Femi Falana
During an outing at 6:30 am last Friday to assess public institutions in Borno State, the Governor, Professor Babagana Umar Zulum met Mrs Mazi Obiageli already at Shehu Sanda Kyarimi 2 Primary school under Jere local government education authority, waiting for her pupils.
Completely overwhelmed by Mrs Obiageli’s dedication, Governor Zulum commended and rewarded her with personal cash of N100,000 nearly three times her monthly salary of N35,000 and recommended her for promotion. Barely 24 hours later, Mrs Obiageli’s promotion from class teacher to assistant headmistress was announced by the Borno State education authorities on account of her dedication to duty, merrotorious service coupled with the recommendation of Governor Zulum.
Mrs Obiagelli who hails from Abia state has been teaching in Borno State for 31 years.
No doubt, Governor Zulum deserves commendation for rewarding Mrs Obiageli notwithstanding her religion and her state of origin.Governor Zulum has actualised section 15 (1) of the Constitution which provides that “national integration shall be encouraged whilst discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association or ties shall be prohibited.”
The Zulum example is an indictment of those who are currently busy counting the thousands of Nigerian citizens that have been brutally killed and abducted by the satanic Boko Haram insurgents along religious divide! The example of Governor Zulum is a challenge to the labour movement and other progressive forces to intensify the campaign against reactionary politicians and the backward members of the elite that are taking advantage of insecurity and official incomptence to divide the economically marginalised people of Nigeria along ethnic and religious lines.
-Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights activist, writes from Lagos