From Desmond Mgbo, Kano

There is no gainsaying that former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau was a beautiful bride ahead of the 2019 general elections. Whichever party he settled for was bound to reap from his presence. His followership was massive, his appeal undeniable and his rhetoric unmatchable. As a truly gifted speaker, he could sway multitudes in seconds and win members for any party.

For the Kano Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and for Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, this was a big fish. Getting him to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was a mission that must be accomplished at all costs.

There were several midnight meetings in Kano and Abuja where Ganduje and Shekarau negotiated their interests and entered series of agreements, which included an offer of the party’s ticket for Kano Central Senatorial Zone to the former governor(Shekarau).

This entire package was quite attractive. But an irresistible pull on Shekarau, at that time, was the pressure from his loyalists, many of whom were wreaked by prolonged and extreme lack. For them, any move to Buhari’s APC in Kano State was a lifetime opportunity.  Buhari’s name was a sure ticket to easy political victory and a license to renewed wealth.

And taking advantage of the internal feud within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, and Shekarau’s age- long quarrel with Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Shekarau’s move to the ruling party was accomplished in record time.

But just like all hurriedly contracted marriages and its inherently self- serving motives, barely three years down the line, the seemingly rosy political relationship between the two god-fathers-Ganduje and Shekarau- has hit the rocks, crashing almost beyond redemption.

This is true given the recent happenings in the state APC, in which Shekarau has become the arrow -head of a political rebellion against Governor Ganduje and the party’s state executive council.

Four days to the state party’s congress, Shekarau’s faction struck, speaking out with a boldness never before heard in the party. That was after their mid -night meeting at the Bompai residence of Shekarau, where they objectively x-rayed their fortunes and misfortunes within the party.

They, consequently, petitioned the national headquarters of their party, conveying their collective and individual grievances to the party’s leadership.

Signatories to the petition were many, several of them big weights in their own rights and inclination. They included their host, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, Senator Barau Jilbrin (Kano North), Tijani Abdulkadir Jobe and Nasiru abdawa Gabasawa, Haruna Dederi and Shaaban Sharada, including Alhai Shehu Dalhatu among several others.

They wrote to the party: “We, the undersigned, are constrained to write this petition to you in the hope that your timely intervention in the crisis which the Kano State Chapter of our great party now faces, will be decisively addressed in the interest of the party and its members.

“It is needless to state that as major Stakeholders in the All Progressives Congress (APC), we all had invested massively and worked tirelessly for the successes which the party recorded in the previous elections. The enormity of our contributions can well be attested to, by all keen watchers of what transpired in Kano State during the 2019 elections which saw the return of the

government of APC in Kano State.

“Consequently therefore, the State Party leadership purported to have held congresses through a so-called consensus at the Ward and Local Government levels to the complete exclusion of the categories mentioned above. This attitude necessitated the conduct of parallel congresses by some of the stakeholders.

“This chaotic situation has thrown the party into almost irredeemable confusion and crisis which if not urgently arrested, will undoubtedly lead the party in Kano State to destruction.

They rejected in totality, the purported congresses said to be carried out by the state’s party leadership at the Ward and Local Government levels in the entire state because of its exclusiveness and flagrant violation of all known civilized norms, rules and party guidelines.

They declared that they, “shall resist any attempt by the state party leadership to carry out state congress in the same exclusive and Kangaroo manner aimed at imposing party officers on the members of the party in the state.

“We urge the National leadership of the party to urgently take decisive steps to end the destructive tendencies manifestly exhibited in the management of the party affairs in Kano State. We want to assure the National Leadership of our support, co-operation and commitment to peaceful resolution of the crisis.

“ We wish to appeal to our teeming supporters in Kano State to remain calm and steadfast in their commitment to the ideals of our great party.”

In what could serve as a counter to these allegations and plots, Governor Ganduje and the party executive decided to hold a stakeholders meeting at the Government House on that Thursday, where they attempted to debunk the contents of that petition.

Ganduje, in particular, rejected the accusation against him, saying that he had all along ran an all inclusive system, both at the party’s level and at the state level, while insisting that he has never failed to invite all sub – groups and their leaders to all the party’s meetings.

Several other political sympathizers spoke to strengthen his claim. They included Senator Kabiru Gaya, who played the role of a political spy within the ranks of the rebellious group, attended their meetings, only to pull out at the last minute to side with Ganduje.

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Other speakers included the interim party chairman, Abdullahi Abbas and the Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa.

Doguwa, a fluent speaker, insisted that the governor does not interfere in the affairs of the party while urging the governor to be more decisive on the aggrieved group, saying that it was his undue tolerance that gave room for the rebellion.

