoining high buildings and walls on one side and the Katsina township stadium on the other is a narrow untarred road. That is the house where the Yar’Aduas take their root. Aso Rock provides a palace, a multitude of offices, with great rituals of state, the words excellency will accompany a great other rituals. Dignities waiting on him and for him. He has a wide variety of offices, from that of a lowly clerk to the high-colour office of his chief of staff. However, his home in Katsina as he grew up from childhood betrayed a foretaste of what he would enjoy as governor and now as president. He grew up in a patrician home, which did not accept anyone from a low status without questioning. Access to the house was and is restricted and a detachment of policemen is keeping an eye on passers-by. Several strings of cables for electricity and telephone immediately suggest the age of civilization in that quarter. Opposite the building is Hajia Ladi Primary and Islamic school, again suggesting the ‘place‘ of modern knowledge to the neighborhood. It was for Yar’Adua, the ancient, and the pious. The home in all its quaint glory had to abide with the inevitable humility before Allah. It was a home that placed large store by family fealty. You honoured and respected the high and might pedigree of the family. Umaru Yar’Adua understood that. In spite of his ideological "waywardness" in hobnobbing with socialist crowd, he never had any sort of family quarrel or contradiction. Indeed, the patriarch of the quarter, Musa Yar’Adua had lived in that house. Though he died fourteen years ago, that building continues to be relevant to modern Nigerian politics and would indeed, assume more relevance in the coming years. In that neighborhood was Umaru Musa Yar’Adua born with silver spoon in his mouth. Before that patriarch was the real Mutawallen, the treasurer of the emirate of Katsina, one of the two emirates in that axis. The other being the Daura emirate, incidentally where Major General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd) hails from. Umaru who is called Babangida because he took the name of his grand father also inherited the title of his grand father as Mutawallen of the emirate. That title is one of the two titles, which the family has continued to hold since about three generations. Umaru’s elder brother, the late Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua had also taken the title of Tafidan Katsina even while his father was around. But the Mutawallen Katsina that the President-elect bears today did not pass down to him in that manner. That title which is superior to the Tafidan Katsina that his elder brother bore came to him as a matter of luck. Luck is something the president-elect habituated to and he does not contest his lucks when they come. In spite of his affiliation with socialism, he did not fight the feudal origins of his title of Mutawallen Katsina, just as he did not contest his sudden rise over all the governors and other party stalwarts when he was anointed to be the party flag bearer as well as the beneficiary of what is regarded as an eminently unfair election.

yar'adua1,%20may%2027.jpg" />

Education

Umaru was born in that quarter some fifty-six years ago. There was no indication that a great man was being born. Unlike the tales of many leaders woven around myths, his was a humble birth in a large and illustrious family as illustrious goes in the feudal north. Among his friends and relations, none could remember any unusual thing about the birth of the man who will lead this country from the coming week. His biographers simply wrote about his birth and progress thus:

Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, the Executive Governor of Katsina State, was born in Katsina town, Katsina State in 1951. He started his primary education at Rafukka Primary School, Katsina in 1958. He left Rafukka for Dutsinma Boarding Primary School in 1962 from where he completed his primary education in 1964. Attending a boarding primary school has always been a rare and novel luxury, and it was especially so in the 1950’s. They were pampered with the material things in life and had some of the best of teachers. It was even more potent in the north when fewer people savoured the advantages of Western education. This was the north of the Al-majiris and the preponderance of the Talakawas. Education often came either by scholarships and the material support of a wealthy family.

A Yar’Adua did not need a scholarship given the wealthy pedigree of his family.

Between 1965-1969, Umaru Yar’Adua was at Government College, Keffi in present-day Nasarawa State for his secondary education. He then moved to the famous Barewa College, Zaria for his Higher School Certificate between 1970-1971. For his University education, Yar’Adua attended the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria from 1972-1975 where he obtained the B.Sc Education/Chemistry. He returned to the same University from 1978-1980 for his M.Sc Degree in Analytical Chemistry.

His secondary and university education still betrayed his patrician background. Barewa College housed some of the big names the north threw up not only in politics but also in the world of technocrats. The first generation of the nation’s leaders from Tafawa Balewa to Maitama Sule followed a similar educational curve and trajectory.

