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The governor Yahaya Bello’s testimonials for Kogi’s Murification

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***Uncanny and deadly steps including Yahoo Plus antics by an incumbent Governor.

FALSE FLAG OPERATIONS
Since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the schedule for the off-season Governorship elections in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo States, political activities in Kogi State have been marred
by unwarranted violence, arsons, destruction of property and extrajudicial killings. In fact, under the leadership of His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello, there have been brazen demonstration of hate and
extreme political intolerance leading to repressive measures and violent attacks by State-Actors, illegal
deployments of State apparatus, and quasi-security bodies.
Nigerians and security enforcement forces and their Service Chiefs have witnessed situations in Kogi State
wherein non-state actors usually camouflage in Police or military uniforms and armed with quasi-security military kits just to carry out unwholesome repressive acts against innocent citizens and to intimidate the
opposition parties. The level of recklessness in the violence, arsons, and extrajudicial killings in Kogi State became so brutal that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Inter Party Advisory Council, IPAC had to send separate petitions to the President, the Inspector General of Police and all the Service Chiefs.
However, two consequent developments in Kogi State have arisen which form the subject matter of this write-up. The first is the emergence of a credible and popular alternative to the Governor Bello dynasty. The
second is the popularisation of this alternative especially by the uncanny contributions of Governor Yahaya Bello which make this popularisation to spread like wild fire in strong winds.

THE EMERGENCE OF MURIFICATION
The emergence of a credible alternative to succeed the outgoing Governor Bello has now been established by the statewide acceptance of one of the Governorship Candidates in person of Alhaji Murtala Yakubu
Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The Wikipedia used very strong terms to describe Alhaji Ajaka when it wrote of him as being with a “deep understanding of the intricacies of governance” who has “garnered the respect and admiration of both his peers and the public …” The renowned Wikipedia also stressed that
“Murtala Yakubu dedicated his efforts towards securing a resounding victory for the election of President Bola Tinubu in the February 2023 general election.”
Alhaji Murtala Ajaka presents easily as a humble and amiable young man who is sharply focused on recreating a new prosperous Kogi State driven by massive youth employment and emancipation of women.
He is widely received by the people of Kogi State. In practical terms, his demonstration of dedication to public service and a deep understanding of the intricacies of governance is evident from the meticulous way
Social Democratic Party
National HQ: 17 Nairobi Street. Wuse II. Abuja has planned his campaign programmes and his well-articulated mission for a new Kogi State centred on
creating and sharing wealth as a hub of industry, tourism, ICT developments and creativity.
The “Murification” of Kogi State is a colloquial coinage to describe the springing up of the mass appeal across Kogi State for Alhaji Murtala Yakubu Ajaka who they fondly call “Muri”. In various groups and communities,
it is common to hear things like ‘this campus or that LG has become “Murified.”’ The multidimensional processes which throw up more and more people who have become attracted to or fixated on the Muri
candidature are what have been termed as “Murification”. As we shall show later, the chief promoter for the
Murification of Kogi State is no less than His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello himself.

THE YAHAYA BELLO TESTIMONIALS
The remainder of this submission will be on the testimonials of His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello to the excellence, capabilities and capacities of his to-be successor, Alhaji Murtala Yakubu Ajaka.

Testimony 1: The Attack on Ajaka’s Entourage
Early in June 2023, Muritala Yakubu Ajaka had meticulously planned courtesy visits to Kogi State First ClassTraditional Rulers, starting with HRM Ohiemige of Koton Karfe before the commencement of formal
campaigns. When Governor Bello was informed of a long motorcade of over 100 vehicles that followed Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka to pay courtesy visit to HRM Ohiemige of Koton Karfe on 3 June 2023, he decided
that the proposed visits must be stopped, and that Alhaji Ajaka must be halted from entering Kogi State by all means. This deadly intervention, which almost cost Alhaji Murtala Ajaka his life, immediately catapulted
him into the top of the mind awareness of Kogi people and Nigeria at large. Thousands of bystanders, passengers and motorists watched in amazement as the government team blocked the major carriageway at the Mataco City Gate to Lokoja and rained bullets on Ajaka’s car and 28 other vehicles in his entourage in broad daylight. Ajaka and team scampered to safety and headed back to Abuja. This shameful show of reckless power was not only recorded in videos but streamed live on Facebook.

