Speaking at the weekend in Dutse, foremost royal father and the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar 111 described as phenomenal, the performance of the Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido. The Sultan was in Jigawa state to commission a road project he had asked the state governor to construct. The visit, it was learnt, is the Sultan’s fourth within the last two and half years.

After wondering why he has been very frequent to Jigawa in recent years, the royal father said it must have to do with what the government is doing, saying that “what the governor has been doing in the last two and half years is something so phenomenal that I am sure so many administrators should be copying from him”.

This, he said, is why he would not mind visiting Jigawa or any other state 100 times within a month or two or three if it has something to do with service to the people but gave his assurance of total support at all times to any other political office holder who is willing to work for the people because “we are to serve the people and whoever is serving the people is our friend, is our partner”.

The Sultan who had undertaken a tour of Dutse said what he and his entourage had seen is such that he must openly commend the governor in particular and his team, adding that the governor was on the right track and Almighty Allah should bless him.

Taking note of the facilitation of his tour of projects in Dutse by Jigawa emirs without any officials of the Jigawa State Government, the Sultan expressed delight with the close working relationship between the government and the traditional institution, arguing that such was what used to be in the past before the various reforms that were carried out and authority was taken away from the traditional rulers. His happiness is, therefore, that there are some leaders who believe that the traditional rulers also live for the people.

He, therefore, called on all stakeholders to always put hands together with those in authority, political authority, religious authority, traditional authority, to come together and close ranks, do away with sentiments of ethnicity or religion or where you come from for the sake of the people “because Almighty Allah said we should work for him and, in working for him, we are only laying a better foundation for the hereafter”.

Sultan Abubakar was in Jigawa to commission the 58 Kilometre Gwaram –Fagam-Sagi Road in Gwaram LGA which he, (the Sultan) had personally requested the Jigawa governor to construct following the difficulties the Sultan and his entourage encountered in September 2007 when he went to Fagam to launch the distribution of Zakat for that year. Although historically excluded and left behind since colonial times, Fagam remained the centre of the highest collection of Zakat in Dutse Emirate of Jigawa State for nearly a decade now.

Responding, Governor Sule Lamido described the leadership of the Sultan as something for which the elite should be grateful to the Sultan because, according to him, Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar had brought home the message that leadership is beyond the paraphernalia of office, that leadership ought to be compassionate, leadership should be respected, should be appreciated and should not be feared. “Since you assumed this very office of the Sultan of Sokoto, you have, by your own personal conduct, demonstrated that you are for the people”, Lamido said, adding “Generally, I want to thank the Sultan for becoming so inspirational, redefining what is called leadership in tune with the Islamic culture, which is founded by his great grandfather, Shehu Uthman bin Fodio, in the nineteenth century”.

The governor also said he was struck by the intensity of the Sultan’s concern for the people during that first contact with him at close quarters in September 2007 and he could see in him the image of the emerging leadership in Nigeria, a leadership which is connected with the people.

Lamido said it is because of this deep compassion he noticed in the Sultan that made him promise constructing the Gwaram-Fagam-Segi Road as requested by the Sultan because “anything to support you to restore that basic role of leaders to their subjects, I would do”.

Hence, said Lamido, “that road was started after you left and today, the road which you traveled for four hours that day, where you got struck in the mud several times and where all your emotions about the suffering of the people came out will now take you only 15 to 20 minutes. So tomorrow, as we go to Fagam, you will be driving along the very road you said I should build for the people. It has been constructed and I hope you will not ask me to do another road soon again because I will be asking you for the money”.

According to the Jigawa State governor, the government and the traditional institution have a common role because “governors are, like they say, ‘soldier go, soldier come”, said Lamido who also insisted that emirs remain important because they are the custodians of our cultures and tradition and there is no any society or community that can progress if it has no persons performing such roles.

In Jigawa State, there is this common understanding between those elected and the emirs in terms of working together to promote the well being of our own people, Lamido added.

Obviously extending another invitation to the Sultan, Governor Lamido said, “By the time you come here next year, you will be celebrating the hallmark of our programme in terms of the Talakawa Summit. The Talakawa Summit which you witnessed is beginning to have impact on the people”. “The short comment is that what Almighty Allah placed on our shoulders is to work for the people and wherever anybody is working for the people, we are always with him or her”.

