The unfolding battle of wits in Kano over who controls political power in the state is taking a deeper crisis dimension. Andrew Oota takes a look at the unfolding events.
To most keen watchers of political events in Nigeria, particularly the tendency of politicians to continue to dictate the tune even after leaving office and the resistance, in some cases, by their successors to be allowed to run their own show as drivers and captains of ships of leadership, the seeming cold war between the immediate past governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his successor, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is taking a deeper crisis dimension by the day. The denials that follow merely signal the commencement of the first series of the political drama unfolding in the ancient city of Kano.
The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Kano State, Alhaji Umar Haruna Doguwa put forward an indication that the former Kano State governor would risk party sanctions for alleged indiscipline and disrespect to the incumbent governor of the state, during condolence visit, where the Senator purred and hurled insults and abusive words on the incumbent governor.
For the APC state chairman, the actions and unruly behaviour of Kwankwaso’s supporters without being reprimanded or an apology from the Federal lawmaker, was total disregard for constituted authority and deliberate attempt to ridicule the governor in his (Ganduje) home; but more worrisome for the APC chairman and the entire party structure in the state was the wrong timing of the verbal missiles that were fired at the governor at a time he was mourning his late mother, who had passed on to the great beyond.
An elated and high spirited Doguwa, in a nicely written statement, reminded the former governor that indeed, there was a change of baton in both leadership of the party and the entire state and accused him of sponsoring political thugs to undermine the authority of Ganduje describing such action as unacceptable and in violation of the constitution of the party and, contrary to all known leadership rules.
While some watchers still trying to make sense of the Kano State chapter of the APC chairman’s hard stance and whether there were other under-currents, many believe that the real drummers of this naked dance were not far from the scene.
To some, particularly those close to both Kwankwaso and Ganduje, who have spoken on condition of anonymity, the stage was set for demystification of former Governor Kwankwaso’s dictatorial tendencies and penchant for undermining any constituted authority in the state, provided it is not under his direct control and leadership.
This school of thought was categorical that Kwankwaso’s tendency to run the state on behalf of the governor through undue interferences and in some cases, by casting aspersions as well as questioning the capacity of Ganduje to run Kano State, were unbecoming and should be reduced to size.
Whether the assertions of this school of thought were flat and do not comport with the facts, the initial position of the Kano state chapter of APC as anchored by the Chairman Doguwa signaled the commencement of the first series of the political drama in Kano.
While Nigerians were still pondering over that particular move to suspend Kwankwaso or stay put, place some disciplinary sanctions against him, the part two of the Kano state political drama series hit the Nigerian airwaves when the same state chairman, Doguwa proved pundits right by his 360-degrees turn.
In this second part, it was a denial that he was under duress to indict the former governor, but suffice it to say that the second position of Doguwa is akin to that of former governor of Anambra State and current minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who was believed to have resigned his position as Anambra State governor under duress.
Although Doguwa did not show any signs of a man who called for Kwnkwaso’s head in his press conference, he argued thus, “The previous press statement read and signed by me was not written by my humble self, neither did I participate in the drafting, but rather, I was coerced to sign under duress and under a close marking by the state apparatus.”
He continued, “What makes it more curious for me to recant this is the fact that the Elders Committee is not part of the party executive; hence, procedurally, we cannot issue a joint statement. I, therefore, consider this as an oversight on the part of the party to issue such statement.
“The state government has confused purely social event with politics. The visit by the former governor, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, to condole his former deputy, who is now the governor of our great state, has been politicised out of proportion. We have observed this with concern that this action is capable of pitching our members against one another. In order to forestall unpleasant consequences on the party and its teeming supporters, I find it necessary to profusely apologise for the statement earlier issued and hereby withdraw that statement. The said press statement, which I hereby disassociate from, is indeed a product of warped and mischievous elements, whose stance and antics are causing confusion and disunity amidst the rank and file of our great party and the administration of Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje,” he declared.
This new position of Alhaji Doguwa, which evidently became the second part of the series did not go unchallenged when the state secretary of the party Abbas Sani, insisted that the party stands by its earlier position as contained in the first part of the series, which advocates punitive measures on the former governor for insubordination and deliberately sponsoring thugs to embarrass their governor.
Describing Doguwa’s comments as surprising, the state scribe of the APC for Kano said, “We want to state categorically that the chairman made the statement in his own selfish interest and that of his mentor. We, therefore, re-affirm the earlier statement that we dissociate ourselves from what the former governor and a serving Senator representing Kano Central, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso did in recruiting hoodlums to disrupt the existing peace, harmony of the party and propagating his Presidential ambition.
“We therefore call the attention of all APC members that we are resolute in abiding by the party’s constitution to maintain discipline in the running of the affairs of the party. Hence, the committee set up by the party will continue with its investigation and any person found guilty will be dealt with in accordance with party’s constitution,” said Abbas.
The statement by the state secretary of the APC did not only support the need to unleash sanctions on the former governor, it also introduced another twist, which is to the effect that the Senator would take to patronising hoodlums to actualise his Presidential ambition which is even more damming than any impending sanctions.
The surprise of many remains the possibility of one with a presidential ambition seeking to actualise such tall dream by first undermining and humiliating his state governor through the use of hoodlums and thugs. This would certainly be a wrong approach and political strategy, if the position of the APC scribe in Kano State is anything to hold onto.