Testimony 2: The Governor Enlisted Members of his Cabinet
The Governor briefed his commissioners on the strategies to “tame Alhaji Murtala Ajaka” and assigned roles to himself and the commissioners thereby exposing his own weakness to them and inadvertently highlighting the superiority of Alhaji Ajaka. The Commissioner for Solid Mineral, Mr. Bashir Gegu was detailed to set up
a deadly ambush after Koton Karfe between Murtala Mohammed Bridge and Banda while the Commissioner
for Information, Mr. Kingsley Fanwo was detailed to cover up with a press conference to propagate lies that it was Alhaji Yakubu Ajaka that attacked the Governor’s convoy. The Governor’s briefing to his Cabinet
showed the Exco members that their boss was indeed jittery about the emergence of the man that Wikipedia described as “with deep understanding of the intricacies of governance” who has “garnered the respect and
admiration of both his peers and the public”. It could be at this stage that some members of the Governor
Bello’s cabinet became “Murified” and started to make overtures to Alhaji Murtala Ajaka, the “Incoming”.
When the Commissioner of Information, on behalf of Governor Yahaya Bello, faced the Press on 3 June 2023 to lie about the highway attacks on Ajaka, he knew that his boss and entire cabinet were aware that he
was lying but only expected that the Kogi people would be misguided to believe the lies. It was a miscalculation which only gave Alhaji Ajaka a major boost and got more people including some of the Bello’s
Commissioners “Murified”.

Testimony 3: The Governor announced self as a predator.
The Governor, who was acting under Official Oath as the Chief Security Officer of Kogi State, later held a worldwide press conference on 3 June 2023 wherein he announced self as a predator “whose path was
crossed” by a prey. He likened himself to a “lion” and Alhaji Murtala Ajaka to an “antelope”. The Governor’s sarcastic allegory of the “lion and antelope” was not only odious, reckless, and condemnable to the public,
but was a major pointer to how the Governor was prepared to renege on his Governorship oath to protect the people of Kogi State because he was jittery about the emergence of Alhaji Murtala Yakubu Ajaka. The
people of Kogi State understood this and became only more “Murified”. Several youths became Murified at this stage and signed up to work for the Muri candidature.

Testimony 4: The Governor ordered the killing of Okwo, his former ally. As the popularity of Alhaji Murtala Ajaka continued to spread, the head of the Governor’s special squad, Mr.
Kabir Bala, also known as Okwo denounced the incumbent Governor, his hitherto benefactor to pledge his support for the candidature of Alhaji Murtala Ajaka who he described as the “incoming Governor of Kogi
State”. Almost instantly, an infuriated Governor ordered the attack on Okwo. Okwo’s properties were set ablaze, and a team of state actors and non-state actors later killed Okwo on 23 June 2023 in a false flag operation which also got other innocent citizens killed. These extrajudicial killings raised more questions about the motives of the Governor and enhanced the determination of the Muri’s support base.

Testimony 5: The Governor’s Supporters destroyed Muri’s Secretariat

As the popularity of Ajaka continue to soar, the Governor issued Executive Orders and byelaws to declare Alhaji Ajaka “wanted”, to bar all Traditional Rulers from receiving him at the Palaces and ordered armed
roadblocks to man all roads leading to Kogi State to keep Alhaji Ajaka away or get him arrested. But on 6 July 2023, the unimaginable happened. A mammoth organic crowd of thousands of men and women
welcomed Alhaji Murtala Ajaka into Idah LG in Kogi East. It was like “how did he get there?” “How did he raise such a humongous crowd”? In the company of his amiable Running Mate, Chief Sam Abenemi, Alhaji Murtala Yakubu Ajaka was in his elements as he addressed the gargantuan crowd, sang with them, and danced with them.
But how was this received by the outgoing players at the high places in Kogi State? By the third day, 9 July 2023, non-state actors shielded by State Actors, proceeded to the gorgeous three-story building which
served as Ajaka Campaign Secretariat in Lokoja and destroyed the building. They gathered as many items
as they could lay their hands on and set these on fire to please their Master. The event which happened at about 7.00am was watched by thousands of inhabitants of Kogi State and was covered live on video. The
Kogi people at home and abroad watched this sordidness helplessly but knew that the time is up for the incumbent Governor. They became reinvigorated for more Murification.

