Why Kwankwaso won’t accept Doguwa, by Dahiru Abdullahi Muhammad

The last few days have been the insignificant moment for the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives and member, Tudun Wada/Doguwa Federal Constituency, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa. The mess he got himself in appears to have been the final nail in the coffin of his 23 year stay at the National Assembly.

Even while his return to the Green Chamber in the 2019 general elections is still being debated, the people of his constituency, particularly Tudun Wada local government, have reservations in supporting him to return in 2023 and have already vowed to ensure that he never make it to the National Assembly again.

In what was seeing as a humble beginning, the lawmaker earned a great deal of respect from the people he represents and was one of the very few lawmakers that have not had difficulty returning during national elections.

However, when he became one of the movers and shakers in the law making body, Doguwa assumed an entirely different disposition. He became egotistical, tough, inaccessible and do not have respect for anyone in the party in his constituency and most recently in Kano state.

He continued to display nonchalance to even the embarrassment of his people and fails to realise that even if he constitutes part of the leadership of the National Assembly, he only represents two local governments.

Recently, he was involved in a kind of disagreement with stakeholders of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano. Doguwa’s outburst which appears to have been the result of the apparent loss of his seat, is now at war with almost everybody in the APC. Just last week, Doguwa went berserk and physically attacked the party’s deputy gubernatorial candidate in the 2023 elections, Hon. Murtala Sule Garo, whom he accuses of excluding him from the party’s scheme of things. 

His only beef, which seems to be that he is loyal to the Governor of Kano state, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, could not stand him, as the table has turned for his political ambition, which is emerging as Speaker of the House of Representatives when their party clinched the Presidency.

Indignant by the reality of the setback he faces, the longest serving member of the National Assembly from Kano feels bitter that he has been left the short end of the spanner. That was why anyone who dares cross his path must hold his nostril and his breath. To make things worse for himself, Doguwa has been making statements in the media which at the end of the day, own it up.

Doguwa’s recent overtures to join our party, the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP) will be the biggest blunder in his political career. As a party member, I am not in any way pushing him away from joining us, because every single member is important, talk less of an elected official. But this is not the right time for him to do so.

On Friday, Doguwa briefed the press where he expressed readiness to mend fences with our leader, the former governor of Kano state, Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. The news which was reported by an online publication, KANO FOCUS had it that while Doguwa said although the ex-governor failed to commensurate with him over the death of his father, if Kwankwaso reaches out to him, he will reconcile.

Even though he stressed that he will not decamp from the APC irrespective of the outcome of the election, he predicted that the party risks losing to the NNPP led by Kwankwaso, whom Doguwa described as a formidable grassroots politician. I do not believe a faithful member of a party could spell doom on the platform he used to become what he is now.

Doguwa can make any statement on our leader, which is entirely his personal opinion, but he should remember that just as he mentions during the press briefing that he can only forget but cannot forgive him, same thing applies to Engr. Kwankwaso.

More so, the embattled lawmaker needs to be reminded that Engr. Kwankwaso will never overlook attacks on his person and his party chairman and a former commissioner who also happens to be Doguwa’s kinsman, Hon. Umar Haruna Doguwa as well as Hon. Nura Dankadai.

In the event Doguwa decide to decamp to the NNPP, he should know that time is not on his side; Engr. Kwankwaso will never welcome him to his fold. 

 If he does, it will be to our disadvantage; we will get what we wanted from you and dump you. After all, for what benefit could Engr. Kwankwaso accept Doguwa in his party at this time?

Doguwa shoul also make public apology for his insults on Engr. Kwankwaso rather than he demanding apology for Kwankwaso’s inability to commiserate with him over the death of his father.

As an active member of the NNPP and an indigene Tudun Wada local government, we are done with Doguwa who believes that only his money that matters. We have committed members who are ready to make any sacrifice to ensure that we bring you back from the National Assembly.

If you are coming to us because of disagreement disagreement in your party, just like any other political party, we also in the NNPP have our share of such internal wranglings. That is democracy. So stay where you are. And that is we believe Engr. Kwankwaso will not accept Doguwa.

Tudun Wada can be reached at [email protected]