The Sultan further declared “what the governor has been doing in the last two and half years is something so phenomenal that I am sure so many administrators should be copying from him”.

He gave his assurance of total support at all times to any other political office holder who is willing to work for the people because “we are to serve the people and whoever is serving the people is our friend, is our partner”.

“Therefore, we would not mind visiting Jigawa or any other state 100 times within a month or two or three if it has something to do with service to the people and if the people are happy and the government is happy, we believe our own part of the country, the North, will be happy and, of course, by extension, our Nigeria will also be happy”, the Sultan added.

The Sultan who was speaking after a tour of Dutse said what he and his entourage had seen is such that “we must openly commend the governor in particular and his team”, adding that the governor was on the right track and deserved the blessing of Almighty Allah.

Taking note of the facilitation of his tour of projects in Dutse by Jigawa emirs without any officials of the Jigawa State Government, the Sultan expressed delight with the close working relationship between the government and the traditional institution, arguing that such was what used to be in the past before the various reforms that were carried out and authority was taken away from the traditional rulers. His happiness is, therefore, that there are some leaders who believe that the traditional rulers also live for the people.

He, therefore, called on all stakeholders to always put hands together with those in authority, political authority, religious authority, traditional authority, to come together and close ranks, do away with sentiments of ethnicity or religion or where you come from for the sake of the people “because Almighty Allah said we should work for him and, in working for him, we are only laying a better foundation for the hereafter”.

Sultan Abubakar was in Jigawa to commission the 58 Kilometre Gwaram –Fagam-Sagi Road in Gwaram LGA which he, (the Sultan) had personally requested the Jigawa governor to construct following the difficulties the Sultan and his entourage encountered in September 2007 when he went to Fagam to launch the distribution of Zakat for that year. Although historically excluded and left behind since colonial times, Fagam remained the centre of the highest collection of Zakat in Dutse Emirate of Jigawa State for nearly a decade now.

Responding, Governor Sule Lamido described the leadership of the Sultan as something for which the elite should be grateful to the Sultan because, according to him, Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar had brought home the message that leadership is beyond the paraphernalia of office, that leadership ought to be compassionate, leadership should be respected, should be appreciated and should not be feared. “Since you assumed this very office of the Sultan of Sokoto, you have, by your own personal conduct, demonstrated that you are for the people”, Lamido said, adding “Generally, I want to thank the Sultan for becoming so inspirational, redefining what is called leadership in tune with the Islamic culture, which is founded by his great grandfather, Shehu Uthman bin Fodio, in the nineteenth century”.

The governor also said he was struck by the intensity of the Sultan’s concern for the people during that first contact with him at close quarters in September 2007 and he could see in him the image of the emerging leadership in Nigeria, a leadership which is connected with the people.

Lamido said it is because of this deep compassion he noticed in the Sultan that made him promise constructing the Gwaram-Fagam-Segi Road as requested by the Sultan because “anything to support you to restore that basic role of leaders to their subjects, I would do”.

Hence, said Lamido, “that road was started after you left and today, the road which you traveled for four hours that day, where you got struck in the mud several times and where all your emotions about the suffering of the people came out will now take you only 15 to 20 minutes. So tomorrow, as we go to Fagam, you will be driving along the very road you said I should build for the people. It has been constructed and I hope you will not ask me to do another road soon again because I will be asking you for the money”.

According to the Jigawa State governor, the government and the traditional institution have a common role because “governors are, like they say, ‘soldier go, soldier come”, said Lamido who also insisted that emirs remain important because they are the custodians of our cultures and tradition and there is no any society or community that can progress if it has no persons performing such roles.

In Jigawa State, there is this common understanding between those elected and the emirs in terms of working together to promote the well being of our own people, Lamido added.

Obviously extending another invitation to the Sultan, Governor Lamido said, “By the time you come here next year, you will be celebrating the hallmark of our programme in terms of the Talakawa Summit. The Talakawa Summit which you witnessed is beginning to have impact on the people”.