Testimony 6: The Governor’s Supporters burnt down Muri’s Secretariat

On Tuesday, 23 July 2023, the now much popularised Ajaka landed in Lokoja with local and international pressmen and photographers, as well as architects and engineers to inspect the extent of the damage to the prestigious secretariat so that they may cause repairs and renovations. In a jiffy, thousands of people flocked the location and he had to address them at impromptu rally in front of the Secretariat. All these were televised live to Nigeria and the world. But this showing by Alhaji Murtala Ajaka obviously did not go down well with the supporters of Governor Yahaya Bello, who regrouped withing 24 hours and attacked the already wrecked
Campaign Secretariat again. The non-state actors broke the building walls and windows to gain entrance into the Secretariat and set the building ablaze. Again, the people of Kogi State watched helplessly but
became more Murified.

Testimony 7: The Governor Himself Stage-managed a Yahoo-Yahoo Defection
As an undeterred and unstoppable Murtala Ajaka continued to harvest thousands of organically grown supporters across the State – in Koton Karfe, Olamaboro, Ijumu, Ogori-Magongo, Mopamuro Idah, Adavi, Lokoja, Imane, Okenne, Kabba, Ayingba, and Egume, Yagba and so on, Governor Yahaya Bello escalated
his could-be-deadly intimidation arsenal to the Yahoo-Yahoo or Yahoo Plus level by stage-managing a ghost
defection of non-existent ‘SDP State Excos’. The Governor, in a most elaborate, expensive, and widely publicised event on 11 August 2023 personally received phantom ‘SDP Excos’, claiming they had defected to the APC to boost his efforts for his preferred Governorship Candidate who publicly referred to himself as
“a married woman”. The group of Governor Bello’s ghost “SDP Excos” was led by one Mr. Suleiman Isah, a well-known APC member. In fact, none of the members of the Bello’s Yahoo Plus Exco paraded on
Television was a member of SDP or its Executive Committee (Exco) at the State or LG level as can be verified from the authentic list with INEC.
So, the question is why has the incumbent outgoing governor of Kogi State descended so low to spend taxpayers’ money to disguise his own APC members as ghost members of SDP Excos to shore up his dwindling chances to win the State for his protegee? The Governor’s counterproductive efforts are like
attempts to change the course of a hurricane wind; they have only resulted in promoting SDP Murtala Yakubu Ajaka as the next Governor of Kogi State as the Murification process has now taken a life of its own, fully turbocharged and rapidly propelling itself.

POSTSCRIPT:
(a) The import of the happenings in Kogi State is not lost on the people of the State who have watched how creating and spreading of violence have become the hallmark of their current government in the last
eight years. They have solemnly pitched their tents with Alhaji Murtala Yakubu Ajaka who is focused on a Development Agenda to create and spread wealth in the State.
(b) Governor Bello, by his own intrinsic habits and impulses, has effectively carried the Murification process beyond the borders of Kogi State into his Party’s (APC) National Working Committee, the APC National
Secretariat and even into the Presidency. What an unrelenting Murification-ist !!

