‎In the driving seat, Tambuwal shows traffic offender the light in Sokoto

By Imam Imam

If your idea of a first day at work is one of a chief executive of a state attending to files and ruminating through hand-over notes of your predecessor, then a lesson from Sokoto will change that impression.

Sworn in‎ just last Friday, Sokoto state governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, surprised people of Sokoto metropolis when he stopped an unruly driver from breaking traffic laws at a popular roundabout in the city.

Driving himself after office hours, Tambuwal was stopped by the traffic light at the popular UDUTH roundabout in Gawun Nama area of Sokoto. However, from nowhere, a middle-aged driving a Mercedes E350 model jumped the gathering queue and attempted to bypass other road users.

Seeing that the action of the man may likely ‎cause accident, Tambuwal drove out of the queue and stopped the offending driver.

The Governor, who was until last week the ‎Speaker of the House of Representatives, then asked the driver to reverse his vehicle and return to his position in the queue. He also admonished the young man to be disciplined and obey traffic rules at all times.

Impressed by what they saw, other road users commended Governor Tambuwal for setting example to other road users.

“We have some of the most indiscipline road users in the country, so it was refreshing seeing the governor ‎apprehending one bad driver on the road. I hope the message will be passed across that a new Sheriff is in town,” said Sule Yabo, a civil servant.

Musa Akilu, an okada rider, said he hopes sanity will be brought back to the roads in Sokoto. “Traffic lights were installed to bring sanity but some people deliberately want to disobey the rules. I hope that attitude is stopped.”

Imam is Tambuwal’s spokesman