There is a saying that you cannot really tell a man’s true character until you give him money or power. For most politicians angling for power, claiming that their mission in politics is for service, little will you realise after their assuming office that their quest for power and influence is far from the realization of the public good….CONTINUE READING
This is what seems to be playing out with the recent actions of the Kano State governor, Kabir Yusuf, who most political watchers say, is behaving like a bull in China’s shop.
In Kano, the war between Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his successor and former deputy governor, Abdullahi Ganduje would not end anytime soon.
The reason is simple: With the election of Kabir Yusuf, a protégée of the Kwankwasiya movement being drafted as arrow-head to execute the war, it is certain it would be a war without end for the people of Kano State.
Interestingly, Yusuf has been a major player in Kano’s unique, tumultuous, deeply passionate and creepy politics.
No one who has followed the background and build-up to the 2023 elections will expect either the NNPP or the ruling APC to roll over or to come to power with velvet gloves. It is no secret that in Kano, politics has always been the main theatre, with the winner taking all.
The signs of things to come played out in a melodrama during the swearing-in when Yusuf refused to sit on the official chair used by Ganduje.
Yusuf, in inheriting his benefactor’s enemy, had vowed to review some of Ganduje’s policies and to probe the N241 billion debt inherited from his administration.
And in less than one month of being in office, he has reportedly demolished the so-called illegal buildings in such record fashion that would easily interest the Guinness Book of World Records for recognition.
The governor in his campaign promises made pronouncements of commitment to restore the glory of the state by reclaiming all encroached public land that was used to erect ‘illegal’ structures particularly those erected in schools, mosques, playgrounds, graveyards, markets, and hospitals.
So in the early hours of Saturday, June 3, the governor started fulfilling his campaign promises at the Race Course playground popularly known as Filin Sukuwa, where a three-storey building, with no fewer than 90 shops, was pulled down as part of the effort to reclaim the encroached land.
He continued with the demolition at the Hajj Camp and Daula Hotel, which was said to be leased out under the public-private partnership for a shopping Mall and plaza.
Other places affected by the demolition craze included the famous Kantin Kwari and Kofar Wambai markets, as well as other business areas in the city and the Eid praying ground where a number of shops erected around the place were also destroyed.
Yusuf appears to be operating with the belief that wrong is wrong, no matter how much you dress it to look right.
There is no gainsaying the fact that, no one can or should fault a leader who comes to correct wrongs, but what distinguishes good leaders from others are their motives and the degree to which they weigh their obligations on the demanding scales of justice.
Governor Yusuf many commentators have argued should have taken time to investigate to determine those who are genuine investors and those that Ganduje may have appropriated to himself. At least those built with state resources should have been confiscated or sold to raise scarce resources for the state. That way, the distraction that has been generated by these controversies could have been avoided.
Yusuf should know that in the next four years the burden of leadership will be on his shoulders, and every day counts in terms of what he does, or chooses not to do.
No doubt, going by reports, Ganduje’s administration was involved in land allocations and other activities that offended basic standards of decency and propriety, but the public opinion verdict on the action so far by Yusuf points to pure political vendetta.
Already, some of the affected investors are already threatening litigation against his government.
Political commentators are in agreement that the greatest legacy the Kano governor is expected to leave behind is addressing the challenges of the youth. They noted that people will move beyond demolished buildings, but they cannot stand the worsening of the threats which young, out-of-school, drugged and violent youth represent.
Yusuf they advised should in the best interest of the state and his government take another, holistic, critical look at those 10,000 people who may lose the jobs Ganduje gave them, to see whether some deserve to be retained.
A lot of Kano indigenes are joining the unemployment queue already each passing day and to release more 10,000 people back to the saturated unemployment market will be a time-bomb, waiting to explode and no one can claim to be safe.
Curiously, the Yusuf administration wants to re-visit the Ganduje dollar video, just because they want to nail him, not because of any altruistic reason. Of course, if Ganduje is found guilty, he should be made to face the wrath of the law, but in all it is the motive of the punishment that matters.
Today, Ganduje is an ordinary citizen and is almost also losing out in the APC power equation as Kwankwaso whose party NNPP has captured the state from APC, is now being courted by the party at the centre, while Ganduje might as well lose out completely. The lesson to learn: Power, indeed, is transient.
Abba Kabir Yusuf was born on January 5, 1963.
He has a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Civil Engineering with a specialization in Water Resources/Environmental Engineering from Kaduna Polytechnic.
Yusuf also attended Bayero University, Kano, where he obtained a postgraduate diploma and a master’s degree in business administration….CONTINUE READING