Dr Olu Agunloye,
National Secretary, SDP,
Former Minister of Defence (Navy) and Former Minister of Power and Steel
25 August 2023

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The Labour strike and FG’S Inertia – The way forward

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By Prof. Mike A. A. Ozekhom, SAN, CON , OFR, FCIArb, LL.M, Ph.D, LL.D, D.Litt, D.SC, DA, DHL

Labour has literally grounded Nigeria – from airports, hospitals, tertiary institutions, to electricity which has plunged the biggest black nation on earth into total darkness. I am in full, complete and total support of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress’ (TUC)’s current national strike for upward review of the FG’s proposed minimum wage of N60,000 per month. NLC and TUC had also demanded that the government reverses the increase in electricity tariff to N65/KWH. When talks broke down with none of the parties shifting grounds, Labour commenced a strike action on the midnight of Sunday 2nd June, 2024. FG’s proposed meagre salary is certainly not a living wage in today’s Nigeria. At the current parallel market exchange rate of N1,470 to one dollar, the wage being conceded by the Federal Government to labour is a mere $40.82 per month (N60,000), while the NLC and TUC are asking for a whooping N615,500 per month.

By way of comparative analysis with some other countries globally, the monthly minimum wage in the United States is US$1,160 ( N1,705,200); UK  £1,376 (N2,528,950); Canada 2,464 CAD (N2,710,400); France £1,539.42 (N2,847,927); Ghana GHC 2,904 (N292,548.96) Rwanda RWF 56,668 (N64,602); South Africa R4,067.2 – R4,412.8 (N322,406.944 –  N349,802.656); Botswana P1,168 (N122,056); Germany £1,985.6 (N3,673,360) Australia AUD3531.2 (N 3,490,414.64); Kenya is KES15,201 (N172,683.36). In UAE, there is no general minimum wage as it differs from profession to profession. However, for skilled Labourers AED 5,000 (N2,019,435); people with University degrees AED12,000 (N4,846,644); qualified technicians AED 7,000 (N2,827,209); South Korea is 2,010,580 Won (N2,161,574.558). China differs from city to city. However, Shanghai is RMB 2,690 per month (N551,181) and Heilongjiang RMB 1,450 (N 297,105). Singapore does not prescribe a general minimum wage for all its workers. However, the minimum Singaporean wage is averaged at 6,792SGD/Month = N7,464,408).

Even though Rwanda and Botswana’s minimum wage per month which is RWF 56,668 (N64,602) and P1,168 (N122,056), respectively, appears meagre, the two countries have since put in place social services that cushion the masses’ suffering and put them on a developmental path. Imdeed, they are two of the fastest growing economies not only in Africa, but also in the world. We do not have such in Nigeria. Nigeria is perhaps the only country in the world that brazenly defies Isaac Newton’s Law of Motion to the effect that “what goes up must come down”. In Nigeria, once prices of good go up, they never come down.

Are these countries and us not living on the same Planet earth? We are, of course.

With the present spirally inflation, N60,000 cannot even buy one bag of rice which today sells for between N80,000 and N120,000 depending on the grade and quality.

What is the way forward from this FG-Labour face-off and stalemate? Part of the solution lies in steering a middle course between labour’s N615,500 per month demand and the FG’s proposal of N60,000 per month. This is more so having regard to the impossibility of the private sector, especially small scale businesses and private professions, having the capacity and economic wherewithal to pay such exorbitant wage. Another solution lies in public office holders making deliberate sacrifices in the midst of public angst and disenchantment by cutting down their ostentatiously vulgar lifestyle of ugly display of opulence and their sheer exhibitionism of wealth in mindless convoys of vehicles in the midst of grinding poverty and wretchedness of the masses. The Nigerian people are not happy at all. Anyone who advises the government to the contrary is nothing but a fawner, bootlicker, ego masseur, toady flatterer and clapper.

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Rivers political crisis: Fubara raves as Wike likely retreats (5)

