As the astute, circumspect governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, mulls his successor, several permutations are fogging up the state’s succession politics. But if many think the unfolding scenario will pressure Governor Ganduje into making a wrong succession choice, they are certainly misreading the man who has changed Kano State’s human and infrastructural development narrative over the past seven years.
Currently, as the governorship primaries of the major political parties loom, efforts by some governors to influence who emerges as their successors in 2023 are not unexpectedly facing some hurdles as contending interests enter the fray.
Significantly, over the years, it has become a practice for outgoing governors to influence who their successors will be. So far this plays out within the ambit of laws that govern the related political processes, it is not illegitimate. A state chief executive who has delivered genuine transformative governance cannot be expected to stand by and watch a laissez faire successor emerge to reverse his achievements and plunge the state into development abyss.
As things stand, the All Progressives Congress (APC), incidentally Kano’s ruling party, has revealed its governorship aspirants would be screened on May 12 and the primary scheduled for May 18. For the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), April 26 is the date for the screening of its governorship aspirants while the primary would hold on April 28.
In Kano State, no fewer than 12 APC contenders and pretenders are reportedly in the race to succeed Governor Abdullahi Ganduje next year. Prominent among them are the deputy governor, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna; a former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Kabiru Rurun; Senator Bala Maliya; a former governor of the state, Senator Kabiru Gaya; a former Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Murtala Garo; and a former Chairman of the state’s Anti-Corruption Commission, Muhuyi Magaji Rimin Gado.
Ganduje is from Kano North Senatorial zone, while former governors Rabiu Kwankwaso and Ibrahim Shekarau are from Kano Central. Many aspirants are, therefore, insisting that it’s the turn of the South to produce the next governor, but Garo, who is also from Kano North, is said to be the governor’s choice.
But many stakeholders are said to be uncomfortable with Ganduje’s speculated choice. This has reportedly prodded a very sensitive Governor Ganduje to back off from that course, leaving the field currently unclear. This scenario suggests that a dark horse is in the offing and it is Ganduje’s duty to identify and unveil this personality.
Kano State is certainly blessed with a surfeit of capable and progressive politicians. Against this backdrop, who to pick as successor becomes something of a task but certainly not a Gordian knot to cut. Out of these politicians, an emerging, quiet spoken, demonstrably effective and subtle political personality from the state is Senator Basheer Garba Lado from Kano Central which is Nigeria’s largest Senatorial constituency with the voting numbers to boot. He was a demonstrably impactful member of the 7th Senate and young colleague of the current national chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
Although reports indicate Senator Basheer Lado is targeting a return to the 10th Senate, Governor Ganduje could easily change that political course by considering him successor.
With a hugely promising national legislative trajectory on course, political realignments denied him a second senatorial term. But nevertheless he remained steadfast and kept faith and today has vastly matured and entering a crucial phase of his political odyssey with head held high.
Senator Basheer Lado who navigates without the baggage that dog many of his peers and vibrates with the political sagacity and sophistication of his native Kano, served as Director, Contact and Mobilization, North, in the Buhari Presidential Campaign Council. A former Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, he was subsequently appointed Director General of the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), by President Muhammadu Buhari.
As a rookie Senator (2011-2015), Basheer Lado who was vice chairman, Senate Committee on Works, attracted over 113 constituency projects that border on health, education, infrastructure and more – with 100 per cent rate of completion. This remains unmatched. Of the many projects he attracted to Kano, perhaps two enjoy flagship status – and Kano folks will never forget these in a hurry.
These are the N2.5 billion Kundila Flyover Bridge Kano which ecstatic Kano citizens fondly call Gadan Lado. This major project immediately decongested the traffic gridlock which was then an unseemly feature of the area. It was commissioned by then President Goodluck Jonathan who named it Ado Bayero Bridge but Kano folks thought better and fondly call it Gadan Lado.
The other is the N14.5 billion, 171-km Kano-Katsina road dualization project. This game-changing project takes travellers to Sokoto, Katsina, Gusau and Niger Republic. It could be recalled that an appreciative Katsina State delegation visited Kano to Senator Basheer Lado on this account.
Over time, Senator Basheer Lado has demonstrated he is a personality and leader not swayed by extraneous emotionalism and parochial cant. He remains driven by principle. This footing, many speculate, may put him on Governor Ganduje’s succession radar – if that is not the case yet.
Senator Basheer Lado has wielded power and is still deploying his influence with alluring humility and exemplary focus. With his life’s trajectory, the Bayero University political Science graduate has demonstrated that philanthropy, business and politics fundamentally address transformation of the human condition for good.
Perhaps these consistent qualities have also kept him on the radar of the ruling party’s top hierarchs in Abuja. An unwavering sense of loyalty and duty, rigorous professionalism, stern discipline, demonstrable integrity and almost a child-like faith in his beloved Allah stand him out as a leader for higher political responsibility.
As Governor Ganduje looks for a worthy successor, this ‘dark horse’ quietly waits in the wings.
- Achi, a public commentator writes from Abuja