Abdullahi Ganduje is the governor of Kano State. Some say he’s a damn good man. Others see in him the rustic prototype of everything that is bad in Kano. Yet, there are some who only remember him as a lover of the Greenback. They even coined a name for him: Gandollar. I disagree with all of the above theorists.
I think Ganduje is better prefixed as a trader. A dealer who minds every column in the ledger. Perhaps, a fiendish capitalist. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and the swirl of strange deaths stalking the streets and homes in Kano, what comes to Ganduje is the balance sheet. He’s concerned more about how much money comes to his state; not the harvest of deaths and its concomitant sting of pain to bereaved families. His attitude is symptomatic of a man more in love with lucre than life.
There are many reasons to think Ganduje cares less for life. First, he was in strident denial of the pandemic. Knowing the population of his state and the low literacy among residents, Ganduje ought to have joined states like Lagos and Ogun in effecting a lockdown and engaging in state-wide public enlightenment. He indulged the people to their own hurt. Was he playing the populist card by his ill-informed obstinacy? May be. But it was foolish audacity. No serious leader should contemplate that in the heat of a pandemic. While it can be argued that the Federal Government acted late in shutting down the Nigerian airspace and land borders to constrict the chances of the exotic disease coming into the country, the greater slumber and tardiness rest in Governor Ganduje’s indiscretion.
He dilly-dallied for long. He gambled with people’s lives, the people he was elected to protect. Lockdown, social distancing, regular washing of hand are protocols recommended by the World Health Organisation, WHO. It was never a political recipe by any political party. Lockdown is an abridgement of people’s freedom but it was a necessary evil in the circumstance. It’s better to lose our freedom of movement and live than to have it and die. Like most Nigerians, I choose to be marooned at home to stay alive than to be granted the liberty to be anywhere and everywhere but expose myself to the sting of a deadly, invisible virus.
Not so for Ganduje. He would rather be popular among the people. He would rather indulge the people with unhinged liberty that leads to fatality. Lockdown, restrictions and confinement nobody loves. But they remain the best options to save life. It’s a tough decision to take. But leadership is about taking tough decisions. A good leader should avoid the populism of the gallery. A good leader considers what is good for the people, not what is convenient for them. Ganduje opted for the latter. He chose convenience over good for the sake of life.
When the Covid-19 pandemic broke with the first documented case in Lagos, Governor Sanwo-Olu moved fast. He was nimble in decision-making and swift with execution. He was up and about. He shouted, screamed. He warned Lagosians of tough times ahead. He introduced a regime of restrictions far ahead of the federal government. Ganduje was unfazed. Yet, he ought to have known that Lagos and Kano share so much in common. Humongous population made up of both the lettered and the unlettered with Kano having more illiterates. A smart governor would have implemented a containment strategy. Not Ganduje.
It was Ganduje’s laissez-faire attitude that gave impudence to some Kano youths to organise a football match (Corona Cup) in the midst of the pandemic. Such arrant stupidity at a time the whole world is steeped in the mores of social distancing.
His body language gave out vibes suggestive of a leader who is not and cannot be bothered. But watch the same Ganduje. As soon as the Federal Government gave Lagos N10 billion and N5 billion to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Ganduje revved to life like a combustible engine. He stopped living in denial. He has placed an order (request) for N15 billion. Yes, N15 billion. If Lagos could get N10 billion why can’t our historical state of Kano get a chunky N15 billion. As if to help justify the demand, a whiff of evil air is blowing across the state hacking men and women to death. It’s a deadly and mystifying whiff and it has killed both the high and the lowly. It’s strange that Ganduje has not ordered a detailed post-mortem of the dead to ascertain the source and cause of this strange gale of death.
Now, Ganduje has turned his proposition from a request to a blackmail. He has accused President Buhari of abandoning him and the people of Kano. It’s all to get the N15 billion Covid-19 largesse. We know what Lagos State and the NCDC are doing with their money. But what will Ganduje do with N15 billion?
But let’s be fair. Kano needs help urgently. But it must not come in form of cash to Ganduje. He has not behaved well. President Buhari should act fast in the matter of Kano. Two things demand attention: Contain Covid-19 and establish scientifically the cause of mass death in the state. Kano must be rescued from the shadow of death and from the trader’s mentality of Ganduje. The lives of over 20 million Nigerians should never be left to the dictates of a merchant-governor.
Later this month when the noxious Covid-19 dust settles, hopefully, a lot would have happened. And even much more would still happen that would further dampen the Nigerian economy. Many workers would resume to meet their sack letters. Some others would be presented with the rock and a hard place choice: Choose pay cut or resign. These are trying moments. The auguries speak of tougher times ahead. The likes of Ganduje should ponder their roles in the war against a shadowy virus.
Good that the Federal Government has started responding to the Kano puzzle. Someday, the dust will settle and the inevitable verdict of history will take the stage. I doubt if history would adjudge Ganduje a matador of the Covid-19 battle or conquistador of a strange ailment that ravaged his people.
But whatever is the verdict of history, the Buhari government should not throw money at Ganduje. Instead, let the government through the Presidential Task Force, PTF, on Covid-19 make available every material for this epic war against an unseen soldier. All medical and ancillary workers should be paid directly by the PTF.
Ganduje has proved he’s the man without a plan, without any strategy. His cry for money is only just to satiate his trader’s mind-set and lust for money. Give him N15 billion, he will do nothing with it to save the lives of over 20 million Nigerians. Let the PTF and the NCDC take a closer look at Kano. What is termed mysterious disease may be Covid-19 garbed in a cryptic cassock.
Bottomline: Kano needs help urgently. But not through Ganduje: a man who manifests the symptoms of a merchant, not the noble ethos of a people-centric leader.