The rift between the former governor of Kano State, Senator Rabi’u Kwankwaso, and his successor, Abdullahi Ganduje, appears headed for a crescendo, with the police advising Kwankwaso at the weekend, to shelve his proposed visit to Kano, a state where he once called the shots.
The ex-governor had scheduled a special rally at the state on January 30 but the police feared that it could result in bloodshed, as thugs loyal to Ganduje are at daggers-drawn, waiting to challenge those loyal to Kwankwaso.
While Kwankwaso, who became a senator wanted to be seen as the leader of All Progressives Congress in Kano, the governor too sees himself as the leader of the party being the chief executive officer in the state
The State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Rabiu Yusuf, gave the advice on Friday. He said the counsel was necessary in view of the tension generated among the people of the state by the planned visit.
According to Yusuf, “There is no doubt that the senator as a citizen of this country has the constitutional right of association, assembly, and above all, movement.
“However, credible information at the disposal of the command reveals that the proposed visit has generated palpable fears in the minds of the people of Kano State.’’
The police boss stressed that there was apprehension among the general populace, including the tendency to hijack the visit by some disgruntled elements and miscreants.
He hinted on the urgent need by the police command to ensure that peace prevailed in the state.
“Therefore, any action or inaction by any person or group of persons that may jeopardize the relative peace the state is currently enjoying must be averted.
“It is the advice of the command that such a visit should be shelved by Sen Rabi’u Kwankwaso until the tension generated by the planned visit is doused,’’ he reiterated.
He assured that the command would provide a level playing ground for all politicians, to carry out their political activities, without fear of molestation or intimidation.
But not a few watchers of events in Kano are still amazed that the former governor who should have been a political godfather to the incumbent, who he installed, is now an outlaw at the same Kano Government House where he is supposed to be a special guest of honour.
Indeed, Ganduje was Kwankwaso’s deputy and thus became the governor’s godson with many contestants reportedly frustrated out of the race to pave the way for him to take over from Kwankwaso in 2015.
Kwankwaso, who had become constitutionally barred from running for another tenure having spent two terms, though staggered by reason of an election loss, secured victory for Ganduje as governor, and for himself as senator.
Sources close to the two politicians agreed that the cause of their rift was mainly ego trip.
“While Kwankwaso, who became a senator wanted to be seen as the leader of All Progressives Congress in Kano, the governor too sees himself as the leader of the party being the chief executive officer in the state.
“A lot of party elders have waded in to no avail, as Kwankwaso went to form the Kwankwassiyya Group, which the governor saw as a rather big political group that could whittle down his influence among the less-privileged people who include the Almajiris and the talakawa in general,” a source close to the duo informed.
The source explained that the rift had been worsened by the suspicion that Kwankwaso was on the verge of defecting back to his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party, where he hoped to contest for President and sponsor another governorship candidate against Ganduje, in the next election.
The crisis between the two politicians came to a head last December when the Kano State Government demanded that the Kwankwassiyya Group should tender an unreserved apology to President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC, over comments by the group that the President was fuelling crises in the state.
Kano State governor’s spokesman, Alhaji Mohammed Garba, in a statement, urged the APC national leadership to invoke the party’s constitution and take appropriate disciplinary measures against the group.
Garba said, ‘’These troublemakers, basically members of the Kwankwassiyya Group, acted the script of their Abuja-based leader, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, whose plot to destabilise the All Progressive Congress in Kano State has been roundly defeated.
“It is also on record that Kwankwaso and his Kwankwassiyya Group, consumed by the tall dream of becoming ‘President’, has unjustifiably maligned President Buhari at every given opportunity, and it is on this note that the Kano State Government seriously frowns at statements credited to the spokesman of Kwankwassiyya Group, Aminu Abdulsalam, who did not only maliciously accuse President Buhari of fueling crisis in Kano APC, but also used derogatory words and attacked the personality and hard-earned integrity of
Mr. President.”
While the war of words lasts, Kwankwaso has only been talking through his group with the physical effects of his influence seen in the streets of Kano, where he enjoys mass mobilisation of rabid commoners, who are said to be prepared to die for his cause
Ganduje, apparently wrenched sore by the Kwankwaso incursions into the state to challenge his authority, has always said, “I will expose Kwankwaso’s shady deals”, but has yet to carry out the threat.
As the 2019 elections draw near, the Kano drama, observers contend, promises to be interesting.
