He became Governor at the most violent juncture in the history of Nigeria. He inherited a state that had been divided along very dangerous fault-lines. While his fellow Governors could afford all the luxuries and spoils of the office of an executive governor, Kashim Shettima was superintending a state where blood spilling was so common that the sight of mangled corpses and chopped off limbs was so common that even children were no longer frightened or horrified. The sound of guns, staccato of shots, daily bouts of bomb blasts either from troops or enemy positions embedded deep in the corners of the city and the frustration and restriction usually clamped to mitigate collaterals were such a daily occurrence that when you hear a siren blowing, you no longer feel the fear and trepidation usually associated with them. No part of the entire Borno landscape was safe; not even security fortified Army barracks or Police formations. Everywhere was a legitimate target which can be assaulted either to cart away provisions, food, ammunitions or just to kill. It was no doubt Nigeria’s most brutal, heartless and dastardly moment. It was under this foreboding and unsecured timeline that Kashim Shettima assumed office. While he was struggling to strike a balance between navigating his way to fulfill his electioneering campaign promises to his people on one hand, and meandering through the maze of top-level insecurity to lessen the rate of damage to lives and property, on the other, the federal government under Goodluck Jonathan was threatening to withdraw troops from Borno on account of the Governor’s audacity to call for improved welfare and modern armament to those prosecuting the war.
It is important to recall the chain of events that have shaped the way and manner the war was prosecuted in order to appreciate the selflessness, courage, leadership and daredevilry of Kashim Shettima. Nigeria has seen a number of mindless upheavals in its history, including a civil war where more than two million people were reported to have died. But by its sheer banality, banditry, ruthlessness and inherent danger to almost everyone, the Boko Haram insurgency is virtually second to none. During the civil war, the then Military Head of state General Yakubu Gowon had, on a number of occasions visited troops on the frontlines to pep them into more action. But for the entire years he was President, Goodluck Jonathan, acting on intelligence and security reports, refused to, even once, visit anywhere near the danger zones of the North East. As stated, his failure to visit was accentuated by credible security information advising against such visit because the situation in Borno in particular could imperil the life of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. This underlined the risk and the dangers that lurked around the very epicenter of the pogrom and bloodletting. This was the environment that was home to Kashim Shettima, a home he neither run away from, nor feared walking its streets amidst the suicide attacks, street gun fights and chopping off of limbs. I have pointed out on end that although these acts of sheer courage by the Governor were worth a gold medal, his presence of mind, the vision and go-getting instincts which emboldened him to still achieve unprecedented and unmatched infrastructure outlay across the state regardless, were in a class of their own.
Three key areas of infrastructure development spearheaded by the APC administration in Borno state that are deserving of mention and commendation are in education, housing and roads. The heavy investment in education in particular where Kashim Shettima has channeled huge resources stood out as very unique and outstanding. Aside the thousands of lives lost to the insurgency, one other area Borno suffered visible and critical loss is in the destruction wrought on education infrastructure. Hundreds of students across the state were killed and displaced while school buildings were burnt and destroyed, in conformity to the insurgents’ repugnance to western education. Borno had lost almost all its treasures in education. Without the vision and courage of the Governor to pursue a deliberate policy of restocking, rebuilding, rehabilitation and repositioning of education, almost from the scratch, Borno will have, more or less collapsed, if not irretrievably, but for an entire generation, in the least. Borno, as a famed centre of scholarship and rich cultural heritage cannot afford to waste an entire generation on the basis of the mindless arson and destruction tendencies of an ignorant few. The situation was so perilous and ominous that if the right leadership tactics were not applied and if the structures for restocking were not provided the thousands of students and pupils already displaced by the insurgency as well as the army of those unskilled youths would have served as veritable recruitment ground for the terror group. The implication of this to the security of the country and sub-Sahara Africa can only be imagined. It is worthy of note to look at the fact that a large percentage of the recruitment target for the insurgents were from the same set of unskilled and unlettered young men who were alleged to have enjoyed the backing and prodding of a former Governor in the preceding era.
Is it therefore not utterly surprising that Borno’s most remarkable era of achievements in three critical areas of road, housing and education infrastructure were recorded, not at a time of peace and abundance, but at an unfortunate period of turmoil and senseless banditry which was forced on the state by its enemies and which nearly left it aground? The place of courage and vision in leadership has once again been established as critical in deciding the future of nations and societies. While pressure is currently being mounted on the Governor to vie for the Senate, it should not be lost that a man of valor, bravura and great management skills had traversed the Borno political landscape like a colossus.
Ahmed-BK wrote in from Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State.
