2023 guber: Periscoping Kano’s turbulent waters

Kano being the melting pot of partisan politics, is wearing the toga of a bastion of a titanic battle with leading gubernatorial flag bearers making frantic effort to win the race for Kano Government House. Our correspondent BASHIR MOHAMMED takes a look at the intrigues behind the struggle

With the commencement of the presidential and National Assembly campaigns by leading political contestants across the nooks and crannies of the nation, feathers have continued to ruffle as a result of show of might on the political landscape of Kano by those who have demonstrated their appetite  for winning the race for Kano Government House.

Powerful forces brandishing fire and brimstone  were also keen to prove to voters that they are equal to the task and possess what it take to woo voters and that there is the compelling need for them to effect a paradigm shift in the face of partisan politics, seeking to have a change of guard at the state’s top echelon of power.

They also unanimously believed that they are currently commanding considerable clout to garner the unfettered confidence of tens of thousands of voters, even in the face of the inescapable fact that the power of incumbency has been widely acknowledged as a determining factor in the way the political pendulum is swinging.

Prominent and shots calling political parties like the APC, NNPP, PRP, PDP and the host of other infinitesimal political parties are on the prowl to prove their respective efficacy, engaging in overt and covert propaganda and,  mudslinging over the airwaves and on the pages of national dailies with the aim of outsmarting each other in the present ideological war of attrition few weeks to the flag-off of the gubernatorial campaigns.

If there is one to be so contented among them, is the incumbent deputy governor in the person of Dr. Nasir Yusuf Gawuna who in the eyes of some notable pundits viewed his chance of winning the forthcoming gubernatorial contest as bright and devoid of possible intractable hiccups, in spite of  what some notable observers described as the hurdles associated with the crossing of turbulent political waters.

Gawuna like any other contender in the hot race has to grapple with the fact that the race for Kano Government House is something that cannot be won on a platter of gold given the prevailing odds peculiar to every contestants as a result of what had transpired in the wake of Shekarau’s defection to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Those who viewed the political influence of the senator as capable enough to add tonic to the struggle of the party to win the gubernatorial election in Kano, saw his exit from the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a big minus to Gawuna’s penchant for soft landing.

Gawuna’s staunch supporters and diehard loyalists had outrightly dismissed such prognosis as ruse and counter productive, taking into cognizance the fact that with Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje strongly and unambiguously throwing his weight behind his loyal deputy, he is poised to cross the Rubicon in a jiffy.

However, Atiku’s recent visit to Kano had on the other hand gingered the confidence of the PDP’s gubernatorial flag bearer that nothing could ever stand as a cog in the wheel of his ambition to win  what is widely considered as a titanic battle.

Turning to the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) gubernatorial flag bearer Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, popularly known as Abba Gida-Gida, his chance of winning the race according to pundits is never doubtful, considering the huge amount of influence his political mentor, Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is excessively wielding on the political landscape in Kano.

His impressive performance which nearly led him to win the race for Kano Government House in the year 2015, if not because of what was declared as inconclusive election at that time, had emboldened the confidence of  the diehard apologists of the Kwankwasiyya movement that this time around, his road to winning the race would never be thorny and tortuous.

With the race for the Kano Government House reaching its apogee, it has elicited the interest of those who believe that the time is ripe for youth to prove their industriousness, gravitas, resilience and prowess with the emergence of Alhaji Salihu Tanko Yakasai as the gubernatorial flag bearer of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).

It was, however, the contention of youth in Kano that there is the compelling need for voters to bid farewell to the ruling oligarchs who had been in the saddle of political authority over the years, with the ever ambitious youth waiting in the wings to take the gauntlet in spearheading the battle to effect revolutionary changes at the top echelon of leadership.

It was also their contention that with Salihu Tanko Yakasai setting the ball rolling, the youth are poised to have considerable sense of belonging in the most competitive gubernatorial contest, seeing him as one who had emerged to bail them out of the bondage of youth’s marginalisation from the realm of partisan politics.

Notable contender like Alhaji Shaaban Ibrahim Sharada had also joined the gubernatorial race to prove his mettle as personified by his recent formal declaration, which had aroused the enthusiasm of  youth in their large numbers to pitch a tent with him in his bid to make his mark on the politics in Kano.

With the unfolding events in the race for Kano Government House taking a stunning dimension, pundits and notable political gladiators have continued to voice their divergent opinions on the way and manner the coveted seat for Kano Government House is aggressively being contested with  those supporting the candidates  spitting pugilist vocabularies.

In the words of a staunch APC supporter in Kano, Alhaji Shehu Maikanwa, no one should be trapped in the fog of uncertainty and doubt that the APC stands no chance of winning the Kano gubernatorial contest, taking into cognizance the myriad of viable infrastructure executed by governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje in the last eight years.

According to him, the Ganduje administration should be judged on the premise of what it had done to serve humanity with vigour pointing out that without the firm commitment and the sheer resilience of the governor, the retinue of the projects so far executed by his government would not have been possible. 

He said, “I am not doffing hat for the governor out of a sugar-coated  flattery and heroes worship, I whole-heatedly believe that he had performed wonders, a feat that made him stand tall among his peers.”

“As you know, people can be mischievous if they really want to impugn the credibility of a selfless political figure who has lived above board. Ganduje can best be judged by history over the giant strides he had effected… gadflies are only looking for the chance to vent their spleen on innocent people,” he posited.

In a discordant opinion, a staunch supporter of the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate, Malam Nagamba Yankatsari, said the exit of Senator Malam Ibrahim Shekarau from the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the height of the gubernatorial tussle, would give a great advantage to the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate in Kano with retinue of his followers according their loyalty to the party’s flag bearer.

He said, “Atiku was in Kano and his presence had added tonic to the party. as far as the issue of winning the gubernatorial contest in Kano is concerned, I have no  iota of doubt that our party is on the road to winning the contest”.

“All I know is that Atiku really commands considerable influence  and enormous clout. He has what it takes to prove to voters that he can craftily  manipulate the unfolding event to his advantage and the advantage of the party’s respective flag bearers” he retorted.

Speaking in the same vein a  prominent member of the Peoples Redemption, Party (PRP),  Lawal Gabasawa said Alhaji Salihu Tanko Yakasai is poised to take the advantage of his youthful exuberance to woo voters at the time the youth felt utterly irritated by the prevailing political trend in the country which had pushed them to the lower rung of the ladder.

He pointed out that with the persistent clamour for youth’s inclusion in the business of governance and leadership in the present political dispensation, the youth are at an ample liberty to stamp their imprimatur on the political lexicon of the nation stressing that the time for the old guards in maintaining their monopoly is almost over.

He, however, wondered why the ruling elites still hold onto key positions of influence without providing the leeway for the most exuberant youth to prove their leadership ingenuity positing that with firm commitment and sincerity of purpose, the road to attaining the desired objective would never be a far cry.

With the race for Kano Government House becoming a tug of war between the leading contenders,  pundits and keen political observers have kept their fingers crossed, waiting for the emergence of who among the contenders would convince voters to see him through the turbulent waters.