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Tag: Kwakwanso

  • Kwakwanso supporters set to dump APC

    Kwakwanso supporters set to dump APC

    •Say Buhari may lose strongest political base for supporting Ganduje

    Supporters of the immediate past governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, may be on their way to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Their grouse is what they perceive as the tacit support being given to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje against the Senator by the leadership of the party and the Presidency in the ongoing crisis in the state APC.

    Kwankwaso’s supporters accuse Ganduje of betrayal of trust.

    The Nation gathered that the Kwakwansiyya political movement, which is loyal to Kwankwaso, will be meeting anytime from now to decide on its next line of action

    A member of the Kwankwasiyya movement and chieftain of the APC, Alhaji Aminu Dabo, is disappointed that President Muhammadu Buhari and the national leadership of the party are not handling the crisis appropriately.

    He described the state as APC’s and Buhari’s biggest base and warned that by their continued support for Ganduje, the party and the president risk losing Kano.

    He cited the recent cancellation of the former governor’s proposed visit to his constituency by the police.

    The Senate had directed the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to provide security cover to Senator Kwankwaso to visit the state, after the Kano State Police Commissioner, Rabiu Yusuf, cautioned Kwankwaso against visiting his home town for any political activity.

    Dabo accused Ganduje of dragging the Presidency and the national leadership of the party into the crisis.

    Dabo, a former Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority and strong member of the Kwankwasiyya movement said: “Governor Ganduje has suddenly realised that his quarrel with our leader, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is overwhelming him; that the people of Kano State are not happy with him, and he is becoming very unpopular in the state.

    “He has realised suddenly that the only way for him to survive or to feel protected is to bring the presidency and the national leadership of our party into it. This is going to be very serious and the presidency, especially President Muhammadu Buhari, will pay a very huge political price.

    “The consequence of taking side with Governor Ganjuje in this crisis will be huge; because the people of Kano State are not happy with the governor and what is happening.”

    He reminded President Buhari that Kano State remains his ‘’biggest and strongest’’ political base in the country, giving  him almost two million votes in the 2015 presidential election, adding that the president must be politically correct in relating with all stakeholders involved in the current crisis in Kano APC.’’

    He also berated the police for scuttling ‘‘a mere visit by Senator Kwankwaso to his senatorial district.’’

    He said: “How can you stop a normal visit? If you think you are popular, why not allow other people to do their own activities? How can you stop a serving senator from visiting his senatorial district? This is very unfortunate.”

    He claimed that Ganduje betrayed Kwankwaso’s trust after the Senator ‘‘worked so hard to install the current governor with all the support of his followers.’’

    He added: ‘‘there was nothing personal; Governor Ganduje derailed from the actual concept, ideology and the system of Kwankwasiya group; and all efforts made to let him realise his wrong steps were ignored.

    ‘‘He has been treating us as foreigners; we are now like an opposition within our party. He drove us out of the system and brought entirely new people, which is quite unfortunate.’’

  • Ganduje, Kwakwanso plead with Ambode over Mile 12 market relocation plan

    THE Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Abdullahi Umaru Ganduje, has pleaded with Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, to reconsider the decision of his government to relocate the Mile 12 market. Ganduje made the plea when he visited Ambode at the Lagos House, Ikeja.

    He said he was in Lagos to discuss the issue of Mile 12 Market relocation and to enhance the synergy on how to improve on the bilateral trade between Lagos and Kano states. According to the governor, Lagos and Kano are cosmopolitan cities with peculiar challenges as it is being witnessed all over the world.

    “We came to beg my brother, the governor of Lagos, who I respect so much to reconsider his decision on the proposed relocation of Mile 12 Market and to discuss how we can improve the relationship between Lagos and Kano states.” He stated that Lagos and kano states have many things in common and should seize these opportunities to contribute to national development.

    The governor was accompanied by the speaker, Kano State House of Assembly, Hon. Kabiru Alhassan, Commissioner for Information, Comrade Muhammad Garba. Dr. Aiyelangbe; the Bashorun of Yorubas in Kano, Alhaji Abdulfatai Bimbo Yusuf, Senior Special Assistant on Yoruba Affairs.

    In a related development the former governor of Kano state, Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, a senator in the senate, had earlier visited Mile 12 Market to solidarise with the plights of the traders in the market. He said, “We are aware of the unfortunate incident that happened on the 3rd of March 2016 in a distance community from the market, when over 300 people, particularly our brothers from the north were arrested. And the consequent proposed relocation of mile 12 market.”

  • Kwakwanso, Haruna, Odimegwu and Nigeria’s fictional censuses

    Kwakwanso, Haruna, Odimegwu and Nigeria’s fictional censuses

    There is an age-old Igbo wisdom concerning the managing of a rascally child’s internal injury; these people of yore thought of everything you know. The scenario is this: the playful, rascally child had gone and earned himself an internal injury and his mother (it’s always mothers of course bless them) would apply the hot water dabs. Since you are not exactly sure where lies the heart of the injury, mothers, (wise as spirits), would watch carefully and determine the sore spot by the reaction of the lad as they apply the hot towel. The saying therefore translates thus: you linger upon and dab harder where the child feels the most pain.