Interestingly, he did not choose any high-sounding course like political philosophy. He studied chemistry at the Ahmadu Bello University, which also was the pathway of the northern elite.

His choice of chemistry evinced a certainly lack of fear of educational anxiety among southerners who thought educational course was destiny. You could be a teacher in those days and still be president, A la Shehu Shagari.

In his school days, many remembered him as the brilliant young man who had to lead his school on account of his education. Hear Mallam Ado Kankia, his teacher in what was then Raffuka primary school. He taught the young Umaru in 1958. The same school is now called Gidado primary school in Katsina.

"I knew Umaru as far back as in 1958 as a pupil at Iyatanci Primary School. As at this moment, it (school) is known as Gidado Primary School here in Katsina state. Precisely in 1956, we were all together with Umaru’s father at Daudawa. At that time, Umaru’s father was the Wazirin Gona of Katsina under the then Ministry of Agriculture in the defunct Northern Nigeria. Umaru Musa was an intelligent young man. I could remember then that he was the head boy of the school. Umaru was always neatly dressed, a quality that led to his appointment as the school’s head boy. Then it was purely on merit to attain such an enviable height. This was not because of royal background. He truly merited whatever he got then. Therefore, I am not surprised that they say he is the next president of this country.

As a young school boy, the teacher attested to the fact that Umaru was generous and shared anything he had with other boys. Of course, it was expected of Umaru having come from a wealthy family. He never lacked and has never lacked in his life, except for good health. In addition, he always had attention of the first quality. News had it that when he broke down in the height of the presidential campaign he was flown to Germany in a military air ambulance, which is the patrician equivalent of a routine one we see on the streets, siren, speed and all.

"He was very generous. He shares with other boys, particularly the under privileged. You can never see him fighting with anybody. He always judged by apportioning blames to who was at fault during disagreement among his peers. In those days, he made many friends simply because of his disposition to life. He is from a rich family, yet saw himself as the same with others. The Umaru that I knew was a quiet boy. He was small in size and seldom talks. Most of the time, he would keep to himself. A feeling of not wanting to be disturbed. Whatever you say was simply all right by him", he said.

In the University, Umaru began to develop radical attitude in his approach to social issues. Among his peers in the radical wing of the University students union was Dr. Abubakar Siddique, Director of Centre for Democratic Development, Research and Training based in Zaria. According to him, though the President-elect was a science student studying chemistry in the faculty of education, he espoused ideas like a social scientist.

Hear him: "He interacted with people both on what I call that time inverted commas and right and he associated himself with those on the left. But what is interesting also is that he read literature, so if you discussed with him, you would think he was a social scientist. That was the nature of the university at that time. Scientists were made to read social science text. There was a time I was then a young graduate assistant; we were invited by a group of young students pursuing their IJMB pre-university qualification study in the Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology, which was then based in Zaria. It is now polytechnic; they wanted us to discuss the role of the youth in Africa. Umaru was one of those who were invited. I was one of them. I’ve forgotten the third person. He actually impressed me, being a scientist. He impressed me because of the literature he read before we came to the seminar. He read a chapter in Amical Cabral’s`work I think collection of speeches on the youth, challenging the youth of Africa and he actually challenged us. He was typical of the way we see things, the laziness or so in the youth of Nigeria and all the vices he observed as a teacher at that time. He was very critical of them and he reminded us of what Amilcar Cabral said and he was saying that if we don’t take our nation seriously, we are going to fail. We are very sure he’s disappointed with even what happened in Nigeria today. I think that is also the positive aspect of it. If he sees it as a challenge, then he will go very far. But because he was already critical of the youth, I think, in 1980.

Yar’Adua as a radical

It is instructive that he became a leftist. That was probably not only a trigger from the exposure from the study of political science. It could also be a product of rebellion in the man from a background of privilege in the ambience of lack and poverty. Yet he was never a firebrand. He never was known as rabble-rouser, a stormy petrel. He was a radical in thought and association. Even though he was a leader in school, he is never known to have led any socialist cause or drummed up rhetoric or passion in public. He was, therefore, an ideological follower rather than an arrowhead.