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Wike, Fubara

By Ehichioya Ezomon 

Has the political heat in Rivers State simmered in the past week to suggest perhaps – just perhaps – that conventional wisdom has taken hold of the dramatis personae in the crisis to pull back from the precipice they’ve pushed the state in the last eight months? 
There’s nothing on the ground to suggest otherwise, even as Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, played their brand of politics at separate locations, trying to undo each other in showcasing achievements in their official jurisdictions, to mark one-year in the saddles in Rivers and Abuja, respectively.
 Amid “all the distractions from those that want to draw Rivers State backward,” Fubara invited prominent persons from within and outside Rivers – including Abia State Governor Alex Otti of the rival Labour Party (LP), and former Rivers Governor Peter Odili – to launch projects he “executed in record time, and with full payments to the contractors” – an obvious dig at Wike for allegedly failing to pay contractors for their services.
 As is the routine in Rivers governance, especially since the Wike’s helm, Fubara, using his “State of the State” address to render account of his one-year stewardship, revealed the “huge debts to contractors” that Wike left behind for his government.
At the Dr. Obi Wali International Conference Centre in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, May 29, Fubara said his administration “inherited 34 uncompleted projects, valued at over N225.279bn in 13 local government areas of the state,” adding that the contractors, who executed the 34 projects, have come to him for payments.
Fubara stated that though he inherited a state, “whose economy was on a declining trajectory despite its growth potential,” his government has changed the narrative for the better by “increasing astronomically internally-generated revenue from N12 billion to between N17 billion in off-peak periods and N28 billion during the peak months.”
 “Our liberalized business-friendly economic policies and programmes are boosting confidence and attracting local and international investors and investments into the State, judging by the expression of interest offers we receive every month.” Fubara said.
 “We have kept our taxes low, frozen the imposing of taxes on small businesses across the State, and increased the ease of doing business by eliminating bureaucratic bottlenecks. No request for the signing of a certificate of occupancy (CoO) remains in my office beyond two days, except if I am otherwise engaged beyond two days or out of town.
 “We have established a N4 billion matching fund with the Bank of Industry (BOI), to support existing and new micro, small, and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) to grow their businesses to drive economic growth and create jobs and wealth for citizens. Over 3,000 citizens and residents have applied to access this loan to fund their businesses at a single-digit interest rate, and a repayment period of up to five years.”
Commissioning the completed projects – mostly inherited from the Wike administration (2015-2023) – the invited guests heaped praises on Fubara, not only for achieving commendable strides within a short time, but also for “liberating Rivers State” from Wike’s stranglehold – the same Wike that some of the invitees had praised to the heavens barely a year ago. 
  For instance, Dr Odili, an erstwhile ally of Wike, noted that Fubara “has taken full control of governance in the State,” stressing that the governor is “focusing on the people” in line with his chosen mantra: ‘People First’. It’s on Saturday, May 25, at the inauguration of the dualised Omoku-Egbema road in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area (ONELGA) of the state.
 An elated Odili even predicted a seamless second-term election for Fubara in 2027, and urged him to remain focused on the people, giving succour to the less-privileged and hope to those who do not have anyone to help them go through life’s challenges.
 “I can tell our people that the next election is very far, but what the Governor has done so far, is enough to secure the support of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area going forward,” Odili said. “Thank you, Your Excellency, because the greatest assets of the State remain the people, not oil and gas.
 “The people of Rivers are behind you, rallying support for you because they trust you, believing in what you say and convinced that you mean whatever you say,” Odili said, adding, “I want to agree with you that the sky would become the takeoff point of your administration.”
Relatedly in Abuja, it’s Wike’s days in the sky. Though he didn’t have the luxury of throwing brickbats at Fubara – and there’s no surrogates to do same for him – Wike had the rare privilege of enlisting President Bola Tinubu to launch some of the projects that were “abandoned for decades,” and received applause from Tinubu for returning and restoring Abuja’s Master Plan, and transforming the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
On Tuesday, May 28, at the commissioning of the Southern Parkway, which Wike proclaimed as “Bola Ahmed Tinubu Way” – a crucial infrastructure project that’s dormant for 13 years before Wike’s intervention – the President described the minister’s vision as “inspiring many and yielding remarkable results in the FCT.”
Tinubu said: “Barr Nyesom Wike, ‘Mr. Project,’ thank you for giving us this home and for your sincere commitment to shared values. Your revolutionary vision is inspiring many and yielding remarkable results in the FCT.”
Highlighting the significance of the road, the President said, “The Southern Parkway not only connects vital areas within the FCT, but also symbolises our collective aspirations for connectivity, ease of livelihood, and progress. This road will enhance mobility, ease traffic congestion, and spur economic development for residents and visitors alike.
“Infrastructure is an enabler of jobs, economic growth, and prosperity. We are committed to building a world-class capital city, and the completion of this road is a testament to that commitment. Making our citizens the central focus of our development is crucial for Nigeria’s success,” Tinubu stated.
Earlier, Wike noted: “This landmark project is the first amongst nine visionary projects scheduled for commissioning by Mr. President in the coming days. It represents a significant milestone in our collective efforts to enhance the infrastructure and livability of our great capital and her inhabitants.
“As we mark the first year of your transformative leadership, Mr. President, this event underscores our shared commitment to progress, innovation, and the enduring prosperity of Nigeria.”

