Non-indigenes enjoy great liberty, peace and success during the administration of Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu, OON (Talban Minna).Business need tranquility of the mind to flourish. Talban Minna has brought about enduring peace because he is detribalised leader.An Igbo trader at the Mobil Area insists that to make the peace enduring, Nigerlites need Talban Minna for a second term for the culture of accommodation in the state.She said although Niger State was about the most peaceful state in Nigeria even before Dr Aliyu became governor, he took it to the higher level not found in any state of the federation.Therefore, electing a person other than him, can bring about a disruption of the reigning peace in Minna and its environ.Deborah Chukwu, believes that Talban Minna has succeeded where others have failed.Madam Deborah buttressed her point by whistling, and ducking into concentration of counting her happily earned money that she makes from selling fruited pumpkin leaves (she calls ogu), crayfish, stockfish and other such soup condiments.Deborah is among other non-indigenes who contemplated making a genesis out of Niger State when the infamous Darussalam sect issue cropped up and sent shock waves across Niger State.It was a really trying period, because there was already the chronic Jos crisis and so it was felt that the Mokwa issue might erupt in a twinkling of an eye. Talban Minna had sworn to protect the lives of Nigerians under his jurisdiction in Niger State.To protect lives you have to maintain peace and order.To maintain peace and order, you have to do certain things.You do not allow things to get to a deadlock and then start running helter-skelter. Nigerians cannot be living in tension, because a governor feels he has to pursue a white elephant project of pursuing the aspiration of his tribe. However, it conflicts with those of other tribes.As the saying goes, Madam Deborah literally used to hold her breasts in her hands, highly perturbed, frantically looking for a saviour to take her on the wings of safety back home. As God would have it, she boarded a vehicle to take her to Makurdi, en route to Umuahia, her hometown.When it broke down in Tunga, she met her uncle, Chief Oju Ofor,who took her home where she passed the night.She has never regretted that she had not enough money and so had to wait for the uncle to get his monthly salary at an insurance outfit. Meanwhile, she accompanied Chief Ofors wife to her marketplace.She took her own share of the condiments and created her own table.That was it-she was encouraged to stay and she did and soon owned a shop in the Mobil Market.During the mayhem in Jos, there was tension in Minna and there was uncertainty as to what will happen.But Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu reinforced security and would not be ruled by sentiments.He organised emergency meeting with stakeholders.He also took other imperative measures,one of which was to the effect that Mai Unguwas were to play major roles. He dominated the landscape with his peace initiatives.The beefing up of security alone, Madam Deborah believes, is not enough to create an atmosphere of peace.Only factors such as empowerment, non-discrimination in terms of the dichotomy of indigene/non-indigene, freedom to reside wherever a resident deems fit. Madam Deborah is now a proud owner of a shop in the present Kure Ultra-Modern Market. She sent for her two sisters at Uturu to come and live with her and they now attend the MYPA School. They used to live at Uturu where they could attend any school because her uncle would have to pay fees.The elder one had registered for NECO and WAEC examinations without having to incur any cost whatsoever. Her joy is that if she leaves Minna today, she has something to boast of - successful business concerns and education of her younger ones.The lessons that we can draw from this amazing success is that, daily we harp that the constitution provides every Nigerian the right to reside anywhere in Nigeria that, he deems fit and own property, but it takes the will of a good leader to enforce the clause without recourse to whose horse is gored.Come April 26, 2011 Nigerians should be wary of whom they vote as their governor.They should vote a level-headed leader who has vindicated his aspiration in a clear-cut manner.They should not be carried away by sentiments of sectionalism. The future of their children hang on the decision that they are about to take.They should not afford to jeopardise the future. Among the governors of Nigeria, one has not yet seen a governor that has been brave enough to cancel the issue of indigeneship and yet, beautifully protect the interest of the indigenes in a way that he feels safe. Everywhere in Nigeria we hear the wish of a Nigerian being able to reside anywhere in Nigeria and competing favourably with the Nigerians already settled there; we feel such a wish is utopian.Talban Minna broke the myth by championing the wish, thus placing Niger State on a platter of gold.Governorship elections are more crucial to the corporate existence of Nigeria as a united Nigeria.As it were, the governors in their selective leadership, succeed to bind the separate entities that form Nigeria.The president does not come down from Abuja to cause feud, does not come down to argue about ownership of so and so plot, or determine which students will pay what amount of fees on the ground of being indigenes or non-indigenes. It is the duty of a governor.The Talban Minna, as Governor of Niger State,has successfully integrated a sense of corporate existence into the various tribes of Nigeria, banishing any feeling in them that they have a place other than Niger State.On the whole, one can recall that the contract system for non-indigenes serving in the Niger State civil service has been abolished; they now enjoy a permanent system as proper indigenes.He also employs non-indigenes as SAs and SSAs. He created a unit for inter-cultural integration, headed by an Igbo man.This has served as a platform for cultural dialogue and cross-cultural engagements for the general wellbeing of the state. Also, WAEC and NECO fees are paid to all students regardless of background. So also is the free education system. If we go down memory lane, David Mark took the same measures (that of eradicating non- indigeneship) and indigenes inclusive were happy. That was 1983/84. He also introduced 10 years as a ceiling point whereby non-indigenes became indigenes.The measures undertaken by David Mark and Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu have helped overtime to secure maximum peace in Minna, coupled with the strong presence of Gen.Ibrahim Babangida, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Gen.Wushishi as stabilizers of the polity. So, apart from the absolute peace that reigns in Niger State, non-indigenes have very strong reasons to vote for Talban Minna, Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu come April 26, 2011, for continuity of peace, positive developments and more agenda transformation.Richards sent this piece in from Minna.
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