Yet it is a credit to the liberalism of his family that his association with socialism did not run counter to the grain of his patrician family. This ability to hold a radical worldview and also hold a feudal title shows his early ability to manoeuvre within different worldviews. Some analysts have described him as a sort of quiet chameleon, who is able to blend into any crowd. He did not seem a misnomer in the left in the same way he has been embraced without question in the right, especially in a gladiator-filled environment like the PDP.

At the ABU in those days, Umaru did not enter school in grandiose style as wards of the rich today behave. He ate normal Nigerian food, had no car on campus, and did not live in select hall or even off campus, he said.

But he smoked a lot, perhaps typical of an average Katsina man. Even in his family, his elder brother who was in the army puffed away most of the time. Smoking for him was no big deal. Nobody has a record of Umaru drinking but Dr. Siddique says Umaru did everything his age mates indulged in those days in the University.

His tastes for clothing was also modest, showing no flashiness or ostentatious vanity. He could be seen in a simple kaftan or a shirt and trouser with his hair, plenty at the time, showing the scraggy texture of a man of the world.

In his intellectual taste, the young Umaru read all kinds of books, especially those bordering on politics and development. He chewed everything, which the late radical thinker and lecturer Bala Usman poured out. Indeed, to show how he liked him, as governor he named a polytechnic after him.

He read other books such as Coleman’s record on the politics of the North, recommended texts for both general studies and optional courses.

"In fact, all the literature books; in fact he has read books written by Coleman on politics in Northern Nigeria. I’m just guessing. You have to read them because you have to be with people who have read those books. He has read the works of Yusuf Bala Usman and Yusuf was a very prolific writer. I have no doubt that he has read all that Bala has written. In addition, all the literature coming out of the political structure, the Peoples Redemptions Party (PRP) Political struggle, student radical literature, I’m very sure he has read them. Mind you, he also read literature, so there were materials common to all the students, whether in science or in arts at a certain level in university at that time."

Bala Usman, Yar’Adua’s role model

It is part of the man’s irony that he is thought of as an intellectual or a man with a veneer of intellectual solidity. This is partly due to his humility or appearance of being humble. This according to analysts is one of the traits of men who are underestimated. He was underestimated in his handling of the politics of Katsina State in the past eight years. He felled a deputy governor without seeming to have fought and he sidelined the speaker of the House of Representatives without uttering an immortal quote or flexing his muscle in public. Analysts think a Yar’ Adua presidency would be a great tale of the triumph of a man whom others thought they could trample over.

Umaru Yar’Adua’s working career began at the Holy Child College, Lagos for the mandatory one year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) between 1975 and 1976. He was a Lecturer at the Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria between 1976 and 1979. He moved to Katsina Polytechnic, also as a Lecturer in 1979 and was there until 1983 when he left the public service.

As lecturer in the Katsina Polytechnic, the young teacher was very committed to his duties. Indeed, to set up the chemistry laboratory of the school, he designed it and supervised the construction of the laboratory, which still stands for the benefit of subsequent students of the institution. Yar’Adua had a colleague in the polytechnic who quipped: "One of the remarkable things about the president-elect in that institution was that he never laughed.

Yar’ Adua’s movement to the private sector started at Sambo Farms Ltd in Funtua, Katsina State as its pioneer General Manager between 1983-1989. It was his elder brother’s big farming business. It was the beginning of his foray into the private sector. He subsequently served as a Board Member, Katsina State Farmers’ Supply Company between 1984-1985, Member Governing Council of both Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology Zaria and Katsina Polytechnic between 1978-1983, Board Chairman of Katsina State Investment and Property Development Company (KIPDECO) between 1994-1996. Yar’Adua also served as a Director of many companies, including Habib Nigeria Bank Ltd. 1995-1999; Lodigiani Nigeria Ltd. 1987-1999, Hamada Holdings, 1983-1999; and Madara Ltd. Vom, Jos, 1987-1999. He was Chairman, Nation House Press Ltd, Kaduna between 1995-1999.

His socialist pedigree had to contest with his exposure to the capitalist logic of running corporation and contemplating profit and losses, In the long run when he had to turn from left to right, analysts see the temptation of his association with the corporate world as catalyst.

