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15 February 2011 By Saka Raji Audu
The name, Malam Salihu
Sagir Takai has become a household one in Kano
politics. A once obscured man has suddenly risen to
become a political scion that any mention of his name
will certainly send discomfort into the spines of his
political opponents and detractors.
Takai is an accomplished
administrator and a former
Commissioner
of two ministries in Kano state under the present
administration of Governor
Ibrahim Shekarau. The two ministries
Takai presided over are the Ministries of water
resources and local government. During the period he
held sway, he injected progress in the two ministries,
which the good people of Kano felt. It was during his
tenure as the Commissioner of Water resources that one
of the major landmarks of improvement in water supply
was recorded for the state. These include the increase
of 150,000 litres of water into the daily water
consumption of the state, a feat which has never been
recorded since Audu Bako administration in about forty
years ago.
Takai simplicity and
doggedness to issue are legendary. As a matter of
fact, he takes after his boss, the workaholic and
dedicated governor of the state, Malam (Dr) Ibrahim
Shekarau in terms of hard work, integrity, religious
uprightness and commitment to Kano culture and
tradition. He is one of the extremely few people that
can be relied upon and who has the genuine desire in
the uplift of his people's aspirations.
TAKAI, for those who do not
know, simply means "Take All Kanawas Along Islamically."
As we know, Islam is the dominant faith and pillar
upon which the good people of Kano rest their lives.
Governor Ibrahim Shekarau will, by the grace of God,
be completing his two terms of eight years of
meritorious services as governor of all governors in
Kano State
on 29th of May 2011. Going by the electoral
law of the country, Governor Shekarau cannot go beyond
two terms at a stretch.
Some time last year, the
state ANPP caucus together with all the would-be
governorship hopefuls in the ANPP met and resolved
that Malam Shekarau is their political father and
whoever he pointed to them to succeed him would be
accepted to every one. The party caucus gave Shekarau
a challenging task because he required endorsing one
out of many people eyeing his coveted seat in the
party. In dicey situation as this, the governor has
always called on God for divine guide. Perhaps, in
accepting Shekarau to pick his successor for them,
every one interested in the seat was hoping to be
picked, which is not possible.
After a long search, on 5th
May of last year, leaving up to the people's mandate
and expectation, the endorsement of Malam Salihu Sagir
Takai by governor Shekarau came into the national
news. Other notable contenders who had individually
thought they would get the governor's nod for whatever
reason became sad and revolted. At the end of the day,
out of the seven governorship aspirants in ANPP, three
dropped their ambition, one defected to another party
and three went into primary election to determine the
party governorship candidate. Takai had an
overwhelming resounding victory at the primary and
became the party's governorship candidate for the
April 2011 election.
It is however my belief
that Shekarau as a man of hard work and integrity
cannot endorse a man to take over his hard earned seat
if he is not confident of the man. This is especially
so, in view of the governor's assertion that "success
without successor is a failure."Shekarau had also
disclosed in one of his interviews with the Sun
newspapers that, "no stooge would succeed him." These
point to the fact that the governor has the interest
of the state at heart and would prefer some one who
will perform far better than what the governor has
achieved for the state.
Asides, Malam (Dr) Ibrahim
Shekarau as a person, has the inalienable right to
declare his support for any one he believes would add
feathers to his myriad of achievements. This is why it
should not surprise any one that Malam Salihu Sagir
Takai got the nod of
His Excellency,
Malam Ibrahim Shekarau to fly the ANPP flag come 2011
and as confirmed by the primary election that
eventually saw Takai on top.
Having done with the issue
of ANPP governorship candidate, all is now set for the
final contest for Governor Shekarau's seat in April
2011. At least, four leading political parties namely;
ANPP, CPC, PDP and ACN will be slugging it out in the
forthcoming governorship contest in
Kano.
The four main candidates in the governorship election
are Malam Salihu Sagir Takai of ANPP; General Lawal
Jafaru Isa of CPC, Alhaji (Dr) Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of
PDP and Alhaji Ahmed Tijjani Mohammed Gwarzo of ACN.
Apart from the candidate of
ANPP, the other three candidates are not without some
level of political bitterness. The final outcome of
the CPC Congress was received in some quarters with
mix feelings and heavy reactions. For instance, it is
alleged that CPC conducted an inconclusive Congress,
adding that only in 21 out of the 44 local governments
of the state the Congress took place. But after weeks
of silence by the party Board of Trustees, a candidate
was finally presented to INEC as the party
governorship candidate in the person of retired
General Lawal Isa Jafaru. This decision did not go
down well with the other governorship aspirant of the
party, Alhaji Mohammed
Sani
Abacha who described the CPC decision to
unilaterally endorse Jarafu as travesty of justice and
his people have therefore lost faith in their
presidential candidate of retired General
Muhammadu Buhari.
In order to make things
worse, Alhaji Mohammed Sani Abacha filed a case
against CPC, asking INEC not to recognize retired
General Lawal Isa Jafaru as CPC governorship candidate
in Kano; and instead he should be declared as the duly
winner of the inconclusive Congress and which
conferred to him as the governorship candidate of the
party. The INEC initial lists of governorship
contestants show that Alhaji Mohammed Sani Abacha is
the duly recognised governorship candidate of CPC. The
CPC National Executive Council, NEC later called Press
Conference to express dismay over the tampering of her
preferred governorship candidate. Again, INEC reversed
her decision and removed Mohammed Abacha's name from
being governorship candidate of his party. In this
case, no one can tell who the actual governorship
candidate of CPC in Kano is.
