The first time I ever came close to Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje was in April 2013 when we stayed on the same floor, in the same hotel in Mecca, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Both of us were there for the Lesser-Hajj (Umrah) with members of our families. Within that brief period, I formed a very positive opinion of the man, who at that time was the Deputy Governor of Kano State.
That informs why when, two years later, his boss and outgoing governor, Engineer Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, was dragging his feet in anointing Ganduje to become the gubernatorial flag-bearer of the PDP for the 2015 election, I was most displeased. I was one of those who vowed to ask Ganduje to contest for the governorship on another political party’s platform if PDP, or Kwankwaso, would not allow him a shot at that office. As fate would have it, wise counsel prevailed, and Ganduje not only became the gubernatorial flag-bearer, but ended up winning the election for the first time.
I was also one of those who were ready to forgive Ganduje even when the dollar video surfaced and eventually went viral. For me, and certainly for majority of Kano citizens, Ganduje was one of the highest performing governors throughout the Nigerian federation.
But as Umar bn Khattab, one of the four Guided Caliphs of Prophet Muhammad said, the best love you can show to a leader is to tell him the bitter truth. Since Ganduje is still in power, I am sure all those serving as commissioners or aides in his administration will readily claim to be in love with him. I admit there are some of them that truly love and care for the Kano governor. But I doubt if in the entire executive council of Kano State today, or the House of Assembly for that matter, there is even one person who could guide the governor by telling him the bitter truth.
I do not by this advocate for a confrontation with the governor. Far from it. I am talking about finding someone out of the pack telling Ganduje about the very negative publicity he is unnecessarily generating for himself since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in Kano, when he constituted a task force and made his daughter, yes, I mean his biological daughter, a certain Dr. Amina Ganduje, a key member of that task force.
One of the very reasons it is ethically wrong to involve members of one’s family in governance is that of conflict of interest. Sadly, in Kano today, I wonder whether those close to Governor Ganduje are telling him that he is fast losing respect by allegations that he has allowed members of his immediate family to be dictating the path of governance in the state. The most accused person in that regard is his beloved and dutiful wife, Dr. Hafsat Ganduje.
The popular belief in the streets of Kano today is that the wife is the de facto governor of the state. Rightly or wrongly, people in Kano assign in the woman immense powers, with some of them even saying you get things done faster when you get her buy-in on anything under the sky. In other words, the fear of Dr. Hafsat Ganduje is the beginning of wisdom. One wonders whether Governor Ganduje has forgotten that he has twice sworn by the Holy Qur’an, when taking his oath of office, to govern Kano without affection or ill-will, and without fear or favour.
The preponderance of opinion in Kano today is that the governor, with all due respect, goofed by involving his young daughter in the state’s task force on COVID-19. It would even have mattered very little if the daughter were not exercising unwieldy influence on the task force, with people saying that nothing gets done unless the daughter approves of it. Of course, this claim has been denied by one or two members of the task force, but who knows whether they were directed to do so?
I know that, as a journalist and a columnist for that matter, I ought to have taken the needed steps to establish the veracity of these claims. But what is of primary concern to me is the fact that the governor is the very person who is, by his actions (and inactions) particularly on this matter that has everything to do with life and death, providing his enemies the potent weapons with which they are now mercilessly attacking him. If he had gone beyond emotion to ensure his daughter remained at bay at her duty post in the hospital where she worked, no one would have raised a finger against him. Certainly, Kano is blessed with doctors and professors in the health sector who could do far better than Amina Ganduje, if given the chance. There is no question about that.
With the involvement of Amina Ganduje in the management of COVID-19 in the state, and of course owing also to bad politics, many now ridiculously see the whole thing as a scam, especially as management of the pandemic involves big money. Already, before the first index case was found in Kano, many in the state did not believe the coronavirus pandemic existed. Those that think it does have the erroneous impression that it is an ailment for the rich and the powerful and that, since they are commoners, they are naturally immune from it.
Kano is a state that is always politically-charged. Now the danger facing Governor Ganduje is that everything that goes wrong in his government’s efforts to curtail the spread of coronavirus will be readily hanged around his neck and that of his daughter. Even for a serving governor, I do not think this is a joke.
One day, Ganduje will round off his tenure of office and leave that position. It would then be Judgement Day for him. At that time, he would look at his left and right and find that all those cheering him today have disappeared into thin air. Some of them would even make desperate efforts to join his traduces. It has happened to his predecessors, even those that were far more circumspect, and there is simply no way my governor could escape the verdict of history. The image of a former governor and his wife and daughter in prison is one which I, for one, do not wish for Ganduje. But then only he can help himself in this regard.
For me, and I am sure I am speaking for millions of Kano people, Governor Ganduje should summon the courage to ask his family members to stay off the course of governance and play only advisory roles, if necessary. They should never be seen to be the ones dictating affairs in a strategic state like Kano. If any of them wants to be in government and dictate the course of affairs, let him or her contest for elections in 2023.