Yet, the make-for-the-cameras pomp and ceremony, razzmatazz, accolades, hand-pumping and backslapping by politicians in Port Harcourt and Abuja are but a temporary relief or diversion to mask the “real politic” in Rivers, where Governor Fubara’s fighting the battle of his life to cage Chief Wike, and save his governorship and political career heading into the 2027 General Election. 
The fourth installment of this article on Monday, May 27, 2024, examined two strategies that Fubara could adopt to handle Wike and his sacked loyal members of the Rivers Assembly, and local council chairmen, whose tenure ends in June 2024, but have vowed to remain in office until “elected officials” were installed in the Rivers local councils. Below’s a recap:

First, Fubara could evict the lawmakers from the Rivers State House of Assembly Residential Quarters in Port Harcourt – where they and their families domicile, and use as a legislative chamber – to deny them the venue and avenue to make laws and/or plot his impeachment.
Second, Fubara could copy his counterparts, and withhold the lawmakers’ emoluments, and allocations to the legislature – as he’s allegedly done to the April 2024 allocations to the councils – to checkmate the legislators, whose seats have lately been redeclared “vacant” by a Rivers High Court.
Let’s now proceed to interrogate the remaining measures, beginning with the Third, as follows: When push comes to shove, Fubara could muscle the pro-Wike lawmakers by physical attacks on them, their homes and businesses, the aim being to overraw, and hound them, to sabotage their plans to make his government ungovernable, and pave the way for his impeachment – the aim of the lawmakers from onset of the Rivers crisis.
Recall Fubara’s declaration about the lawmakers early in 2024: “I think it has gotten to a time when I need to make a statement on this thing, so that they (lawmakers) understand that they are not existing. Their existence and whatever they have been doing is because I allowed them to do so. If I don’t recognise them, they are nowhere. That is the truth.
“I can say here, with all amount of boldness, I have never called any police man anywhere to go and harass anybody. I have never gone anywhere to ask anybody to do anything against anybody. 

“Even when I have all the instruments of State powers, I have shown restraint, I have acted as a big brother in the course of this crisis. I have not acted like a young man that may want the house to be destroyed but, I have behaved like a mature young man that I am.
 “This is because I know that no meaningful development will be achieved in an atmosphere of crisis. And because our intention for Rivers State is to build on the foundation that had been laid by our past leaders, it will be wrong for me to take the path of promoting crisis.”
Interpreted, the pro-Wike lawmakers – already in the lurch over series of court rulings sacking and re-sacking them, and voiding all legislative actions they took in the course of the Rivers crisis – shouldn’t underrate Fubara’s powers and resolve – if pushed against the wall – to roar like the lion, attack like the hyena and bite like the crocodile!
Barring any “political earthquake” this week in the Rivers crisis, the remaining measures Fubara could deploy to arrest Wike’s alleged hegemonic hold on Rivers State will be interrogated in the next installment of this running header!

  • Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria

Sent from my iPad. Ehichioya
Ezomon.

