Don’t Meddle In Affairs Of Your Successors, Saraki Cautions Outgoing Govs
Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki has advised outgoing governors to abstain from interfering in the governance of their states as they prepare to leave office later this month.
Saraki, a former governor of Kwara State, gave the charge at the farewell dinner for outgoing governors held at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja on Sunday night.
The one-time Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum made the remark in his goodwill message to the governors whose tenures come to an end on May 29, 2023.
While commending them for the services rendered to their respective states, Saraki said, “When you are no longer governor, allow your successor to do their work. Go back to your families. I am sure your wives, children and grandchildren are counting the days. You are bracing up for a new phase of life which is completely different.
Spend more time with your families. Save your money for hampers and rams because they won’t come as usual.”
The former Senate President also enjoined the newly-elected governors to start planning their exit from day one, even as he harped on the significance of self challenge for development.
“To our incoming governors, start planning and preparing for governance. Plan your exit from day one and keep challenging yourselves.”
Sharing his experiences on life after office, former Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, called on new and returning governors to prioritize the people’s welfare irrespective of their political affiliations.
He said, “Let’s work diligently so that after our tenure, people will come back and say you have done well. To have elected you, it means the people have chosen you as their servant. Every time, do what your conscience and the law say you should do.”
Aliyu also warned of the danger in personalizing power at the expense of the people.
“At times, people will say this is our time. Don’t make that mistake. A former governor who made that mistake is now walking on the streets,” Aliyu said.
Continuing, Aliyu called on the governors to be accessible and accountable to the people, reminding them that being governors did not mean they were the best and the brightest.
“That you are governors today does not mean that you are the best. Some of us were not the brightest in class. Perhaps, we were in the last 10 in the class. So, don’t think because you are governors, you must impose your successor,” he stressed.”
To transit easily from office to out of it, Aliyu told the outgoing governors to immediately get busy, saying, “Get something to do to augment your income. Don’t be the type that will always be at home. Be active and don’t allow your brain or physical body to go down.”
Also speaking on life after office, former Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo, recalled the difficulty of transiting from office to out of it, narrating how an unnamed former governor who had a flight to catch to Benin City, kept sitting and sipping coffee in the departure lodge of a Nigerian airport, not knowing that the plane had taken off.
The incident which drew a thunderous laughter from the audience, according to Dankwambo, happened because the former governor, as usual, was waiting for his aides to remind him of boarding time.
He urged outgoing governors to bear with the pressure of friction likely to occur between them and their successors.
“You are retiring from work, not life. Avoid meddling into the affairs of your predecessors. As you get older, your health cannot be taken for granted. You have to bear with the pressure,” he said.
“Begin to prepare for retirement as soon as you are sworn-in. Be prepared for the visits of such institutions like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit who may ask some questions that need answers,” he added.
Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, on her part said states must be made to work for their citizens arguing that “Nigeria cannot be great without the states. We know that we don’t have strong foundations but through hard work, this country can be better.”
She called for partnership and deliberate policies to empower Nigerian women, noting that they did not have lesser brains compared to their male counterparts.
