Kano’s Unfolding Political Drama Of ‘Kwankwasiyya Amana’ And ‘Gandujiyya Akida’

March 19, 2016

Kano’s Unfolding Political Drama Of ‘Kwankwasiyya Amana’ And ‘Gandujiyya Akida’

The unfolding battle of wit 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 predecessor, Alhaji

Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is taking a

deeper crisis dimension by the day. The

denials that follow the merely signal the

commencement of the first series of the

political drama unfolding in the ancient

city of Kano.

State chairman of the All Progressives

Congress, APC in Kano state, Alhaji Umar

Haruna Doguwa had 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 he (Senator

Kwankwaso) purred and hulled 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 press 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 out of the Kano State chapter of

the APC chairman’s hard stance and

whether there was 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 to LEADERSHIP Weekend 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 tendencies to run the

state on behalf of the governor through

undue interferences and in some cases,

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 or not, the initial position

of the kano state chapter of the 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 still put, place some

disciplinary sanctions against him, the

part two of the kano state political drama

series hit the Nigerian airwaves when the

same chairman of the state chapter of

the APC, Doguwa proved pundits right by

his 360 degree turn.

In this second part, it was a denial that he

was under duress to indict the former

governor, but suffice 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 had 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,

“That 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 on 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 for 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

on 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 remain 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 lunched 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 raptor 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, firstly 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 interrelate with otters.

“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 to say that the third series of the

unfolding political drama in the ancient

city of 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 fueled 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

office holders.

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 the fact that a change

of style might simply be a challenge to

others are the real issues, which

LEADERSHIP Weekend gathered, are 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 ten 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 on

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 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 the Kudu, this would pave the 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 that ; “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 being 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.

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Kano’s Unfolding Political Drama Of ‘Kwankwasiyya Amana’ And ‘Gandujiyya Akida’

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