    This old tale illustrates the matter between Eze Festus Odimegwu, chairman of the Nigerian Population Commission, NPC, and some of our northern brothers notably Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State and Malam Mohammed Haruna, a senior colleague and syndicated columnist. Odimegwu simply applied the dab where it pains most in order to heal an injury fast and expectedly, there is an angry and excited reaction from those who were living off the old, retrogressive order.

    But before I return to Kwankwaso and Mohammed, let me blame Odimegwu for belittling himself by accepting such a silly job. One of the most brilliant men to be found anywhere, first he ought to have known that what we call census in Nigeria are fictional, farcical and silly waste of time and resources and as long as we are yoked the way we are under this dour flag of ours, you will always have the same falsehood he talks about which we have had since 1816 as he claims. Therefore, one expects him to be perspicacious enough to understand that he could never change a system that had been ingrained and perpetrated for over 200 years, with crafty British colonialists helping to perfect it, we must hasten to add. He ought to have known that census in Nigeria is the northern hegemonists’ primary instrument of domination.

    With their contrived census figures, they get more states, more LGAs and more electoral wards. With their bogus head count they dominate the military and security organs; the civil service and the entire government apparatus. They heft more allocation from the federation account, and they perpetually make the rest of us, especially Ndigbo second class citizens. One is particularly disgusted that Odimegwu didn’t seem to have this perspective otherwise he would never have taken a job that has been perfectly designed to fail. If he knew he would never have gone about opening his mouth so wide to speak so ignorantly about changing the system. How dose he plan to change the warped template of Nigeria’s head count? Would he morph into a bionic man and be in every household in Nigeria? From Birnin Nkonji in the uppermost fringes of Sokoto State to Ribao where Taraba State kisses the Camerouns he would lead all the counting teams and man all the collation units? If he has devised a fail-proof satellite mapping technology, how can he determine that one quarter of the much-touted huge population of Kano, Kwankwaso country are not probably Ndigbo and perhaps one third of the inhabitants are Christians, among other vital stats that cannot be captured from above?

    One was appalled that after years of excellent work life in the best of multinational corporations and with the best global minds; after the self-lacerating third term ruckus and the circumstance of his exit from his high office he remains quite excitable if not exuberant. Even if he has manufactured a wand to conduct the perfect census for Nigeria, considering the sensitivity of the process and the deep import of a national head count in a primitive society such as ours, one would expect him to keep his strategies very close to his chest. Lastly on Odimegwu’s shortcomings, he also suffers the Igboman disease: he tends to love Nigeria more than other Nigerians, he wants to outdo the average Nigerian and he strives harder and wants to be more nationalistic in an environment where constituent nationalities take care of their tribal interests first. One quick example: while Nnamdi Azikiwe was playing the nationalist (to the eternal pain of Ndigbo), Obafemi Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello were more interested in taking care of their people and their region.

    Having said all these, I think Odimegwu should quit that silly job and as Ndigbo say, ka o we kwa yere onwe ya ugwu. Because Odimegwu utterly disrespected himself by accepting an accursed job that is why Kwankwaso, at the drop of a pin, would brand him a drunkard who has been inebriated from brewing beer all his life; but we know the hypocrites who drink in their closets and from their prayer kettles in the bid to fool their god. It is not enough to recommend his sack he has to be abused too. Haba Mr. governor how really would census figure affect your running of Kano State today?

    My brother of the pen, Malam Haruna was, true to type, quick to bring his lucid mind to bear on a farce. To be fair, every part of the country now does their best to rig the census figures but the north just has the patent to the ‘winning’ formula. But when highly learned men like Haruna begins to abet and justify a well-known fallacy then doom beckons on the land. Why is our country so distraught and disheveled today, we wander about as if we are not part of the world community? It is because we are living many lies the worst of which is that we base our policies on fictitious headcounts. Haruna, like most of us, know full well that we have been living a lie but because it benefits him, it is okay. I am sorry to say that he suffers acute myopia. The earlier we return to the path of truth, the better for us all.

    On the other hand, the likes of odumegwu if they are wise, instead of straining to fix Nigeria’s broken China, must begin to apply themselves to the urgent project of rejecting the vassal status Nigeria has consigned Ndigbo to. Census my foot!

  • Kwakwanso, Shekarau, others renew rivalry over governorship seat

    Kwakwanso, Shekarau, others renew rivalry over governorship seat

    For Kano State Governor, Musa Kwakwanso and his predecessor, Ibrahim Shekarau, the year 2015 presents another opportunity to test their might on the political battlefield.