But his acceptance of that position as Sambo Farms general manager reflects his lack of ideological rigidity and his recognition of his role in and loyalty to family. It also betrays his ability to win new realism and survival from the idealism of ideology and theory.

Yar’Adua’s foray into party politics

Yar’Adua’s foray into party politics began as a Lecturer when he became an active member and mobiliser for the defunct Peoples’ Redemption Party (PRP). During the Transition Programme of President Ibrahim Babangida, Yar’Adua was one of the foundation members of the Peoples’ Front, a political association under the leadership of his elder brother, the late Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. That association later fused to form the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP). Yar’Adua was a member of the 1988 Constituent Assembly. He was a member of the party’s National Caucus and the SDP State Secretary in Katsina and contested the 1991 governorship election, but lost to the candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention.

This resume shows he has had a long history of mixing with the political crowd and holding important positions without attracting drama to himself. He also has been chastened by an electoral loss. He came later to win and his winning ways have continued.

At the inception of General Abdulsalam Abubakar’s transition in 1998, Yar’Adua founded the K34 political association, which later teemed up to form the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He contested and won election as Governor of Katsina State in 1999 and was re-elected in 2003.

Governor Yar’adua is best remembered as the first Governor to publicly declare his assets and has promised to do same again at the end of his tenure. The burden of a name/title began to play on him immediately. For the implication of a name/title which means the money keeper of the emirate points automatically to a person of high morality.

Incidentally, his scorecard as governor of the young state of Katsina has come under serious debate simply because, that was the basis for his selection by President Olusegun Obasanjo as his successor. His commissioner for information reels a paper detailing the official achievement of the governor. According to him: "During his tenure as Governor, the state has gone through an unprecedented development, culminating in profound transformation of the educational and health institutions, provision of rural and urban roads, electrification, water supply and agriculture. Today, people of Katsina State can boast of a governor with proven record of prudence, accountability and transparency. Under his leadership, Katsina State has a surplus of N6.5billion from a near empty treasury and backlog of debts in 1999. No wonder, Umaru Yar’Adua won the National Primary Education Productivity Merit Award in 2004 and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Best Governor Award under the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme (ACGS) in 2005. Yar’Adua’s primary health care delivery system and primary education policies have become models with compelling national appeal.

It must be noted though that when he broke down during the presidential campaigns, he did not seek help in the health system he presided over.

His determination to make taxation the major source of public finance in Katsina State has currently pre-occupied his administration with implementation of plans to process and make viable production in the State. This is expected to bring in export revenue in excess of USD2billion to farmers and people of Katsina State. The Governor further expects 25% of this or USD500 million to accrue to the state treasury as revenue for the sustenance of his efforts. He was honoured with many other awards for prudence and accountability, among which are NUJ Abuja Council (2003); NUJ Kaduna Council (2005) and Leadership Watch (2004).

Yet, in the index of literacy Katsina does not rank high in the country, neither has his policy turned the poor and talakawas into a fruitful and prosperous life.

His lack of consensus building, and perhaps abhorrence for opposition is well remembered in the sack of his first deputy, Jimkamshi. The story in Katsina then was that the deputy governor had a different approach to governance, preferring that party politics should bring direct benefit to the people through wide spread intervention in development projects. Other party members including the respected Lawal kaita also believed that keeping money in the coffers was an old way of development. This showed, in the eyes of his critics, a lack of imagination in the management of resources in what is still a very poor state.

Marital life

Yar’adua is married to one wife, Turai Umaru Yar’adua and they are blessed with children. Unlike his running mate, Goodluck Jonathan, his wife and children remained in the background reflecting another traditional trait in the north. Even his days as a socialist he did not tinker with this.

And he enjoys reading and playing squash, snooker and fives.

With this line of ideological and moral contradictions, yar Adua passes to his critic for a centrist and a man with ideological pragmatism. He may not be easy to squeeze by strongmen a la Shagari, according to analysts. But, as many analysts say, movement from the humility of a Katsina House to the majesty of Aso rock will yet unveil the Yar Adua the politician and man of contradictions.

 

---