A source close to the governor, in analysing the dispute and its tendencies, told Daily Sun that Shekarau must be at it again if he claimed that he had not been carried along in this administration.

Ganduje, said the source, cleared the way for Shekarau to emerge as the party’s candidate for Kano Central Senatorial Zone, including funding a chunk of the campaign. That was in spite of the fact that Senator Lado was billed to pick the ticket as the candidate of the party for the zone.

The source added that when things were financially rough for Shekarau, again Ganduje gave him a couple of life saving bailouts and cleared some of his outstanding bills.

“He allotted to him the positions of the state Commissioner of Finance as well as the Commissioner of Rural Development, the General Manager, Radio Kano, a number of the House of Representatives seats and several other juicy appointments that I cannot immediately recall and he said that he was not carried along. What else does he want?”, he questioned.

The truth is that Shekarau wants power. Not for himself alone but for his boys. Kano APC governorship ticket is seen as very open and many sub – groups within the party are dwelling in the imagination that they could wrest power off Ganduje’s hands, especially as he, Ganduje, would not be directly campaigning for this position.

Shekarau already has a very organized personal political structure spread across the 44 local government areas of the state. If he, by any chance, succeeds in planting his own as the state party chairman, then he would likely decide or have a strong influence in who becomes the next APC governorship candidate.

But Ganduje is not asleep. His mind is as sharp as a blade, making him one of the most calculative politician in Nigeria. He certainly has no place for Shekarau or his gang in the leadership structure of the party. In fact, it would be a miracle for any of the members of the rebellious group to find himself in any critical position within the party anymore.

“In this season of consensus, which is nothing but the opinion of one man or a few men, there is no way anybody that is not certified by Ganduje could scale the hurdle of becoming anything in the party” said a source who insisted that it is the fear of losing out on everything that is driving the present agitation and political insurrection inside the  Kano APC.

“Those who have fallen out of favour are regrouping and are asking for an open process that would guarantee fair play to all, believing that when that happens, there are chances they would survive the present condition”,  said the source.

The source gave an example with the case of the member representing Kano Municipal, Shaaban Sharada. The legislator, who was once regarded as the closet party member to President Muhammadu Buhari in the state recently crashed out of favour in the party in the state following a matrix of political factors.

At present, he is said to have been suspended by his party at the ward level. But a closer look, will indicate that the forces of the state Commissioner for information, Muhammad Garba and the state Commissioner for Special Duties, Mutari Ishaq have squeezed the living daylight off his shine. None of the key political officers of the party at the ward level is coming from his camp. None at the local Government level is his. His chance of returning to the House, under the present arrangement,  is almost zero, except there are intervention that would lead to power sharing.

What about the unfortunate case of the Senator representing Kano North, Barau Jilbrin? Ganduje is from Kano North and except his rumoured ambition to serve as a Vice Presidential candidate fails by 2023, he would certainly fall back to the Senate.

Sadly, that means Barau is out. Although Barau is aspiring for the gubernatorial seat and may jump out of the race for the Upper House in favour of the governorship slot, there are no guarantees that the governorship slot is there for him to pick. Not when there are over 10 speculated aspirants for the same position within the party.

The Danzago angle is another interesting political mix. Danzago was a former Chairman of the ANPP in the state. He was in power while Shekarau was the governor of the state. But he was also close to Ganduje. He has stayed out of trouble till this time. While Shekarau’s faction see him as a quiet way of pushing their own to the leadership of the party, the Ganduje group would never settle for him.

Danzago, it was gathered, made several attempts to persuade the governor to pick him as his choice but all of his efforts came to nothing. Ganduje emphatically told him that he would not back him against Abdullahi Abbas as the Chairman of the party.

But why is Abdullahi Abbas so critical to Ganduje politics, despite the known fact that he is not a commendable democrat? Why would Ganduje settle for Abdullahi Abbas?

Those who should know appreciated Abdullahi’s role in the 2019 general elections, especially in the fight against the dreaded Kwankwassiyya group. He stood firm like a rock and fought them on all fronts till victory was eventually secured.

The source said that the battle for political succession in Kano State in 2023 was bound to be tougher and more rigorous than the child’s play of 2019 and except Ganduje works with trusted, loyal and tough backups like Abdullahi Abbas as the state party chairman, his choice candidate for the governor of the state may not make it in the end.

“Everybody is aware that a bulk of the exclusion that Ganduje’s group was accused of came from Abdullahi Abbas angle. He is a political deity in his own right. He is the secretariat. He is all and all. But he is loyal, tough and rough and that is what Kano needs today” said the analyst who thinks that despite the two state congresses, that of Ganduje would take the day.”

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