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Nemesis as a short distance runner

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Mammoth crowd with Emir Sanusi in Kano Today after Juma'at prayer

By Tunde Olusunle

When he flung Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, (SLS) out of the window of the Emir’s palace in Kano four years ago, Abdullahi Ganduje would have least imagined what is playing out today. Ganduje was the “Lord of the Manor” in Kano State, the all-powerful chief executive. Recall video clips of Ganduje allegedly stuffing wads and packs of crisp, mint-fresh dollar bills into the bottomless pocket of his babanriga ahead of the 2019 general elections. They were reportedly gifted to him by some contractor ally of the erstwhile Kano governor who was repaying a good turn. Graphic and unassailable as that short motion picture was, former President Muhammadu Buhari who rode into office on the camelback of now suspect integrity in 2015, volunteered a baffling defence for Ganduje. He swore Ganduje was most probably participating in a Kannywood movie, the way the film industry up North is described. Buhari who has never been known to operate a tablet, nay a notepad, suggested that advanced technology could actually simulate what we all saw in that short clip!

Ganduje was the prototype alagbara ma m’ero as we say in Yoruba. This interpretes as the “maximally muscular, minimally reasonable.” He fought a few other prominent Kano leaders during his heydays in Government House. Recall he carried his unabated squabbles with one of his predecessors, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to the State House, Aso Villa, during the early weeks of the Bola Tinubu government. Told on one occasion that Kwankwaso was in a particular section of Aso Rock same time as he was in the complex, a vexed Ganduje said Kwankwaso should consider himself fortunate. He said he, Ganduje would have slapped Kwankwaso if he sighted him in the Villa! That would have caused a scene in Nigeria’s seat of power. I’m now just imagining how Tinubu would be trying to restrain Ganduje, in the forecourt of the office of the President, while Vice President Kashim Shettima will be pulling at Kwankwaso’s agbada in a bid to manage the situation.

Ganduje reportedly considered Sanusi too independent-minded and outspoken for a natural ruler. Sanusi was governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), before being appointed Emir in 2014. He had always had a radical streak about him which culminated in his suspension as CBN head in 2014 for blowing the whistle on the theft of $20 Billion in accruals from crude oil sales. As Emir he considered aspects of the religious and cultural practices of his emirate repugnant. He opposed the “ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam” in some parts of northern Nigeria, which discouraged girl-child education, family planning, even inoculation against potential healthcare afflictions. He had reservations about the style of Ganduje as governor and didn’t put a veil over his dislike for the return of Ganduje to Government House in 2019.

He believed Ganduje shouldn’t have made it back if the poll was fairly and transparently conducted. March 9, 2020, Ganduje upended Sanusi. He was accused of negatively impacting the sanctity, culture, tradition, religion and prestige of the Kano emirate, and disrespecting the governor’s office. He was also alleged to have disposed of property belonging to the state and the misappropriated of the proceeds. It was a case of digging several manholes for a prey in a bid to ensure he falls into one of the several traps. He was summarily banished to Nasarawa State for effect. Sanusi sought reprieve in the courts which ruled it was an overkill to fling him to a remote community faraway from his family and more accustomed home in Lagos. Within a few days, Nasir El Rufai, Sanusi’s longstanding friend who was governor of Kaduna State, personally enforced the evacuation of Sanusi from Awe local government area in Nasarawa State.

For whatever his contributions were to the emergence of Tinubu as president after the 2023 polls, Ganduje believed he would be compensated with a ministerial slot in the former’s regime. Like Nyesom Wike, David Umahi, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, Atiku Bagudu, Simon Lalong, former governors of Rivers, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kebbi and Plateau states, Ganduje dusted his curriculum vitae to pitch for a slot on Tinubu’s federal executive council. His five colleagues in the “2015 – 2019- 2023 class of governors” made the cut, not Ganduje. Tinubu spontaneously made him chairman of the All Progressives Congress, (APC], the vehicle which delivered him as president. Abdullahi Adamu his predecessor and former governor of Nasarawa State was, as has become standard practice in Nigeria’s notorious political rule book, schemed out and compelled to resign from office.