This would not be the end of the series. Ganduje himself launched the third part of the political drama in Kano State when he told reporters in Abuja barely 48 hours later, that he has a very good rapport with Kwankwaso.
According to Ganduje, “I have a good rapport with the former governor, we met 30 years ago and it wasn’t only in government that we met. We met outside the corridors of power. I was his deputy for eight years. There are two things that are really important, first, know the role of sycophants from his side and my side that will like to benefit if we have problems, but we have been talking.
“Secondly, no two individuals are the same, even identical twins have differences in their emotions, philosophy and the way they relate with others.
“This is a natural thing. The style may not be the same but the objective may be the same and to some, a change of style may be a challenge, not agreeing with the former system. But that is not to say we are at loggerheads. I assure you we are together, we are still building what we had before.
“If I criticise him, that means I am criticizing myself but that doesn’t mean that if I fine-tune what we started, that doesn’t mean the other man was wrong. If I consolidate that doesn’t mean the other man is wrong. The economy has changed, the cost of petrol has dropped and the income to the state has dropped drastically. Do you think there would be business as usual?
“When circumstances change, definitely there must be a change in the management of public affairs. When we were in government together, we had a lot of money and we started a lot of mega projects that couldn’t be completed. We had a lot of debt but having a debt is not a crime because whatever we expended is in public interest and it is my responsibility to complete all the abandoned projects.
“There are some projects abandoned during the administration before Kwankwaso. When I came in, there were mega-hospitals abandoned for over ten years and now we have started to ensure completion of those projects”.
Suffice it to say that the third series of the unfolding political drama in Kano launched by the governor of the state, Ganduje provides more insight into what to expect.
To some people, the governor’s allusion that the crisis in the state was fuelled by sycophants on both sides who want to benefit from the fallout of the crisis was simply political because, in most political circles, those regarded as sycophants are actually the most important bloc around officeholders.
And the question would be that, could the Kano State governor truly and in good conscience, describe those who constituted a panel to investigate allegations of sponsoring hoodlums and thugs to humiliate him by his former boss, as sycophants, or, those who actually were accused of carrying out the action, as sycophants.
But in whichever manner the governor might want to dodge the issues, his comments regarding the fact that two individuals have different emotions, philosophy and the fact that even in governance, there are bound to be different styles and change of style might simply be a challenge to others are the facts and realities that Kwankwaso and his followers are still finding difficult to come to terms with.
Ganduje also stated that the present economy is harsh and there should not be business as usual, hence the need to focus on abandoned projects from 10 years ago as well as mega-projects they started but could not complete, even though there was a lot of money at their disposal. This is a clear indication that there might be some misplaced priorities in the past, otherwise, why the plenty money as admitted by the governor, yet mega projects of ten years ago and in the last four years were not completed, yet the state was indebted.
Changing the style of governance in Kano would mean paying more attention to issues that would benefit the entire state, given the dwindling fortunes of the country, in clear terms, the state governor cannot, and should not continue in such recklessness of the past. And understandably, this is one area the former governor and his followers apparently, would, again, have difficulties to understand. Therefore, on both sides, the proponents and foot soldiers cannot be said to be mere sycophants.
While decent minds were still dissecting the underlining issues raised in the governor’s speech, there was a fourth series of the Kano political drama, which took the matter a step further as the Governor’s special adviser on Print Media, Alhaji Bala Salihu Dawakin Kudu left no one in doubt about the possible end of the unfolding series when he vowed that Kwankwaso’s structure under the “Kwankwasiyya Amana” would be dismantled and replaced with what he called, “Gandujiyya Akida”, which would mark the end of an era.
For Kudu, this would pave way for the governor to have firm control of the state and be the leader of the APC in the state and accused the former governor of “undue interference” in the affairs of the state.
According to him, “Governor Ganduje and his political followers have decided to be on their own. Enough is enough. There is no way you can have two captains in a ship without the ship sinking. As far as we are concerned, soon, you will not hear anything about Kwnkwasiyya in Kano.
“Even the red cap will go with it. We are definitely going to dump it because it has no political benefit, as that era is gone. We are now talking about the Gandujiyya Akida idealogy, which we are entrenching.”
The position of the aide to the governor, if not for any other thing, revealed the handicap of the new regime in Kano State is having in asserting itself and taking control of affairs, following interference by the former governor and he let the cat out of the bag when he stated, “The main problem is that Kwankwaso wants to be totally in charge. He does not want to come to terms with realities on ground that he is now a Senator and not the governor of Kano state, he wants to be dictating for Governor Ganduje from Abuja and this is unacceptable.”
This paved way for an immediate action, which did not exactly mark the commencement of part five, but an indication of more that would come when members of the Kano State House of Assembly paid a solidarity visit to the mourning governor where they used the opportunity to pledge their loyalty to the emerging ‘Gandujiyya Akida’ without the usual red caps as symbol of the ‘Kwankwasiyya Amana’.
The visit, without the symbolic caps, which was led by the Speaker of the State Assembly, Honourable Kabiru Rurum, revealed that the promoters of the emerging group are still cracking their heads over what would be the symbol of the ‘Gandujiyya Akida’, which would be unveiled soon.
While the part five of the political drama in Kano State is still expected, it is important to note that the tendencies for Nigerian political leaders to dictate the state of affairs after leaving office is increasingly worrisome and create a stumbling block for new administrations, particularly governance at the state levels.
For Kano State, there is already a new thinking and it is expected that other states and institutions would follow suite for the good of the state.
-Leadership