The much awaited 2019 presidential and national assembly elections have come and gone; and they have been inevitably, won and lost. What are left of them are ripples which, Insha Allah, will sooner than later fizzle out. The rest of their aftermath are relics as fodders and facts for historians of the politics of our dear country. That is futuristic.
What lies ahead in the 2019 edition of our collective endeavour at entrenching democracy in our nation, are the elections of governors and lawmakers in the states. This critical exercise comes up this Saturday, March 9, 2019. For us in Kaduna state, it should be of primary concern as to how the exercise turns out in terms of its conduct and outcomes. Those of us from southern part, should be particularly keen due to the seeming entrenched culture and, or tendencies of the political current in that part of Kaduna state. We should also be concerned over the prevailing signals from on-going commentaries by political gladiators, real and self-acclaimed elite and leaders. Also, a source of worry is the texture of the voting in the just concluded presidential and national assembly elections by the electorate in the zone.
The rather unfortunate but predictable political direction of elite in Southern Kaduna has been that they will always pitch camp against the position or direction of the two other zones, the Central and Northern zones. With the singular exception of 2011 elections when they aligned with the other zones in the election of late Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa as governor and Goodluck Jonathan as president, Southern Kaduna has almost always, largely gone the opposite direction with regards to majority of their votes for candidates in the two political offices.
The explanation for the above scenario is not far-fetched. The outstanding or, better, vocal elite in the zone use their overbearing influence to goad, practically herding the electorate to go their way of perceiving issues of political leadership, economic development and almost every other facets of their lives from within the narrow prism of ethnicity, religion and other primordial fault lines. The political elite in the zone have successfully, one must admit, conditioned the mass of the electorate to internalise the political philosophy of, in the word of our outgoing deputy governor, Barnabas Bala Bantex, “it is we against them.”
There are a number of recent public statements expressed in traditional and new media platforms by persons and groups on the on-going elections with the impression that Southern Kaduna may be headed for the old pattern of abrasive, non-beneficial and patently self-destructive politics of opposition for the share sake of antagonism. For instance, we have heard clerics and elders who have labelled Governor Nasir el-Rufai “a religious bigot”, “hater of Christians”, and “an Islamist with an Islamisation agenda” in Southern Kaduna.
To buttress the label of a religious and ethnic zealot being strewed around Malam el-Rufai, his administration’s responses and management of incidents of fratricidal conflicts have been portrayed as biased in favour of “his Hausa-Fulani Muslim brethren.” His coming out to speak of the number and identities of the casualties of the recent Kajuru killings has been stridently pointed out as the latest example of the government’s partiality on matters of such conflicts.
El-Rufai’s daring choice of a female running mate, Dr. Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe, who, though an untainted, dye in the wool, bona fide daughter of the soil of Southern Kaduna, has expectedly generated a whirlwind of negative commentaries from several persons and quarters in the zone. It is as sad as it is unfortunate that we have come to this sickening, frightening level of degeneration in our perceptions.
At the risk of being labelled a quisling or an accomplice, I make bold yet, to briefly express my viewpoints which run contrary to the above narratives. For example, while el-Rufai has been widely accused of favouritism for compensating the Fulani herdsmen for losses incurred in the aftermath of the 2011 mayhem in the zone, the fact that has been conveniently overlooked is that he merely implemented a recommendation made by a panel under the chairmanship of our very respected elder statesman, General Martin Luther Agwai, during the tenure of late Governor Patrick Yakowa.
Further, unencumbered by emotions, what rational reasons should any one give for not being shocked and indignant over the death of scores of fellow human beings as was reported in the recent unfortunate incident at Kajuru? For reasons of reprisal or whatever provocation, taking the law into one’s hands, especially taking the lives of fellow human beings under whatever pretext is condemnable in the supreme interest of sanity and security in the society. According to Indian statesman and sage, Mahatma Ghandi, the world will sooner or later become peopled by blind men and blind woman if the philosophy of “an eye for an eye” is held up as the rule of law.
On Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, I align with those who have refused to see her choice as a running mate to el-Rufai, which acceptably translates into a Muslim-Muslim ticket, as a conscious action to spite or demean the Christians and, in the course of an agenda to eventually Islamise the state. As a member of the Numana ethnic group, a minority in Southern Kaduna and one of the smallest ethnic groups in the country, her emergence should have, instead, elicited ululation and shout of hurray by all who claim to champion the cause of minority groups. While Dr. Hadiza’s famed intelligence and track records of diligence should be deserving of reward as in this instance, methink that we should also have joined the rest of the country who have been celebrating her emergence as a governorship running mate as a landmark victory for the women folk in a male-dominated terrain.
From the result of the last presidential election as those of others before it over the years, it is obvious that victory can be made in state-wide electoral contests in Kaduna state in spite of votes of a section of it. In that case, that section will further be isolating itself from the benefits of governance. In other words, what we should consider as germane and paramount, is progress and development and not the rash, emotive and retrogressive political posture of “we against them.” In the words of Mr. Bantex, “After all, what have we benefitted from the 16 years of PDP rule beyond making a few people ministers, commissioners, etc?”
Ahmad is a Kaduna-based public analyst.
