The Nation Newspaper

Category: Hardball

  • Where is Baba Adebanjo?

    Where is Baba Adebanjo?

    Afenifere, now back under its real leader, Baba Reuben Fasoranti, just issued a statement: Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo should apologize for his Iseyin sacrilege, all should bear with the Tinubu government while it tries to sort out the tough economy, while President Tinubu himself should work harder to banish insecurity.

    Fair and balanced call, all through.  One “soloist” — Gen. Obasanjo got an umpteenth push to make right his Iseyin taboo.  But where is the other, Baba Adebanjo, who also loves to go solo (to borrow that musical imagery) — passing his personal whims off as Afenifere and “Yoruba” diktats?

    Baba Adebanjo as acting Afenifere leader, you will recall, was all over himself before the 2023 presidential election, endorsing Peter Obi of the Labour Party, rail-roading the Afenifere hierarchy to his Isanya-Igbo, near Ijebu-Ode country home, and passing near-decrees that his whim was the “Yoruba” love for Obi.

    Recall too that Afenifere, under Baba Fasoranti, had blessed Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, then the APC presidential candidate, and urged him to go, in Olodumare’s name, and win the election; but come back to run a government every Nigerian would be proud of.

    Well, all these might be “current history” that not a few could have forgotten, given the daily rush of events in contemporary Nigeria.  Yet, in Afenifere, the chicken would appear to have come home to roast for Baba Adebanjo.

    First, Afenifere under Baba Fasoranti, held a meeting in Akure, decrying how Baba Adebanjo shredded the Afenifere ethos of collective decision-making; and the old man’s sundry disruptive tendencies.  Baba Fasoranti himself called on hierarchs and stalwarts to move fast to return  Afenifere to its old and cherished consensus, away from a loner’s grumpy imposition — the strange direction Baba Adebanjo was leading the body, during his short but bumpy tenure as acting leader.

    Then, the quietest but most devastating of Afenifere’s dire symbolisms: the body’s meeting has quietly returned to its true home: the Akure residence of its leader, away from the temporary sortie into Baba Adebanjo’s Isanya-Igbo, Ijebu-Ode home!

    Read Also: Obasanjo should apologise to monarchs, says Afenifere

    Grim, correlative fact?   Or just mere coincidence?  No one knows but since these latest Afenifere moves, Baba Adebanjo has lapsed into unusual quiet, from his trademark media excitability, oozing from a “Yoruba” mandate he never had.

    Well, not the best of times for two Yoruba narcissists: one conservative, the other Awoist and progressive.

    As Baba Adebanjo was reeling from Afenifere’s icy treatment, Gen. Obasanjo blundered into his Iseyin mischief, an old-age infamy that will task the rest of his days.

    Again, the Yoruba are showing that hubris could be very costly: no one is great enough to piss on his culture (the vulgarity of “piss” is well intended, to match Obasanjo’s sacrilege).  Neither can anyone haul himself over and above the body that gave him a platform, no matter how grandly deluded.

    Teachable but icy lessons for Gen. Obasanjo and Baba Adebanjo.  Both should live with creeping isolation!

  •  King of kings in Akwa Ibom

     King of kings in Akwa Ibom

    For those who say monarchy is dead because we practise democracy, they should look to Akwa Ibom State, where the contest is not who becomes king but who becomes king of kings. Or shall we say, chief of chiefs.

    The irony is that the chiefs of the ethnic groups of the state, including the Ibibio, Anang and Oron, agreed to an amended law that seeks to place the monarchy in the state on the same pedestal as the major ones in the country, like the Ooni of Ife, Obi of Onitsha, the Olu of Warri, the Sultan of Sokoto or the Etsu Nupe. These are what we call the first-class chiefs in the country.

    Equality of chiefs has deprived the state of a king of such a status. So, the kings of the groups sat together and agreed to a bill that would present the Oku Ibom Ibibio as the first in the state. He actually would be first among equals. It was presented to the governor and has gone through the House of Assembly to become law. Suddenly, there was uproar, especially from some people of Anang, arguing that it was unfair.

    That inspired the stylized indignation of the governor of the State, Umo Eno, and he challenged the chiefs. It was against the background of the 36th anniversary of the state and it was at the church. For emphasis, the most prominent Anang, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, was seated.

    Governor Eno charged those accusing him of imposing the bill as unfair. He fell short of using a word a fire-and-brimstone pastor would deploy. Hear him: “The law that has just been passed by the House of Assembly is not my law. The paramount rulers of this state sat together. I was there in that meeting. I didn’t say anything. They agreed on what that law is.”

