Opinion
Editors, Owerri and Remembrances of ‘Nkwobi’

By Tunde Olusunle, PhD
Owerri the capital of Imo State which prides itself as the “Heartland of the South East” of Nigeria, was taken up by the cream of the Nigerian media from Thursday June 15 to Saturday June 17, 2023. It was the second time in eight months that the topmost professional deck of the media will be guests of the state. Whereas the November 2022 event was the traditional annual converge of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, (NGE), the more recent event was the Biennial Convention of the body. It holds every two years to produce new leadership for the Guild. This year’s edition was simultaneously deployed for the reappraisal of issues critical to popular governance.The event therefore had as its theme: “Post 2023 Election: Promoting Professionalism for Enhancement of Democracy and Good Governance.” Hope Uzodinma, Governor of the state, was chief host.
Aircraft after airplane landed on Thursday November 15, 2023 at the Sam Mbakwe Airport, located in Umuene Obiangwu in Ngor-Okpala local government area of the state. They mostly conveyed enthusiastic delegates to the programme, from across the country. The quality, diversity and mammoth attendance at the event, belied the dreadful profiling of Imo State in particular, and the South East. The exploits of criminal perverts masquerading as unknown gunmen and militias of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB), have collaborated to paint the South East of the country black in national consciousness. That very critical segment of the country has unwittingly been dubbed the axis of bone-chilling killings, needless bloodletting, even barbaric savagery.The ride from the airport into the belly of Owerri cosmopolis was pretty smooth and uneventful. I engaged my driver in a conversation about developments in the state. The airport is a whistling ride of just about 20 minutes to Owerri and I grilled him about why that short distance cost N15,000. He attributed it to the recent removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government.
I missed the last conference of the Guild in that city, which doesn’t translate to my being a stranger to Owerri and indeed Imo State. I underwent the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps in the city between 1985 and 1986. The Owerri airport was still in gestation within the period and the singular occasion I accessed the city by air was through the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa. I concluded my trip by riding in an airport cabby which took me through Obinze which hosts the 32 Field Artillery Brigade, into Owerri. My one-year stint in Imo State, left me with sweet-savouring experiences and perfumed memories, as different from worrying contemporary realities. Apart from demystifying stereotypes about subsisting post-civil war cannibalism and similar stories in our time, I met some of my best friends till date, from that NYSC year. I was quite adventurous too, never missing opportunities to visit Oguta and board the ferry across to Awomama, inhaling the soothing breeze of the lake.
Owerri had moulted considerably as I would find out on this trip, away from what it was almost 40 years ago. I had to rely on my mental compass to identify sections of the Imo State capital with which I was hitherto very familiar. We had our four-week pre-primary assignment orientation at Alvan Ikoku College of Education on Amakohia Road. I was subsequently deployed to teach “Use of English” at the College of Technology, Nekede. Both institutions have been taken over by the federal government and summarily rechristened. I lived at Ikenegbu Layout, MCC Road, something of a highbrow section of the fledgling city and frequented the Iwuanyanwu Stadium being a soccer aficionado. With friends, notably Tony Olofu, now an Assistant Inspector General, (AIG), I watched the games of the foremost football club in the state at the time, Iwuanyanwu Nationale.
That an election was in the air was evident as you stepped into the delegates’ accreditation venue of the event at the host facility,6 Rockview Hotel, Owerri. Back in time, the hotel used to be known as Modotels a part of a hospitality chain reportedly owned by Nigeria’s Second Republic Vice President, Alex Ekwueme, before the change of ownership and its concomitant change of name. Delegates were handed flyers marketing aspirants to the various offices, even as contenders made last ditch efforts to appeal to the convictions of prospective voters. It was instructive that the polls into leadership positions in the Guild of Editors, was being taken so seriously.
Immediate past President of the Guild, Mustapha Isah welcomed delegates to the Convention. He noted that Imo State has made history by becoming the first state to host the annual conference and the biennial convention within months of each other. He expressed the collective gratitude of the Guild to Governor Hope Uzodinma who he noted is an authentic friend of the body. Justifying the theme of the convention, Isah noted that it was auspicious to appraise the performance of the media during the recent general elections. It is equally important, he said for the media to gird its loins to hold public officers to account, vis-a-vis their electoral pledges and promises during the electioneering.
Isah highlighted the myriad of tempests plaguing the media within the context of an underperforming economy. His words: “This convention is holding at a time the media in Nigeria is facing enormous challenges. The cost of newsprint and broadcast equipment is prohibitive. The economy is underperforming making it impossible for media organisations to generate enough revenue from adverts and sales. I don’t even want to delve into the challenge posed by online media.” Isah alluded to federal government bailouts to some sectors of the economy which has not been extended to the media. He submitted that the media as a realm empowered to serve as watchdog to the establishment cannot be best of allies with the state. He enjoined the press to push back attempts at its asphyxiation and continue to perform its assigned responsibilities.
