Bello Mukhtar
As it were, the one time boot kicker of the Minister of Education and a host of people whom the Minister, Mallam Adamu Adamu holds in high esteem, including myself. Dr. Bappah Abdullahi Bichi would stride into the Minister’s residence before the Ministerial appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari. He would sit with us and join in discussions on a variety of issues including politics, governance and a lot of other subject matters
Dr. Bichi was a typical sycophant who would praise the Minister and President Buhari till we began to yawn with boredom. I engaged him in a lot of heated discussions regarding the new administration of President Buhari to the point that the Minister once told me, “Bello, do you not know we have people who actually support every single action the President took”? I became aware Bappah Bichi was one of such people. His script worked like magic.
The Education Minister and even myself were firmly of the opinion that Bichi was a Nigerian to the core. He was a member of the transition committee. Upon the conclusion of the transition exercise, a friend of the Minister suggested he appointed this disciplined and dedicated university lecturer as his Adviser on Technical Matters. However, Dr. Bappah was not satisfied, he continued his pilgrimage to the Minister’s residence in his dilapidated Nissan Saloon car which belongs to the university he was lecturing.
Again, the same friends of the Minister asked the Minister to appoint him as the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Institutions Trust Funds. An office the Minister told me he got 26 letters from state governors lobbying for the seat to their various states knowing the importance of the office. Against all odds, Mallam Adamu Adamu made him the TETFund ES and at the same time, to show his greed, Bichi locked the office of Adviser (Technical) at the Ministry and left, leaving the office without a new occupant. Before you know it, Dr. Bichi began by showing disrespect to members of staff of the institution to the point that his arrogance made him commandeer one of the elevators as his’ alone.
Staff of the Fund began to reminisce on their former boss, Professor Sulaiman Bogoro. An extremely humble personality who assisted his staff in carrying files whenever he saw a staff clutching bundles of files. Bogoro was always full of life and smile. He was a very charismatic leader and was loved by every single staff of the organisation. A lot of TETFund staff were shedding tears as it was announced that Professor Bogoro was replaced with an unknown, lame duck and extremely arrogant and unexposed lecturer from the Bayern University, Kano.
No sooner had Bichi taken over, he began to undo a lot of very important programmes of the organisation even with the disapproval of the Minister. Bappah began to nail his coffin when the Minister heard what Dr. Bichi was engaged in during a meeting between the Minister and university Vice Chancellors who lamented to the awe and shock of the Minister. Adamu Adamu asked what were they beating around the bush for? And demanded they told him. A certain VC from a southern university garnered the courage to tell the Minister, “sir; we are finding it hard to remit the 25% of our allocations as we were ordered by the ES.” The Minister was livid with rage and asked what 25%? The Minster was shocked literally, when he was informed the ES asked them to remit the amount for “stakeholders” and “the Minister’s family”!
The Minister told them there and then that he never gave any approvals as such. That was the beginning of his woes at TETFund. Then Bappah Bichi began to nurse a gubernatorial ambition. A lot of people are still of the belief that Bichi had a hand in the Gqnduje Videos (though it is not proved as accurate yet) but, he began to travel to Kano; (his home state) and started sponsoring radio programmes where hired hands would go on air and spew all sorts of campaign jargon thinking he would appeal to President Buhari.
Bichi began a campaign programme so shamelessly with public funds dubbed “One To Tell Ten”! He was cautioned by the Minister to desist from such misadventure but his words fell on dumb ears of Bichi because he had infiltrated the so called “cabal”.
Bichi, equipped with his connections with certain people in high places, began to pay courtesy calls to the ICPC and EFCC. A trick he thought would guarantee his continued pilfering of resources for his personal gain.
Bappah was hated by every single member of staff at TETFund to the point that when the gentleman; Professor Bogoro was announced as the new ES, videos of jubilations by staff of the organisation almost made Bogoro shed tears as he was welcome back to receive the hand over notes by the once all powerful, arrogant and disrespectful Bichi.
I hope the EFCC picks him soon so that he may answer and vomit back whatever he siphoned for his political contraption which will never bring him anywhere near the Kano Government House. While I congratulate Professor Bogoro, I say good riddance to bad rubbish to Dr Bappah Abdullahi Bichi. As the saying goes, “be nice to the people you meet on your way up as they are the same people you’ll meet on your way down/“ Of all people, Bichi will never forget this adage!