    Governor Eno, dignified in his blue suit, addressed Akpabio, invoking the sanctity of the altar on which he stood. 

    Read Also: Gunmen kill three in Kwara community, injure others

    “If any paramount ruler that was there that day … let the paramount ruler say he uttered a voice. The only paramount ruler that raised a voice and said something to add was the paramount ruler of Itu.” 

    He reported that no other ruler of Ibibio, Anang or Oron said anything. He called them “our fathers,” and explained it had nothing to do with favoritism and he had no skin in the fight. 

    Speaking like a pastor, he said he was not interested in the kingdom of this earth, just as Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Governor Eno said his hope was in the kingdom of God.

    In a democracy, we always think that everything is about equality. But even monarchs by definition are feudalists. That, by definition, obviates equality. 

    But as we do not have equality in society, so also all monarchs are not created equal. Hence, we have grade one chiefs in the land since the creation of the House of Chiefs in the Bourdillon Constitution at the turn of the twentieth century and first days of colonialism.

    With the Ibibio as by far the biggest tribe of the state, the king becomes by their common consent the king of kings. Or the language of Westminster democracy where prime ministers are first ministers, the Ibibio monarch becomes first king. 

    But he has no powers except those conferred by law that he cannot pass.

    Governor Eno did not ask like a familiar general turned former president who bullied kings in Yorubaland as though they were corporals in a barracks. Governor Eno, who grew up in a barracks, explained that he learned a culture of absorbing everyone as equal. No discriminating tenor for his tenure, he said, unlike the earthy general who thrashes about for respect.

  • Aketi, examine yourself!

    Aketi, examine yourself!

    How many deputy governors will Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, governor of Ondo State, have in an eight-year tenure?  Three?  Four?  Or even five?

    The other time, it was Agboola Ajayi, impeached for “disloyalty” by the Ondo legislature, at the behest of Aketi.

    Now, it’s Lucky Adedatiwa’s turn to face the legislative noose, the equivalent of the political hangman.  Poor chap!  He’s just realizing the world is not quite his own (as his name implies in Yoruba) especially if, for whatever reasons, he falls out with Aketi! 

    But if Ajayi was bad, Ayedatiwa is now useless, what’s the assurance that whoever follows Ayedatiwa — and his impeachment would appear all but sure — wouldn’t become the fresh devil in six months, whose head must be chopped off by the heady political executioners of the Ondo State House of Assembly?

    The Ayedatiwa saga comes with shocking lack of introspection, without prejudice to the facts and figures of his alleged “grave misconduct”.  

    With Akeredolu’s illness — thank God, he’s on the rebound now — the pains in the Ondo executive council sans their ill governor, and the anxiety of the Ondo people all through that sad chapter, is impeachment the next menu to serve that long-suffering people?

    Read Also: Why Tinubu should intervene in Akeredolu/Ayedatiwa rift

    Look at the Ondo-Edo parallel.  No sooner did Aketi come back from his medical tour than he disbanded the deputy governor’s media team — just as Godwin Obaseki did against his embattled deputy, Philip Shaibu.

    Then, before you called “Ake …”, not to talk of “ti …”, the governor — or in any case, his rabid supporters — are already tightening the impeachment noose!  Well, Edo’s Shaibu went to court to fend that off.  But it isn’t certain it still wouldn’t happen!  Poor Ayedatiwa just followed suit!

    Now, both Obaseki and Shaibu frenetically dance naked in public.  Is that the formula Ondo wants to replicate, after all the psychological trauma of Akeredolu’s health crisis?

    And all because of what: the two deputies’ insistence on pushing their democratic rights to contest and succeed their governors, after their terms as deputies?

    Now, Hardball has absolutely no sympathies for Edo’s Shaibu.  He and Obaseki, mutual opportunists, sure had it coming.  Nor would it, for that matter, for Ayedatiwa, if his so-called “disloyalty” to Aketi, at the governor’s most vulnerable during his health saga, is proven.  

    Proven — because intrigue-powered court politics is often 95% farce and 5% facts!  Hustlers always hassle and freely back-stab until they attain nefarious goals.

    But human frailties are one thing.  Respect for the law and the citizen is another.  That you’re deputy governor doesn’t reduce you to a serf of the governor.  Both first are citizens under the law, with equal rights.

    Akeredolu had better call the radicals in his camp to order.  Though they bay for blood, they are in the shadows.  Only the governor takes the can.  