The governorship candidate
of PDP in Kano also suffered some level of controversy
as the National Executive Council of the party had
earlier annulled the party governorship primary that
saw the former governor of the state, Alhaji (Dr)
Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso as its governorship candidate. A
rerun primary was ordered by the party, which did not
also go down well with the royalists of the erstwhile
governor of the state because they believe he had
already won and presented with certificate of return
by INEC. In spite of this, the PDP NEC insisted on
rerun for reason best known to it. At the end of the
day, rerun materials were brought to Kano for the
rerun election but the materials were snatched away,
thereby, putting the party in a state of indecision.
Since time was not on the side of the party to
properly do its bidding, the PDP NEC eventually
kowtowed and presented the initial winner of its
governorship candidate in Kano, Alhaji (Dr) Rabiu Musa
Kwankwaso as the man to carry its flag in the State.
First impression, they say,
is last impression. The Kwankwaso PDP loyalists in
Kano considered the PDP NEC attempt to conduct a rerun
against the winner as an attempt to deny him his
ambition by the presidency because of the perceived
role of the Kano PDP during the party national
convention/presidential primary, which saw Alhaji
Atiku
Abubakar in a
landslide victory
against the incumbent President Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan. This mutual suspicion has now led to a crack
in the relationship between the Presidency and the
Kwankwaso Kano PDP.
The ACN governorship
candidate in Kano is the
deputy governor
of the Kano state governor and presidential candidate
of ANPP, Malam (Dr) Ibrahim Shekarau, Sardaunan Kano.
Alhaji Ahmed Tijjani Mohammed Gwarzo defected from
ANPP to ACN so that he can have opportunity to contest
the seat of his boss. He is one of those who opposed
the endorsement of Malam Sagir Salihu Takai by the
state governor. He had doubled as
Commissioner of Water Resources together
with being the deputy governor.
At present, Malam Salihu
Sagir Takai of ANPP, Alhaji (Dr) Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso
of PDP and Alhaji Ahmed Tijjani Mohammed Gwarzo are
the main contestants to slug it out in the forthcoming
Kano State governorship poll, as CPC is still battling
with her. Among the candidates, Kwankwaso of PDP is
the only old timer. He was a governor of the state
between 1999 and 2003. He attempted for re-election in
2003 but he could not get the people's mandate. In
2007, Kwankwaso also staged a come back, won the
primary but could not proceed due to corruption
charges leveled against him as espoused in the state
government White Paper. He was however replaced by
Alhaji Ahmed Bichi. Kwankwaso's entry into the
governorship race for the 2011 election is still being
marred with controversy, having also won the primary
and was annulled by his party that ordered a rerun
that never was.
Unlike Takai, Kwankwaso and
Gwarzo or even retired Brigadier Lawal Isa Jafaru,
Alhaji Mohammed Sani Abacha though a billionaire
business man, might not have held any leadership
position in the state except his late father who was
President and Commander –in-Chief of the Armed forces
of Nigeria before his death. Mohammed's seemingly lack
of leadership experience might have made his party,
CPC to prefer more experienced person to him in the
party as retired Brigadier-General Lawal Isah Jaafaru
who is being supported by his party. As you know, in
democracy, candidates are made from election and not
selection. Perhaps, it is in this spirit of winning by
votes that INEC earlier recognised Mohammed Sani
Abacha as the winner of the CPC primary before INEC
reverses self.
Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed
Tijjani Gwarzo is the Deputy Governor of the state. He
was formerly in ANPP before he decamped to ACN as its
governorship flag bearer. He was loyal to his boss
until recent time when he decided to ditch him due to
his governorship ambition. The seemingly smeared
relationship that now exists between ATM Gwarzo and
his boss is not peculiar to Kano alone. It happened in
Sokoto between Governor Wamakko and Bafarawa, in
Zamfara between Governor Shinkafi and Sani Yerima
Bakura, in Bauchi between Governor Yuguda and his
deputy and in Plateau between Governor Jang and Mrs.
Pauline. But the only thing that might be peculiar to
that of Kano is the fact that those who ditched their
political mentor in the past had never achieved their
political goal. Our perfect example was the political
crisis between the late political icon, Malam
Aminu
Kano and the late Alhaji (Dr) Mohammed
Abubakar Rimi who ditched Malam
Aminu Kano of PRP for NPP. In spite of
the highly celebrated performance of the late Rimi as
the Governor of Kano State, he was not able to get
second time through his new party, NPP. Instead, a
less qualified person, the late Sabo Bakinzo of PRP
won and became the governor of the state. The message
of that scenario was that Kano people till date value
trust and obedience. Still, if the alliance between
ANPP and ACN works, one of the condition is that
wherever in any state, ANPP has stronghold, the
governorship aspirant of ACN should step down and
vice-versa. But this seems not to be working and ATM
Gwarzo will remain a candidate to his new party.
This is how odds against
Kwankwaso of PDP, Gwarzo of ACN and
Mohammed Abacha or Brigadier-General
Lawal Isa Jafaru might favour Malam Salihu Sagir Takai
as the likely winner of the April 16, 2011
governorship election in Kano to take over Malam (Dr)
Ibrahim Shekarau seat as the next civilian Governor of
the
most populous state
in Nigeria, Kano on 29th May 2011. Whatever
the case, time shall tell.
Saka
Raji Audu writes from Kano and can be reached on his
email:
sakaraj@yahoo.com |
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