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Yoruba Nation agitators: ‘Omoluwabi’ triumph in Oyo invasion by ‘ọmọ àlè’

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By Ehichioya Ezomon

It’s no surprise that Nigeria’s plethora of security agencies – due to their remarkable lack of capacity for intelligence gathering, and non-proactive approach to nipping potential untoward happenings in the bud – missed the planning and execution of the siege to the Government Secretariat in Ibadan, capital city of Oyo State, where so-called Yoruba Nation agitators hoisted their Flag for a proclaimed creation of “Democratic Republic of the Yoruba” on Saturday, April 13, 2024. 
As one of the arrested (or surrendered) suspects – a 55-year-old lecturer at a Federal College of Education – revealed, membership of the Yoruba movement is spread across Yoruba-speaking states, noting that, “Our leaders went to all Yoruba-speaking states to serve officials letters written and we were given our copies. Then the proclamation was made and after the declaration, occupation, and notification to the world that Yoruba is an indigenous nation.”
Yet, overt and secret security operatives missed the publicised mobilisation for the agitators’ D-Day – or they never took it seriously, or were in cahoots with and sympathetic to their cause – until the storm almost blew in the faces of law-abiding citizens of Oyo State, the South-West and Nigeria at large.
Despite their “treasonable” felonious action – as pronounced by Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, and the state Commissioner of Police Adebola Hamzat – Nigerians should be grateful though that the armed agitators for a Yoruba Nation weren’t out for real mischief but a somewhat show of symbolism, knowing they’d be challenged eventually. Otherwise, there’d have been “wailing and gnashing of teeth,” as they wreak untold havoc before security operatives rouse themselves from inertia.
Forget the chest-beating by the governor on April 16 – when he received in his office the 46th General Officer Commanding the 2 Mechanised Division, Odogbo Barracks, Ibadan, Maj. Gen. Obinna Onubogu – that, “the Emergency Security Response was activated and it worked. The response was quick, and timely and I believe the hoodlums and miscreants met something that was beyond their imagination. Within one hour, everything was under control. And we are grateful for the timely response.”
Also, discountenance the Police bragadocio that, “the agitators turned violent and opened fire on the Police, and a detachment of Amotekun corps was present. The Police responded and were joined by Operation Burst Patrol teams and Personnel of other security agencies, who suppressed the treason and dealt with the agitators in line with Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).” 
Wonders! If the agitators opened fire and the Police responded, how many people on both sides were injured or killed? None reported! lf the Police were that capable, efficient and alive to their responsibilities, why literally escort the heavily-armed “miscreants” – dressed in some sort of military camouflage – in their whirlwind journey to the Government Secretariat that houses the Governor’s Office and State House of Assembly, where they hoisted their Flag? Didn’t the Police guess they’re headed in that direction, and should’ve striven to cut them off before they got there?
And why did the Police ask the “miscreants to dispatch” (go away) until they “turned violent and opened fire” on operatives? Would the Police have allowed the agitators to go scot-free, if they’d dispersed “peacefully” from their intent to forcefully overthrow a democratically-elected government, in breach of the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria?
The efficiency or lack of it of Nigeria’s security architecture isn’t the theme here, but the near-universal condemnation of the agitators by the Yoruba, for bringing opprobrium to the ethnic group that’s the beacon of democracy and intellectual discourse of any issues that will reshape the structure of the Nigerian federation.
From the umbrella Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, to the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE); from leading Yoruba Nation activists, Prof. Banji Akintoye of Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide and Chief Sunday Adeyemo (alias Sunday Igboho) (who distanced themselves from the invasion), to Governor Makinde and his government; and from former Military Governor and ex-Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Olabode George and other prominent Yoruba individuals and groups, it’s wholesale repudiation of the Yoruba Nation agitators, their leaders and sponsors.
The denial of involvement by Igboho and Akintoye is germane because of their prime leadership role in and links to the struggle for Yoruba self-determination. Reacting via a Facebook Live, Igboho said: “I know nothing about it (invasion) and I don’t know those behind it… Any person that said he is agitating for Yoruba Nation and is going to attack government facilities, that person or group is on his own; I don’t know anything about it.”
Similarly, Akintoye alleged that another separatist leader (name withheld) was behind the incident in Oyo State, saying, “I have spoken to Sunday Igboho. Some people sent them (agitators) to make sure that they disrupt the Yoruba self-determination struggle. I was informed a few minutes ago that some people… have come to take over the government of Yorubaland, and that they have arrived in Ibadan. We, in this struggle, don’t act in that manner.”
Top on the series of excoriation came on April 17 from President Bola Tinubu – a Yoruba and unarguably one of the most influential pro-democracy activists of this generation – who, read the riot act to the agitators and similar cohorts that, those threatening Nigeria’s sovereignty “will have a price to pay.”
Tinubu, hosting a delegation of Afenifere at the State House, Abuja, including its leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, and Oba Olu Falae – on a solidarity visit aftermath of the Yoruba Nation agitators’ invasion of Oyo – said that, “I am irrevocably committed to the unity of Nigeria and constitutional democracy. Those who think they can threaten the sovereignty of Nigeria will have themselves to blame. They have a price to pay. And we are not going to relent.”
Besides the Police declaring wanted the alleged “mastermind” and a former wife of the winner of the military annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election, the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola (GCFR) – whose family members have disowned the woman’s action in what many concerned Yoruba describe as a “coup d’etat” that should be punished under the relevant laws – the Oyo State government, by court orders, has demolished a building identified as “operational base” of the Yoruba Nation agitators, and several other buildings used as hideouts in Ibadan.