If Ganduje ever thought his chairmanship of the APC was going to be a walk in the park, he was thoroughly mistaken. Indeed, he’s grossed sufficient experience in his present office to know that there are sharp differences between wholesale insulation in Government House, and the inevitable overexposure of party leadership. Last April, a faction of the APC in Ganduje’s primary “Ganduje ward” in Dawakin Tofa local government area of his home state, Kano, suspended him from the party. Haladu Gwanjo, legal adviser of Ganduje’s ward led some party leaders to pronounce the suspension. They advocated the return of the national chairmanship of the APC to the north central zone, where Ganduje’s predecessor, Adamu, hails from. The young Turks canvassed due process in party administration, consistent with the “renewed hope” mantra of the APC. Ganduje made a hurried recourse to the law courts for momentary reprieve.

Thursday May 23, 2024, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was reinstated as Emir of Kano by Ganduje’s successor in Kano State, Abba Yusuf. His cousin and successor, Aminu Ado-Bayero, was unceremoniously removed from office. The splinter emirates created by Ganduje in his bid to whittle down Sanusi’s authority as prime monarch in Kano, were similarly dissolved. The edifice which Ganduje built four years ago was apparently built of straw and spittle. Governor Abba Yusuf is a product of the Kwankwasiya political tendency in Kano politics, a creation of Rabiu Kwankwaso. Those who know a little about Nigerian politics will recall that Kwankwaso’s emergence in our politics, predates the fourth republic. He was an ardent student of the talakawa political orientation, pioneered by the venerable Kano-born leader, Aminu Kano. Kwankwaso was Deputy Speaker in the House of Representatives of the Ibrahim Babangida political experimentation of 1992 to 1993.

Whereas the Kwankwasiya movement had long been entrenched, it was not until the run-up to the 2023 elections that Kwankwaso adopted a new platform, the Nigeria National People’s Party, (NNPP), on which he is espousing the populist philosophy of the Kwankwasiya brigade. Abba Yusuf rode to office on the back of this invention. It was the same way Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu the famous Biafran war lord, established the All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA) in Anambra State. The party has remained a force in the politics of the state and indeed the south east. It has produced three Anambra governors in succession, notably Peter Obi, Willie Obiano and the incumbent Chukwuma Soludo.

Abba Yusuf has made no pretences about his disdain for Ganduje and everything he represents. Much as some of Yusuf’s early actions in office were generally perceived as wasteful, he nonetheless brought down as many edifices in Kano as bore the imprimatur of Ganduje. The “Kano golden jubilee roundabout” built to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the creation of Kano State and structures built inside the filin sukuwa, (Kano race course), were hewn on Yusuf’s orders. The hajj camp which was reportedly bastardised by Ganduje who allegedly parcelled parts of it to his friends and associates was equally felled. There were suggestions that the value of the demolitions carried out by Yusuf could be in excess of N200Billion. Such is the anti-Ganduje sentiment in contemporary Kano State.

The way and manner the legacies of Abdullahi Ganduje are unravelling in Kano State should serve as a lesson to the shortsighted, incapable of seeing beyond the bridges of their nose. History is replete with the deconstruction of many leaders after their rulership and indeed keeps repeating itself in our sociopolitical experience. Those who are not circumspect, however, are too distracted by the allure and bliss of their immediate office, to think. They continue to drift, blunder and flounder, unmindful that time is their ultimate nemesis. Ganduje is just one year out of office, yet many of the decisions he made while in power for eight years are being unmade and thrown at his face like rotten tomatoes.

Until I joined him on the table he was seated at a wedding reception we both attended in Lagos a few weeks back, Rotimi Amaechi, governor of the oil-affluent Rivers State for eight years and Transportation Minister for another eight years was a lonely man. It turned out we flew back to Abuja on the same flight same evening after the event and sat not too far from each other. He opened the overhead locker atop his seat to bring out his luggage himself. Is anyone following the Yahaya Bello saga? He mindlessly trampled upon the hapless heads of his constituents in Kogi State for eight unbroken years? He left office last January and life has not been the same again. He has been declared wanted by at least one anti-graft agency. He will be arraigned in the rectangular, wood-panelled cubicle of the courtroom in a fortnight. A lesson for all.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, is a Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA)

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