Why I’ll not want to be addressed as “His Excellency” — Katsina Governor-elect

The Katsina State governor-elect, Dikko Radda, has said he would not want to be addressed as “His Excellency” after his inauguration as governor on 29 May.

He said he would rather be addressed simply as “Mr Governor” or “Mallam Dikko Radda” and not “His Excellency” until after he leaves power.

Mr Radda, who was elected governor on 18 March, stated this on Saturday during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja.

He was elected governor on 18 March on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He polled 859,892 votes to defeat Yakubu Lado of the PDP, who got 486,620 votes.

“I don’t like the word Excellency because one can only be called an Excellency after the administration has ended. At that time people will determine whether I am Excellent or not. So I think it’s better for people to call me Mr Governor than to call me His Excellency. I will prefer that and that will not put my head somewhere.

“I want to be as normal as anybody because I don’t want that thing (Excellency) to get into my head. That is why I don’t want the word Excellency attached to my name now but I will prefer if people can call me Mr Governor or my name Mallam Dikko Radda,” he said.

Mr Radda joins other governors that opted not to use His Excellency as prefix.

In 2019, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State also dropped the prefix after he became governor.

A former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, who was in power between 2010 and 2018, used “Ogbeni” while incumbent Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, often used “Arakunrin” , a Yoruba word for Mister.

Security is priority
Speaking on his agenda for the state, Mr Radda said security will be the top priority of his administration. He noted that no development can take place without security.

“Our focus area is insecurity. We Want to tackle the issue of security in Katsina State. This is our major area of concern,” he said.

Katsina State is one of the states most affected by banditry in the country. Over the past couple of years, bandits operating in the area have killed several and even engaged in mass adoption for ransom.

PREMIUM TIMES in an editorial scored the current administration low in the fight against banditry in North-west, especially in Katsina State.

READ ALSO: El-Rufai speaks on APC victory in Kaduna

The former Chief Executive Officer of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), said he will work with state house of assembly to build a similar agency will SMEDAN to address unemployment in the state.

He said the agency will be domiciled in the office of the governor.

“I want to also establish an agency like SMEDAN which will be under the office of the governor so that I can handle it seriously and ensure that it is effective down to the people. And then we also want to look at the internally generated revenue.

“We don’t want a situation whereby the state will continue to rely on the federal allocation for its activities. We also want to look at the internally generated revenue (IGR) and land reforms.

“We want to review our land and also review our master plan so that we can have a state of our dream, a capital of our dream, and this is the policy direction of our administration,” Mr Radda said.

On the controversial withdrawal of the corruption case against former Governor Ibrahim Shema ahead of the election, he said he was not aware of the details.

“I am not in a position to answer that question because I was not in government (and) I am not in government. I will be in government by May 29, I don’t know the details of that. I have read it on the pages of the newspaper. I am not a party to it,” he said.

Last month, the Katsina State government withdrew the N11 billion corruption case against Mr Shema. There are indications the decision to withdraw the case against Mr Shema is part of a political arrangement in the state.

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