OPEN LETTER TO SENATOR BASHEER GARBA LADO

March 14, 2015

Dear Senator Basheer Garba Lado,

I am a citizen of Kano and a resident of your constituency.  I am from Giginyu quarters not far away from your family home. For the last five months or so your campaigns for re-elections in the media are everywhere.

To tell you the truth, many people like me are even tired of listening to the same thing again and again. We always hear about your 108 projects that you executed in the 15 LGAS of your constituency and many programs about your assistance to religious schools and cash gifts to women and so on. You are really campaigning very well and if any politician will be voted because of his campaigns in Kano, you will be the one.

As an informed citizen and electorate, I am not convinced by all the hullabaloo of your campaign which targets ill-informed, ignorant and illiterate members of the electorates. As a senator representing me, I know your duties are more of legislation rather than projects which form the crux of your campaign strategy. I therefore write this open letter to you to ask the following questions.

I visited your website www.senatorbasheerlado.org to search for the answers for the questions I wanted to ask you, but did not find any. All I saw was that 108 list of your campaign projects and some pictures. Under your motions and bills link I found only one bill on the urgent need to discourage (not ban) Nigerian public officials from sending their children and wards to schools abroad which could not open. There was no other bill, no single motion and no list of motions you supported or opposed.

I also saw under your achievements link four giant projects namely the dualization of Kano-Katsina road, Tamburawa bridge, Kundila flyover bridge and Darmanawa-Hassan Gwarzo road which were presented as your constituency projects in your radio campaigns. For the dualization of Kano-Katsina, it is a speculated that it was initiated during late ‘YarAdua’s presidency, in any case, these are actually in fact not your projects. Rather they are projects you said you initiated and facilitated as is reported in your website.

In order to have clarity about your true achievements and for the benefit of other informed people like me to be fair to you, I decided to write you an open letter which I am sure your ferocious media team can help you answer. I will like you to publish your answers in the same medium I asked the questions so that we can read them and decide whether we can vote for you, get more support for you or just ignore you.

I want to beg you please not to send verbal mercenaries to reply or abuse me in the radio. The questions are as follows:

1.      Among the 108 projects you said you have done, how many are part of your constituency projects and how much were you given for the constituency projects? We have seen solid projects by other senators like Senator Gwarzo and Senator Gaya.

2.      How many of these projects (108) are from your salary and allowances and not funded by constituency funds?

3.      How many times did you engage other senators in any debate on motions and bills passed that will help or harm people from your constituency?

4.      How many motions have you presented and how many have been passed?

5.      How many times have you come to your constituency from May 29, 2011 to February 28, 2015 to consult with stakeholders (I don’t mean party visits or meetings with politicians) but the other members of your electorate whose voices matter on matters of national interest?

If you answer these questions to our satisfaction, we assure you of our support because what we really need in the senate is a worthy representative. As you rightly say in your radio programs, as a senator, you are not a governor or LGA chairman, for that, there is no basis for comparison with a governor or chairman. As a senator, your main duty is actually not these projects you are using to campaign with, but to make laws. Your success is measured based on your ability to ensure that we are not short-changed at the National Assembly in the Nigerian game.

While wishing you success in your campaign, we eagerly await your response.

Yours faithfully,

Yusuf Adamu PhD