    Aketi should be grateful to God for making him whole again.  His recuperation needs little negative vibes — and any impeachment “revenge” is sure a screeching one! 

    Aketi, watch yourself!

  • Like Edo, like Ondo

    Like Edo, like Ondo

    Media aides are endangered species in the event of a tiff between deputy governors and their principals. We saw that much from the fate lately of media aides of Ondo State Deputy Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, who were given the boot by Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu. The pattern replicated what happened earlier to media aides of Edo Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu in his spat with Governor Godwin Obaseki.

    Upon returning from his trip to Germany on medical leave, Governor Akeredolu, last week, summarily relieved all media aides of Aiyedatiwa of their jobs. A statement by the governor’s spokesman, Richard Olatunde, detailed Aiyedatiwa’s aides affected as Press Secretary to the Governor, Kenneth Odusola; Special Assistant to the Governor (New Media), Okunniga Oladipupo; and Special Assistant to the Governor (Photography), Abayomi Samson Adefolalu. It further said the press crew attached to the office of the deputy governor was also disbanded, and members of the crew were to report back to their respective ministry and station. “Equally, the Ministry of Information and Orientation is directed to provide adequate coverage for the activities of the deputy’s governor office henceforth,” the statement added.

    Read Also: Ogoni monarch lauds Tinubu’s clean-up plan, resumption of oil production

    Just before the hammer fell, Aiyedatiwa’s spokesman, Odusola, issued a statement in which he affirmed the deputy governor’s continuing loyalty to the governor and berated those allegedly trying to create a wedge between them. “These faceless individuals who have been hiding their identities, because what they are putting out are pure fabrications, are being sponsored by those who are threatened by the profile of the deputy governor, his relationship with his boss, and the goodwill he enjoys with the people,” Odusola’s statement said inter alia.

    In the context of an uneasy relationship between the deputy governor and his principal, the self-adulatory tone of that statement cannot but be offending to the governor. But though they were appointed on an omnibus platform of the governor and assigned to the deputy’s office, the job brief of the deputy governor’s aides is to show loyalty to their immediate boss. They could not do otherwise on the job. It is the case of the piper playing the right tune, but a tune at odds with the paymaster. Such dilemma is prone to being resolved by axing the piper.

    It was a similar situation that faced Shaibu’s media aides in Edo. The deputy governor arrived the venue of the 60th anniversary of Midwest Referendum after the governor was seated, and his aides assayed to gain entrance to give their immediate boss due coverage. That was an unpardonable breach of protocol for such an event, and they got axed accordingly. But really, they could not have done otherwise. See why they are an endangered species? 

  • 100th Day public holiday!

    100th Day public holiday!

    Sokoto State Governor Ahmed Aliyu marked his 100th day in office recently with a peculiar offering. He declared the day, Friday 8th September, a public holiday for the state’s civil servants. It was by all accounts a novel tack, because a more familiar way of commemorating the day is highlighting modest achievements of the particular administration in those early days of its tenure and, if there are specific projects undertaken within the short period, to use the day to unveil such projects.

    The culture of marking the first 100 days in office dates back to United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected to office during the Great Depression and within 100 days dispatched a series of laws to Congress to tackle the trend. On 25th July, 1933, Roosevelt gave a radio address in which he coined the term “first 100 days,” saying: “Looking back, we all wanted the opportunity of a little quiet thought to examine and assimilate in a mental picture the crowding events of the hundred days which had been devoted to the starting of the wheels of the economy.” In our clime nowadays, we commemorate this landmark by evaluating the initial strides of those elected into office as a way of gauging what their respective administration has is store for their respective constituents.

    Read Also: Tinubu mandates training of talents in digital skills

    But  Governor Aliyu apparently had other parameters for marking the day. At a special prayer in Sokoto organised by the state government as part of activities lined up for his 100th day in office, he said the day was remarkable and would remain historic for the victory and growth of democracy in the state. Aliyu used the occasion to extend an olive branch to political opponents, stating: “I have been saying and will continue to say that election is over and all political opposition should be suspended. My door is open to accept any positive criticism that will aid our administration to do well for our state. More so, I will continue to welcome everyone who in one way or the other has good intention of supporting the development of our state.” The icing was his declaring the day a public holiday for public workers.

    Really! The intention of Mr. Governor in declaring the day work-free wasn’t so clear. Was 100th day of tenure an achievement in itself, such that it had to be marked festally? Besides, the administration was just taking off and one would think it was rather time to get all hands onto deck to stabilise its assent, but the governor thought it better to call the hands off deck! Some rites of passage could get comical when the votary does not have a good grasp of its significance.