    It is no longer news that the two politicians have not been the best of friends, at least politically. Their rivalry dated back to the early 2000, during Kwakwanso’s first stint as governor from 1999 to2003, after he reportedly demoted Shekarau from the position of permanent secretary in the state civil service to a school principal over alleged insubordination.

    Within a spate of three years, Shekarau, who many had thought was down and out, contested the 2003 governorship election against his former boss on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and to the surprise of everyone, had a relatively easy victory at the polls.

    Many Kano indigenes had attributed his victory to two factors: fate and the ability to connect with the average man on the streets, who regard Shekarau as incorruptible and ‘one of our own’.

    On his part, Kwakwanso, following his loss, simply moved on. An ally of the then president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, he was appointed to the powerful portfolio of the Minister of Defense, a position he held for about four years.

    From 2003 to 2011, Shekarau held forte as governor, enjoying a near cult-like status in the state. It is also on record that he was the first Kano State governor to serve two consecutive terms in office.

    However, his desire to handover to a trusted ally, Suleiman Fakai, failed to materialize, as Kwakwanso, who had retreated from the political scene, and whom many had also written off politically, staged a comeback to win the 2011 governorship election.

    Fakai’s loss dealt a major blow to Shekarau’s rising political fortune. It was indeed two huge losses in a row, with the former governor, who had earlier been picked as the presidential candidate of the ANPP coming a distant fourth in the race.

    Presently in Kano State, one recurring topic of discussion among political stakeholders is the likely entry of Kwakwanso into the presidential race. The governor, sources disclosed, has allegedly confided in a few close aides that he may give the presidency a shot in 2015, having come to the conclusion that there is nothing more for him to prove in the state politics.

    Reports that Kwakwanso could join the race for the 2015 presidency, The Nation gathered, may have cleared the coast for top politicians in the state to begin early preparations on who takes over the Kano Government House.

    This development, according to a member of the House of Representatives who prefers to remain anonymous, will renew the intense political rivalry between the governor, who is yet to anoint any aspirant, and his predecessor. Shekarau, who, it was learnt, is still firmly in control of the structures of ANPP in Kano State and may support the candidacy of Fakai once again in 2015.

    Fakai, the Commissioner for Local Government in Shekarau’s cabinet, according to sources, has remained loyal to the former governor despite the latter being out of office.

    For some ANPP members who are not disposed to Fakai flying the ANPP ticket, they are, however, rooting for Alhaji Kabiru Gaya, a serving two-term senator and former governor of the state between 1999 and 1993.

    They cite his level-headedness and broad appeal as his strong points, adding that while he has remained loyal to the party, he remains arguably, the only man in ANPP with the clout and stature to give any candidate put forward by the ruling party a run for his money.

    Other names being bandied around within the political circles as nursing governorship ambition include first term senator, Bashir Lado Garba, four-term member of the House of Representaives, Farouk Lawan, governorship candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), in the 2011 elections, Lawal Ja’faru Isa and Ibrahim Abacha.

    Garba, a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was elected into the Senate in 2011. The young man, who is in his mid-40’s, proved with his election that he has come of age in politics, as he defeated heavyweights to clinch the PDP ticket and in the general elections.

    Though he has not declared intention to contest the governorship, there are unconfirmed speculations that quite a number of political and traditional elites are putting pressures on Garba to give the race a shot.

    One major factor believed to be working in his favour is his closeness to the power bases in the state, in addition to his non-controversial image. And according to insiders, finance will surely not be an issue for the senator if he decides to throw his hat into the ring.

    Quite wealthy in his own right, Garba, a big player in the oil and gas sector before his foray into politics, is also a nephew of the Abacha family, who sources allege, still controls huge financial wherewithal.

    Until he got embroiled in the fuel subsidy probe bribe scandal, Lawan in the opinion of not a few PDP members in Kano State was a governor-in-waiting. Reports had it that the lawmaker was prevailed upon to step down for Kwakwanso in 2011, and had actually been assured of the governorship ticket in 2015.

    But for his political associates, his alleged involvement in a bribe scandal may not negatively affect his governorship after all. “Has he been found guilty of the bribe scandal,” asked one of his loyalists. “Until that happens, Lawan remains the leading governorship aspirant in Kano PDP.”

    Also likely to join the race is Kwakwanso’s deputy, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje. An ardent loyalist of his boss, it remains unclear if the governor will throw his weight behind him when the chips are down.

    Despite his unsuccessful attempt last year, Jafaru Isa, a retired Brigadier General, The Nation gathered, still has his eyes on the coveted seat. The former military administrator secured the CPC ticket in a bitter contest with Ibrahim Abacha, a situation which left the party badly fractured culminating in its dismal showing at the polls.

    Perhaps except himself and his coterie of supporters, not many people are giving Isa any chance to spring a surprise. According to sources, apart from the fact that his party structures in the state remains weak and uncoordinated, the retired one-star army general lacks the financial war chest to prosecute a governorship campaign.