Till this moment – over one week after the brazing incident in Ibadan – no Yoruba leader or group has backed the effrontry of the agitators. There’ve been no charge by the agitators or their supporters and sympathisers that they’re put down forcefully by the federal and state governments, and security agencies.  
No allegations of scores or hundreds of the agitators killed and injured, and no claims of suppression, victimisation, marginalisation and ethnic cleasing of the Yoruba race in Nigeria. No malicious reports to, and calls for intervention of external bodies, such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU), Commonwealth of Nations, United Nations, and the International Criminal Court (ICC). 
No calls on the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Australia and Japan to exert their political, economic, diplomatic and military powers on Nigeria and back the agitators for a Yoruba Nation. Nor have there been calls on the Nigerian military to overthrow the government of President Tinubu for threatening to deal with those troubling the territorial integrity of Nigeria.
What Nigerians have heard and seen so far – and which’s worthy of emulation by other sections of the country – is the Yoruba leading by example on how individuals and groups should conduct themselves in a complex multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-linguistic society as Nigeria’s for a peaceful and harmonious coexistence.
It’s apt to quote a post on X (formerly Twitter) by a social commentator and best-selling author, Mr. Reno Omokiri,  @renoomokiri, on the Yoruba Nation agitators’ saga. He states that, “to understand why the Yoruba are the most influential and the wealthiest people in Nigeria, study how they (not the Federal Government) dealt with the so-called Yoruba Nation agitators, who tried to cause havoc and chaos in Ibadan last week.”
“First of all, the families of those involved publicly denounced them. In fact, one of the affected families took out an advert. That is to show you social responsibility at the family level,” Mr Omokiri says.
“Then, the society rose against them, with community members forging them out and pointing out their properties and hideouts to the authorities. That demonstrates social cohesion and a society with a secure moral fabric. Secessionists can only operate where there is local support. If there is no local support, they will evaporate. 
“Next, the State Government did not wait for the Federal Government or their agencies. In less than a week, they had arrested all of those involved, demolished their properties and brought criminal charges against them. That is evidence of a responsible sub-national government. 
“No prominent Yoruba came out to make excuses for these agitators, or sympathise with them. As a unit, they called them by their names – miscreants. They did not even call them Unknown Miscreants (nobody is unknown to the community, except the community wants to hide behind one finger). They named and shamed them!”
The totality of how the Yoruba rose to the occasion of the agitators’ storming of Oyo is located in “Omoluwabi” (Omoluabi) – a cultural concept that’s native to the Yoruba people. It’s used to describe a person of good character. 
The omoluabi concept, according to Wikipedia, “signifies courage, hard work, humility and respect. An omoluabi is a person of honour who believes in hard work, respects the rights of others, and gives to the community in deeds and in action. Above all, an omoluwabi is a person of integrity.”
So, in the context of the episode in Ibadan – and the pre-cautionary measures put in place in other South-West states – an omoluwabi isn’t irrational and disruptive, but calculative and deliberative in choosing and applying intellect and persuasion over brawn that’s wilfully displayed by the Yoruba Nation agitators. 
As a tweep notes in response to the @renoomokiri post, “People that bring shame to their families are called ‘ọmọ àlè’ (derogatorily, an illegitimate child, bastard) in Yoruba. Ordinarily, a properly brought-up Yoruba son brings honour to his family. We don’t do blame game in Yoruba land, we call a spade a spade. A Yoruba mother will give away (hand over) her own son if he breaks law.”
Another tweep says, “If other regions in the nation adopted this kinetic and proactive approach – terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, and other criminal vices will be reduced in the society. Will tribalism, ethnicity and religion sympathy allow them to think deeply?”
That’s the big question, as the government and security agencies delve into the remote and immediate causes of the Yoruba Nation agitators’ activities on April 13! As noted by Gen. Onubogu during his visit to Governor Makinde, “We are indeed in a period of security challenges… This incident is unfortunate, as it shows that despite the peace that exists in Oyo State, there are still sons and daughters of South-West Nigeria, who are bent on challenging Oyo State, the entire South-West as well as Nigeria as a whole.
“I have taken note of some of the gaps that preceded this incident and I want to assure you that under my watch, we will play our part to ensure that such a situation does not arise again. As our adversaries have made their intentions known, it will be foolhardy for us not to refocus and ensure the people of Oyo remain safe.” 
Investigations into the invasion shouldn’t be farfetched, as some of the arrested agitators have given the investigators leads to follow. A female agitator said those who sponsored the invasion promised to put an end to starvation in her life, adding, “the sponsors promised me and my entire family that they would empower us and that our future would be assured. Starvation would no longer be in our lives and that cost of living would automatically come down.”
Another suspect didn’t regret his action, stressing, “We all know that nothing is working in Nigeria and things are hard for everyone except those in government. We were at the Secretariat waiting for our leader to come and address us. We believe our leader knows much about the law and so we were not afraid to join when we were called upon. Our leaders told us that all challenges Yoruba are facing shall be addressed if we achieve our aim.”
And from Ondo State, where precautionary measures were taken to forestall any similar incident, a group of “Yoruba Nation Youths,” both Home and Diaspora, has told the state government – and insisted that – “they are not terrorists but a legitimate group of youths demanding Yoruba Nation, self-determination and independence.”
In closing, Governor Makinde’s words to Gen. Onubogu resonates: “Concerning the unfortunate incident, what I can say is that we must win the war, but we must also win peace. It is a challenging period!” Absolutely challenging times for Nigerians and the entire country!

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

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Opinion

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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