  • Edo: of purgatory and gracelessness

    Edo: of purgatory and gracelessness

    Just as well: Philip Shaibu, deputy governor of Edo State, is a Catholic.  He would therefore understand the prime Catholic tenet of the purgatory — the torture chamber in which sinful souls suffer severe soul chastening before going to heaven.  

    The difference though is that in his political hereafter, Shaibu isn’t going anywhere but political hell!  His one-day-one-trouble or one-hour-one-humiliation is stark lesson to political ingrates.

    To serve Governor Godwin Obaseki, his new-god-for-new-convenience and co-betrayer of Adams Oshiomhole, who paved Obaseki’s path to power, Shaibu betrayed a relationship and mentorship that went way back.  

    He went back to their Edo North home base to plot Oshiomhole’s “suspension” from the APC, prelude to his toppling as APC national chair.  Well, it’s morning yet in his long, long day of political purgatory!

    But Obaseki’s god too cannot win this one — though his name is Godwin — because no god endorses treachery and ingratitude.  To be fair though, Obaseki could also claim he was fighting a war of political self-preservation.  

    Still, grim actions do have dire consequences.  The Obaseki that bombs his deputy with political humiliation, simply because he can, will endure his own purgatory in due course.  It’s the immutable law of Karma.

    Read Also: Lockout: Obaseki, Shaibu exchange brickbats

    But enough of a pair that dance naked in public!  Hardball’s concern here is the oft humiliation of democracy and its sacred institutions.  It’s one sick evolution since 1999 — and before — that Nigeria can do without.

    When the chips are down, the President and the Vice President, the Governor and the Deputy Governor, often sink into disrepute that thoroughly humiliates the No. 2.

    The classic was the feuding between President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar, during their second term (2003-2007).

    The latest reincarnation, at the state level, is the Obaseki-Shuaibu imbroglio, though Muhammadu Buhari-Yemi Osinbajo somewhat erased that federal shame by showing Nigerians the honour and dignity a mutually respecting No. 1 and No. 2 could chalk up. 

    But not at the state level!  There are disturbing echoes from Ondo — coming from the gubernatorial court of Rotimi Akeredolu that just came back from a life-threatening health tour abroad.  Oyo’s Seyi Makinde unceremoniously got his deputy impeached, the same as Akeredolu, with his first-term deputy — a fate that may yet befall Shuaibu.

    When these feuds happen, the deputy governor — constitutionally state No. 2 without who the ticket is neither complete nor legally tenable — suddenly becomes the object of scorn, on which commissioners and other careerists (mere appointees by the way) must spit to show their “loyalty”!

    That’s bad democratic conduct.  To deepen our democracy, we must look into ways to accord the offices and persons of Vice President and Deputy Governor the respect they deserve.  But no need to tinker with the law.  Rather, politicians must tinker own undemocratic behaviours.

  • Turning the tables on bandits

    Turning the tables on bandits

    Age-old lore makes it known that when a  dog bites a man, it isn’t something strange or even worthy of interest. But when a man bites a dog, that’s news – something of interest and begging diligent interrogation. Likewise, it is the dog that wags the tail. When the tail wags the dog, elders’ intervention is called for, proverbially speaking.

    It was like the tail wagging the dog when residents of Birnin Magaji community in Zamfara State recently backlashed on bandits who have been terrorising and kidnapping their members, by kidnapping the bandits’ family members in retaliation. Reports said armed bandits had often invaded the farms of community members and kidnapped some of them for ransom. “The armed bandits invaded the farms and threatened the farmers before taking them away. These days, many people here cannot go to the farm; and even in our home, we are afraid they could come and abduct us for ransom,” a youth leader in the community was cited saying.

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    It was against this backdrop youths of the community recently pounced on some bandits’ wives in transit, including a pregnant woman, and abducted them in retaliation. The development was said to have compelled the leader of the bandits to negotiate with the community members for their wives’ release, while the community members in turn demanded freedom for their own members in the hold of the bandits. Amidst the negotiations, according to reports, the bandits threatened further violence if their wives were not handed back, but the community youths insisted on the release of their own members being held by the bandits. Subsequent reports said the community residents eventually released the women on an understanding that the bandits would reciprocate by letting go their own members they had kidnapped. But some days after, the bandits had not fulfilled their part of the bargain, and the community youths were threatening another shot at kidnap of the bandits’ family members.

