Drums, drinks in Bauchi, Abuja As governor carts home president’s daughter

From left, the bride, Nafisat;
the groom, Governor Yuguda;
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State
and Governor Usman Dakingari of Kebbi State;
during the wedding reception. The governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, recently married his last wife, Nafisat, daughter of President Umaru Yar’Adua. In this piece, Ishola Michael captures the glamour that attended the wedding and gives an insight into the groom’s family life.

On Saturday, January 24, history was made in the ancient city of Katsina as all roads led to the city to witness the wedding fatiha of the Governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, and the third daughter of President Umaru Yar’Adua as his fourth wife. This was in line with the teachings of his religion, Islam, which allows any man who has the capabilities to marry up to four wives.

The crowd was unprecedented, just as attendance by the who-is-who in the country was unequalled. Former presidents, led by the immediate past president, Olusegun Obasanjo and the only military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, all serving state governors, former governors, top politicians, top civil servants, captains of industry led by Aliko Dangote, members of the diplomatic corps, traditional and religious leaders and even the ordinary Nigerian all turned out to witness the "wedding of the century,'' as someone enthusiastically described it.

Although it was scheduled for 2.00 p.m. due to what was described as ‘unforeseen’ circumstances, the wedding fatiha was delayed to 3.30 p.m. and the people waited until the Chief Imam of Katsina Central Mosque, Muhammadu Lawan, led other Imams, and performed the wedding fatiha. After the dowry of two bulls and N50,000 had been announced, Nafisat was received by the Emir of Ningi, Yunusa Mohammed Danyaya, on behalf of the Yuguda family.

Before the wedding fatiha, the romance between Governor Yuguda and his new wife, who is in her 20s, had been a subject of intense rumour for over a year. When the news first broke out, the fact that the governor already had three wives made citizens residing in the state to receive the news with mixed reactions. But all this has now been laid to rest, as Nafisat gladly took the number four position in the home.

While speaking to newsmen immediately after the wedding, a visibly elated Yuguda declared that “I am now fulfilled because I have married the woman after my heart and I thank the Yar’adua family for giving their daughter to me in marriage. This is a demonstration of their confidence and trust in me, and by the grace of Allah, I will not betray the trust and confidence they have reposed in me.”

Although he did not disclose how he and his new wife met, he said their romance and love started about two years ago, and that since then, they had been in constant touch. He said it soon became glaring to both of them that their relationship was heading for a safe landing in marriage, and so he was glad that finally, the day had come and gone.

A close associate of the governor, Abubakar Kari, who said he had witnessed all that happened between the two love birds, congratulated them and wished them well as they continued to live as husband and wife, adding that from what he knew about the new bride, the marriage would work out well and produce fruitful results.


Nafisat Yuguda feeding her husband during
their traditional wedding, while
Mrs. Maryam Babangida watches. From Katsina, the wedding train moved to Abuja, where a grand dinner was organised by the bride's father, President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, to honour the couple. At the occasion, the new couple were advised to try as much as possible to tolerate each other because that is what marriage is all about if it must succeed. The occasion was well attended by the who-is-who in the country, including a number of foreign friends and well-wishers.

And in Bauchi, the wedding reception was graced by a grand walimat’ a purely Islamic way of celebrating such occasion. The walimat was led by almost all the known Islamic clerics within and outside Bauchi. They prayed Allah to bless the marriage in whatever good way He wanted, just as the occasion was also used to call on influential personalities to stop lavishing money on frivolities after their wedding and to always seek the face of Allah instead.

Governor Yuguda has Aisha, a woman from his native Yuguda village, a mother of seven children and a ravishing beauty as his first wife and the state’s First Lady. Aisha runs an NGO that tackles children's issues and though with little education, she is believed to be a well organised, meticulous woman, possessing a keen sense of justice. Aisha got married to the governor at an early age and is believed to be closely bonded with the governor.

The governor's second wife is Abiodun Hauwa, a Yoruba from Abeokuta, Ogun State. Beautiful, amiable, generous and hospitable, the mother of five is very popular with the people of the state because of her passion for the physically challenged and other less privileged people, which, in fact, gave her the traditional title of Gimbiya Liman Katagum, the leading governor’s wife in the state, in appreciation of her good works. She is deeply involved in running her own NGO called ‘Challenge Your Disability Initiative’ (CYDI).

The governor's third wife is Maryam. She is from the famous A.D Rufa’i dynasty of Misau Emirate, a lawyer and woman activist who runs an NGO called A. D Rufa’i Foundation, named after her father, the late Senator A.D Rufa’i. She is a former Commissioner for Women Affairs in Bauchi State, and is presently a director in the Federal Civil Service. She is an astonishing beauty, with two children by the governor, and is, unlike her co-wives, based in Abuja.