I produce herewith excerpts from an article penned by a senior brother in the journalism profession, the irrepressible Malam Bala Ibrahim. The headline of the piece is “Ganduje Denial: When It Helps”:
Once again, Kano State government has denied the reported spike in deaths in the state.
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who was interviewed via Skype on NTA television last (Wednesday) night, said the reported spike in deaths and burials were orchestrated by traders of fake news. Ganduje said his administration had carried out some investigations, and the results or findings came contrary to the submissions of the press. Good, very good, Your Excellency.
The governor did not stop there, as he further disclosed that he had already signed into effect an Act that would lead to the arrest and prosecution of those spreading fake news on COVID-19. “There has been no unusual death in Kano State and I want to confirm that the reported deaths are not related to COVID-19. We have only one death arising from the pandemic so far.” Good, very good, Your Excellency.
I don’t know if there is any difference in the spelling of the word death, be it death by coronavirus, death due to over-feeding, over-drinking or over-airconditioning in the other room. The bottom line is that people are dying, and so the press said.
Like every action, denial has its own repercussion, because it’s just a coping mechanism that gives one time to adjust to distressing situations. It’s one thing to deny and a different thing to stay in denial, particularly where the challenges are dynamic.
If you are in denial, you are simply trying to protect yourself by refusing to accept the truth about something that’s happening. Denial results in a delayed response, which, in this case, would lead to increase in the growth of infections.
Psychologists say, in some cases, initial short-term denial can be a good thing, giving you time to adjust to a painful or stressful issue. But denial has a dark side.
Refusing to acknowledge that something is wrong can be a sign that something is wrong with you, because you may be battling with emotional stress, painful thoughts, that may perhaps be related to some conflicts of interest.
Since his return for the second time as the Governor of Kano, Ganduje has been under terrible tension, exerted politically from the outside, and allegedly mounted materially from the other room. It’s, therefore, not surprising if he acts the way he is acting.
Certainly, when it comes to speed in enacting and executing laws, particularly Kangaroo laws, directed at, or intended to punish minor violations, the government of Ganduje is highly celebrated and undoubtedly unsurpassed.
Also, when it comes to the denial of justice or acting in contempt of court orders, the dictum in the government is, justice denied is justice delivered. Good, very good Your Excellency.
However, it is important to draw the attention of His Excellency to one important issue, which is the issue of over-stretching the elasticity of power, particularly power under democracy. The governor might have succeeded in enacting and signing laws in seconds, and use the same laws with the same speed to dethrone an Emir without qualms, but it must not escape His Excellency’s mind to know that, with the press, it would be a humiliatingly lost battle, long before the start of the fight. Like no one had succeeded anywhere, it would never succeed in Kano State.
His Excellency’s advisers on legal and chieftaincy matters were probably not experienced or courageous enough to point out the consequences of the previous transgression, but his Commissioner of Information, who was one time the national president of the NUJ, and who knows the extent of confidence and boldness of the press, alongside the audacity of the members of the profession to resist intimidation, would surely advise him right.
The commissioner knows the magnitude of the stomachache he had with his colleagues on the suppressed scandal involving the governor, his principal. As such, he would never key into such mistake, no matter the power of influence, or the pressure behind the planned misdemeanor.
It may interest His Excellency to know that, while the governor is denying the deaths, Abuja is not ready to do so, because they know and appreciate the value of lives.
At a press briefing yesterday, Wednesday, the chairman, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said the rising cases of coronavirus in Kano State have continued to be of concern to the government, and they would not allow it to be downplayed. I hope Boss Mustapha would not be among those to be charged under the planned law on fake news.
His Excellency also needs to be advised to extend the planned act of arrest to all complainants, including the medics that are in the frontline. The name of the director of the Centre for Infectious Diseases Research, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Prof. Isah Abubakar, must be the first on that list.
Professor Isah was among those that were patriotic enough to alert the nation that the centre had run out of essentials like test kits, reagents, etc. From the body language of Governor Ganduje on the television yesterday, that sounds like fake news.
There is the need for Governor Ganduje to borrow a leaf from the mistakes of President Donald Trump, who has consistently underplayed the severity of the coronavirus and its impact on America in particular, and the world in general. After a long period of denials and downplaying the catastrophe, America is now at a great loss, as millions of people are out of work, the nation is under lockdown, the healthcare system is on the brink of collapse, while many are dying daily due to the denials of Donald.
The governor should not only know the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak, but also what happens when leaders deny its severity. Their actions, or rather inactions, would make the pandemic worse, and all of us less safe, including the content of the other room.
Benjamin Franklin said, those who fail to prepare are prepared to fail. Denial and failing to plan go hand in hand with planning to fail.
I hope by these denials, Governor Ganduje is not planning to fail. Because that would hurt, more than help the state.