    The Birnin Magaji incident showed that bandits too have a soft spot where they can be hit. Of course, kidnapping is an offence before Nigerian law even when done in retaliation. But we see, at least, that bandits are not untouchable spirits after all: they are vulnerable like everybody else, have people they live with and whose interests they would want to protect. If the backlash by Birnin Magaji residents make affected bandits to release kidnapped community members and have a rethink about further attacks in the community, much would have been achieved by those residents. When former Defence Minister Bashir Magashi and some ex-governors once asked terrorised Nigerians to take the battle to bandits, that could be what they mean.

  • Ebora runs his mouth again

    Ebora runs his mouth again

    The late Prof. Ola Rotimi, ace playwright, once wrote a comedy: “Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again”.  Were he alive, he probably would have been tempted to write another: Ebora Runs His Mouth Again, but this time a tragi-comedy.

    It’s all in the live unravelling of Olusegun Obasanjo, the all-wise, all-knowing, ex-President of the Federal Republic, in his twilight years!

    Once as a callow young man, dazed by the empty dazzle of military power, he bragged in “Not My Will” — the second of his many narcissistic autobiographies — that what the great Chief Obafemi Awolowo craved all his illustrious life (federal power) he, Obasanjo, got gifted on the proverbial gold platter.

     Well, 32 years after Awo’s death (the sage passed on in 1987), he still lives in his people’s hearts more than Obasanjo would ever do in anyone’s — even in 10 lifetimes, even after he had enjoyed a power second coming, as two-term elected president.

     As a — doddering? — old man, Obasanjo just committed the gravest taboo in Yoruba tradition, in Iseyin, Oyo State: ordering Yoruba royal fathers to “get up!” and “sit down!” in public, like a bunch of errant urchins!

     Since the old Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Adeniran Adeyemi II’s royal rumble with the late Bode Thomas — which earned the illustrious Thomas dire consequences — it’s safe to say no Yoruba ever did what Obasanjo did in Iseyin: deriding a bevy of traditional rulers in full public glare!

     That has put the Ebora Owu in a storm — and just as well, for he so loves to run his mouth over nothing, when what is required is loud silence.

     Various Yoruba lobbies are calling for Obasanjo’s scalp, except he recants in public and offers an apology to the humiliated royal fathers.

    Read Also: Obasanjo’s tirade on Oyo Obas

     Yet, what Obasanjo said was trite: sitting presidents and governors had authority over traditional rulers.  Even local government chairs do. But the rude and crude gruff of it all!  It could well be a mis-jive for which Obasanjo would rue for what remains of his life.

     Indeed, this spectacular gaffe would appear a logical collapse for a man always craving honour and respect that he knows, in his heart of hearts, he hardly merits.

     For all his power swagger, Obasanjo knows he has zero community value.  As junta head, he stole power by the barrel of the gun.  As two-term elected president, great controversies still follow his 1999 and 2003 “victories”.  Post-power, whoever he backs routinely loses elections in Obasanjo’s polling units.  So, Obasanjo has zero soft power.

     Which is why he would huff and puff, and make a big mess of himself, over traditional rulers not standing up to herald his entry — and Governor Seyi Makinde’s — into the event’s centre.  By the way, did Makinde grumble to him?  Even if he did, don’t the Yoruba say whatever the wise whispers, only the insane blabs in public?

    Will Baba Iyabo ever tower above the storm to come, over this grave error?  We’ll see.   

  • Cost of a kiss

    Cost of a kiss

    Had England won, the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 would have sated their eternal thirst — and dream — of “it’s coming home!”; and they would have celebrated it as they did their win in the men’s version in 1966.

    But see how Spain blighted their own win with the cost of a kiss?

    Indeed, the entire British Isles could still be rocking with glee!  Who knows when England would “win it” again?  The men’s triumph of 1966 and European women’s glory of 2022 took all of 56 years!

    During that period, England — men or women — neither won the World Cup nor the Euro, though at the approach of each championship, England’s mental strength (if not raw talent) always suggested they would be hard contenders.

    During that same period, Spain won the Mundial (for men) in South Africa 2010, and — with its famous tiki-taka (sweet passing game) — added the Euro in 2012: then as Euro defending champions, after their 2008 triumph.  They seemed set for quite some hegemony, until the terrible beauty of tiki-taka collapsed at World Cup 2014 in Brazil!