Although it has yet to be established where the new wife will live, there are speculations that she would likely stay in Abuja before moving to Bauchi. With respect to the various NGOs run by the family, the Bauchi State first family told critics that they separate public funds from personal funds and maintained that the wives source money to run their different NGOs. Observers are awaiting what NGO Nafisat will come up with in order to support her husband and further promote the good name of the Yuguda family.

Between OGD and war mongers

Gov. Gbenga DanielThere is no doubt that Otunba Gbenga Daniel is critical to the battle for the control of the South west in 2011. It is precisely for this reason that the media hype that has attended the activities of the opposition in Ogun State must be correctly situated. For this reason, errant politicians from Ogun State are accorded red-carpet treatment by entrenched interests whose penchant for manipulating the press has become overbearing, if not undemocratic. Politicians who are out of tunes with reality in Ogun State are readily courted by interests with morbid fear for OGD’s political machinery. Simply put, the calculation is to exploit the situation in Ogun State by opening doors to political renegades with a view to expanding and deepening the intensity of opposition in the Gateway State.

This is precisely why Hon. Tokunbo Oshin, a former deputy Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, has been making so much fuss in the media over what is purely a matter of due process. The pertinent question which the ‘sympathetic’ media failed to ask Hon. Oshin is whether his primary assignment and duties in Ogun State are at the House of Assembly in Abeokuta or his petrol station in Ijebu Ode? We are not saying the lawmaker could not own or operate a petrol station but we are embarrassed by his indecorous mannerism which suggests that our ‘honourable’ is only concerned with his personal business. As if the immodesty is not enough, the honourable would not allow justice done even after he has taken legal steps to challenge perceived victimization by the governor. Having gone to court to challenge the activities of an agency which derives legitimacy from the law which he assisted in enacting, it is necessary to ask while the ‘victimized’ lawmaker would not settle down to business as a parliamentarian rather than crying for help in the media.

Ordinarily, it should be curious for a supposed honourable member of parliament to embark on media war against his own government. But what is clear, however, is that Oshin is still licking the wounds of his unsuccessful bid to retain the post of Deputy Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly 18 months after the process was concluded. The bad loser that he is, Oshin would now want the whole world to believe that Daniel is out to cripple him economically and to further compound his political woes. But how rational and true is this allegation?

By holding the governor responsible for the consequences of his breach of the law of Ogun State regarding his personal business, the former Deputy Speaker has unduly taken the electorate in Ogun State for granted. Basking in the euphoria of the support o f a ‘sympathetic machine’ in Lagos whose penchant for crying more than the bereaved has become anaemic, the lawmaker appears not to have given careful consideration to possible backlashes of his thoughtless vituperations against the government and people of Ogun State . Having thrown caution to the winds, Oshin now bears the unenviable burden of ethical dilemma of balancing shameful economic pursuit with political obligation. In the process, Oshin diminishes his political integrity as a representative of the people and might sooner than later expire as a political liability to his constituency.

It is indeed laughable that the disgruntled honourable could be appealing to banal sentiments by linking the governor with his personal business affair. Our honourable would make the whole world believe that the Governor instigated his problem with a duly constituted agency of government in Ogun State. In the warped reasoning of the former Deputy Speaker, Daniel could easily be blackmailed into submission and into securing selective treatment, even if that results into flagrantly violation of the laws of Ogun State. As a super citizen of Ogun State, Oshin believes the governor ought to usurp the authority of the Urban and Regional Planning Board (URPB) for political appeasement. By this uncharitable accusation, we now know what the likes of Oshin would do with government position if entrusted with power in Ogun State.

Politicians in the callibre of Tokunbo Oshin ought to know that the police and other security agencies are the appropriate channel for lodging complaints of willful threats to life, rather than the media in the first instance. But why should Oshin be the prime target of attack by the governor and not the beneficiaries of the ‘revolution’ in the House of Assembly and other members of the group? The accusation by Hon. Oshin against the Commissioner for Youth and Sports is rather preposterous. Why didn’t the honourable make an issue of the incident when it occurred in 2003? Why wait till six years after to accuse Governor Daniel of totalitarianism? Hon. Oshin, who, as Deputy Speaker, was weak and bereft of bite in 2003 is now a firebrand and no-nonsense freedom fighter after losing the bid to retain the position of Deputy Speaker. Who else is to be blamed for failure to realize political ambition apart from Governor Daniel? Hon. Oshin did not see the need to lead a revolution in the House when he was the Deputy Speaker.

Followers of recent happenings in Ogun State would not find it strange that the National Award conferred on former Governor Olusegun Osoba has been exploited for cheap political points against Governor Daniel. It is laughable that an unnamed aide of Chief Osoba would display so much impudence by claiming that the former Governor had refused to visit his home town for two years for none other reason than real or imagined fear of Gov. Daniel. We are sure Chief Osoba would be embarrassed by the reckless antics of an aide who only succeeded in denigrating the famous Akinrogun of Egba as a war-weary generalissimo who abandoned his home and his people for fear of a much-maligned Governor Daniel.

Raji is the Special Adviser to the Ogun State Governor on Youth and Sports Development