Host Governor, Uzodinma expressed the gratitude of the state to a preeminent body like the Nigerian Guild of Editors for preferring Imo State to other options, by scheduling two major events back to back, in Imo State. Owerri, he noted is the “hospitality capital of the South East.” He commended the Guild for courageously choosing a subject of common interest to all Nigerians such as the interrogation of reportage of the last elections. Said Uzodinma: “I’m impressed that you have chosen this path of self-examination which I consider germane in our collective bid to enhance good governance and strengthen our democracy.” According to Uzodinma, “while the media has the responsibility of holding public officers to account, they should in addition encourage government through constructive criticism and well-intentioned suggestions on how things could be done differently to achieve better results.”
Uzodinma used the opportunity to showcase the successes of his administration. A booklet titled Imo State Is Looking Up In All Sectors which contained his address, highlights highpoints of his administration. These include prompt payment of salaries and pensions, and the prosecution of a “prosperity agenda encapsulated in a three-dimensional pursuit of reconstruction, rehabilitation and recovery” of the state.” He alluded to massive dualisation of roads in the state capital and across the three senatorial zones. Uzodinma also alluded to the ongoing dredging of Oguta Lake-Orashi River-Degema-Atlantic ocean mega project, which includes a river port. He noted that upon completion, the project will re-energise the economy of the South East.
It was dark when the day’s itinerary wound down. It was too late to begin to attempt a nighttime quest for our street-side ugba, nkwobi, okporoko and angharan joints of old. A feast of isi-ewu typically required “Bretton Woods stakeholder’s collaboration” between interested parties to fund, so it was an occasional indulgence. My accommodation was reserved at the Immaculate Hotel on the Owerri-Port Harcourt Road. I could still remember the direction of Orlu Road which now spots an impressive shopping centre, Market Square, where I picked up some analgesics. To our left on a slight elevation as we drove towards the hotel, was a monument from Nigeria’s civil war past, called Control Post those fiesty years. The name has stuck ever since even as the landmark is now host to Assumpta Cathedral, Owerri, a huge Catholic facility. Oga’m, you be ama’ala o, di way you still sabi dis places, my driver smiled, saluting my geographical currency.
The Owerri convention was a veritable forum for reunion amongst several generations and tendencies in the profession. An estimated 400 financial members of the Guild attended the Owerri convention. Elder statesmen at the event included Olusegun Osoba, FNGE, CON, former Managing Director of the Daily Times of Nigeria and two-time Governor of Ogun State, who was “Father of the Day.” Onyema Ugochukwu, FNGE, CON, a former Executive Director of the same organisation and pioneer Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC), equally graced the event.
Canice Nwachukwu and Akarachi Amadi, both Members of the House of Representatives, honoured the convention. Tunde Awobiyi, Eluem Emeka-Izeze; Atah Manyan of Ossomala, Anambra State, Igwe Victor Awaogu; Baba Dantiye, mni; John Araka; Lanre Idowu; John Ndukauba; Dupe Ajayi-Gbadebo; Isaac Ighure; Gbenga Adefaye; James Akpandem; Taiwo Obe; Eniola Bello; Bayo Onanuga; Gbemiga Ogunleye; Hakeem Bello, all Fellows of the Guild, were present. There were also Funke Egbemode, (former President of the Guild and immediate past Commissioner in Osun State); Gbenga Oni-Olusola; Raheem Adedoyin, Martins Oloja; Tunde Rahman, Lanre Ogundipe, Kenneth Ugbechie and Lanre Arogundade. Steve Omanufeme, Gbenga Onayiga, Gbenga Adesina, Uju Ejeye, Jide Ajani, Angela Agoawike, Funke Atohengbe, Steve Nwosu, Gbenga Aruleba, Yemisi Fadairo, Eddy Odivwri, Soni Daniel, Tony Iyare, Kelly Elisha, equally attended the Owerri converge.
Eze Anaba, Editor of Vanguard daily newspaper, emerged the new President of the Guild. Husseina Bangshika of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, (FRCN), was returned as Deputy President, while Sheddy Ozoene was elected Vice President, (East); Kabir Alabi Garba, Vice President (West) and Umoru Ibrahim became Vice President (North). Iyobosa Uwugiaren was reelected General Secretary; Gabriel Akinadewo Assistant Secretary; Charles Kalu, Social/Publicity Secretary and Steve Nwosu is Treasurer. The Standing Committee Members are: Dom Isute (East); Chinedu Egere, Onuoha Ukeh, Rose Moses and Wole Sogunle, all Members of the Standing Committee for the West. Paulyn Ugbodaga and Mohammed Sanusi emerged Members of the Standing Committee for the North. The newly emplaced Eze Anaba-led national executive of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, is expected to impact the body within the next two years, before the next biennial convention.
Tunde Olusunle, PhD, poet, journalist, scholar and author is a Member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, (NGE)
Opinion
The Labour strike and FG’S Inertia – The way forward

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

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.
Opinion
Nemesis as a short distance runner

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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