    Read Also: Hermoso files legal complaint over Rubiales kiss

    So, England could have given an arm and a leg to triumph at Australia 2023.  Yet, see what Spain did: a victory they achieved with Iberia class and dash, which reduced the poor English girls to mere doughty grit: unhinged in the face of football poetry, garnished by audacious skills!

    But then, in the euphoria of the moment, Royal Federation of Spanish Football (RFEF) President, Luis Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso, one of the victorious girls.  That turned the victory into virtual ash!  Since then, Spanish football has known no peace!

    The inappropriateness of such, even for Latino effervescence, turned a thunder that virtually smashed the Spanish triumph, leaving a tempest in its wake.

    As at the last count,  Rubiales has been suspended.  He refused to resign, claiming he was a victim of a feminist lobby conspiracy, which turned reflex joy into wilful crime. 

    Besides, he claimed the kiss was consensual. Hermoso was like a daughter to him.  But Hermoso later demurred, making the embattled Rubiales to risk criminal prosecution.  

    But that wasn’t the only feminist drama. Angeles Bejar, Rubiales’s mother, launched her own — but in defence of her son!  She claimed he was victim of a vile feminist plot.  She declared herself on hunger strike, and chose her church to gain traction and attention.

    Jorge Vilda, the victorious coach against all odds, has also been sacked, replaced by Montse Tome, Spain’s first woman to handle the female national team. 

    Vilda’s sacking, though sparked by Rubiales’s kiss, was sequel to a September 2022 protest by 15 female players.  Via separate but similar e-mails to RFEF, the 15 national team players pulled out, alleging a “lack of professionalism” that had a serious impact on their “emotional state” and by extension, their “health” — a euphemism for sexual harassment?  

    That pullout all but diminished Spain’s chances.  Yet Vilda triumphed — but got fired. 

    Rubiales’s kiss made all the drama flooding back, thus powering a tempest!  Will Spain’s female football gain or lose from this latest win?

    The stiff cost of a kiss!

  • Appointment bazaar

    Appointment bazaar

    Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf recently appointed 115 fresh aides to serve in his government. That was in addition to 81 aides appointed since he took office on 29th May, taking the retinue of aides to 196. The fresh appointees are to serve as Special Advisers (SAs), Senior Special Assistants (SSAs) Senior Special Reporters (SSRs) and Special Reporters (SRs), according to reports. The governor’s office announced that the new appointees comprise 14 SAs, 57 SSAs, and 44 social media activists as SSRs and SRs. Portfolios assigned the new SAs include Policy and Social Development, Industries, Cyber Security, Grassroots Mobilisation, Support Groups, Metropolitan Affairs, and Domestic Affairs. Others are Special Assignments (Women), Community Policy, Political Strategy, Food Security, Lafiya Jari Programme, Students Matters, and Enlightenment / Social Mobilisation.

    For the SSAs, their portfolios include Political Awareness, Non-Governmental Organisations(NGOs), Kwankwasiyya Media Groups, Reformatory Schools, Teacher Training and Development, Tourism, Butchers and Abbatoir, Environmental Sanitation, Urban Beautification, Grazing Areas, National Assembly Matters, and Women Mobilisation. Among appointees in this category are two vocal supporters of the Kwankwasiyya Movement – a loyalist group of presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the 2023 election, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso – who were named SSAs for Digital Media and New Media respectively. Also tapped was a  Kwankwaso security aide appointed SSA on Security (Abuja) to the governor. Yusuf is himself a strong Kwankwaso loyalist. The 44 SSRs and SRs were reportedly appointed in Yusuf’s effort to provide the public access to government information and were being posted to Kano Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs). Before now, the governor in June tapped 14 aides comprising three SAs, seven SSAs and four Personal Assistants (PAs); and in August he appointed 52 more comprising 10 SAs and 42 SSAs and Special Assistants.

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    Kano is showing up to be innovative in portfolio invention, but that ‘distinction’ is a dubious one. Mr. Governor is dishing out jobs for allies at the cost of a incurring a bloated bureaucracy that would weigh heavily on cost of governance and misdirect resources that could have gone on social development and the common people’s welfare. There is a model less burdensome to the common treasury. In Osun State, newly-appointed Commerce and Industry Commissioner Bunmi Jenyo appointed more than 20 aides from his constituency, but has committed to pay them from his monthly salary as a gesture of alleviating the hardships of his people. But even that model isn’t recommended because the commissioner could  have applied his salary to  establishing an enterprise that more of his constituents could benefit from rather than just the 20+ people he employed as aides. Governor Yusuf should find better things to spend Kano’s money on than his batallion of aides.