The February 2023 governorship elections produced new sets of governors in many states while others ensured reelection of their incumbent governors based on either performance or confidence in their leadership in managing the affairs of their respective state.
In Kano state, it is a change in government from the completed eight years tenure of former Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, which brought Abba Kabir Yusuf, popularly known as Abba Gida-Gida, against his closest rival the immediate former deputy governor of the state Alhaji Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna.
For the first time, strange things are happening in Kano state following the victory of the Kwankwanso’s NNPP by changing the narrative of Kano politics to another unwanted development at the peril of the masses which looks like a vengeance mission against Ganduje. This is unmindful of the consequences of destroying the existing legacies of the former APC administration.
The new government is destroying structures, chains of shops, hotels, houses, etc, and other illegally erected buildings either meant for recreation or belonging to the emirate council of Kano. Kwankwaso and Ganduje met President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the happenings at a paralleled meeting same day at the Presidential Villa Abuja after which they briefed newsmen on the outcome of their meeting.
Ganduje said, “I was at the Villa to brief the president on the activities of the present state government, destroying properties and structures raised in the state by my administration”. Ganduje condemned the acts, describing Governor Abba Yusuf as a stooge to Kwankwaso. Asked what he would do if he learnt that Kwankwaso was in the same building with him, he vowed to slap him, if they had met.
In a swift response to various demolition activities ongoing in Kano, former Governor Kwankwaso faulted Ganduje on how he went the extra mile to erect buildings on government’s areas designed for specific functions, citing Daula Hotel and the Eid ground as examples. However, Ganduje explained that the Eid ground plot was duly approved for building based on the letter of sent to him by the Kano Emirate Council to lease out the place.
Kwankwaso said that Ganduje didn’t wholeheartedly erect structures to help the Kano people; instead he and his family members own the buildings for self-enrichment, among others.
The recent demolition which serves as a plank to Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf defines many things. The questions are: why is the governor destroying legacy projects of Ganduje alone despite the fact that Kano indigenes are benefitting from multiple shops and malls? Why did the governor decide to start with this attack which was not part of the electoral promises he made to the people of the state?
Why was a notice of at least three months not given to the people occupying the demolished structures? Why were the demolition made without carrying out investigation on how the structures where raised and leased out to people including partners who invested lots of money to make profits that turned out to be a myth?
Agreed, if the structures belong to Ganduje’s family, don’t they deserve to own such properties? What is the evidence that former Governor Ganduje executed all the projects without following due process just as one of the developers vowed to approach the court to claim N19 billion compensation having invested heavily after following all the due procedure and approvals?
How does the governor intend to compensate poor traders whose hired shops where demolished and their goods looted by thugs and hoodlums? Why didn’t the governor demolish Kwankwaso’s projects, are they all in accordance with the law? These are few questions expecting response from the government that sees Ganduje’s administration as the worst in Kano, though, Ganduje can fairly beat his chest for completing many abandoned projects of Kwankwaso and former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau.
Posterity will be kind to Ganduje for transforming Kano state in all ramifications, starting from the best flyovers and increased internally generated revenue, enhanced business potentials in the state, among others. Governor Yusuf may find it tough to contain the cultivated fear and hatred his government is getting from the millions of people that massively brought it on board, by continual inflicting of hardship on them.
Some supporters of the NNPP recently went viral on the social media, expressing their displeasures on the state of things. One of the aggrieved persons, Musa Abdullahi, a frontline member of the Kwankwasiyya movement said, “Honestly, I’m worried on how to survive this demolition act of our governor. If some people are rich enough to replace what they lost, I don’t have half a million to start another business. My shops were demolished without noticed, my goods have been looted. May Allah save us from this calamity”.
Duguri writes from Fagge, Kano state
Is Governor Yusuf on a political vendetta?
