Ganduje, G-7 and the road to 2023

BY ADNAN MUKHTAR TUDUNWADA

I had this thought that the crisis rocking the Kano chapter of All Progressives Congress will not yield a positive result for the party in 2023 because of some obvious reasons. The crisis can be avoided but for the interest of the parties involved, it isn’t possible at the moment. It is all about staying relevant ahead of the 2023 poll.

Conflict is inevitable in any political setting, scholars like Alan Ball and Harold Lasswell have given the definition of politics a perspective of conflict and interest of who gets what, when, and how. This is exactly what Ganduje and members of the G-7 are struggling with.

In Nigerian politics, governors decide the fate of party members seeking political office, no party member can get it right by challenging this assertion. In the history of Nigerian politics, it was Ali Modu Sheriff that challenged Mala Kachalla to become the governor of Borno state in 2003.

Ganduje who’s in his second term has hinted at the person that will succeed him in 2023, though, not openly but through his influential wife that decides what and how at the Kano government house. History will remember Hafsat Ganduje as the most influential wife of a governor in Nigerian politics for the influence she commands.

She decides on whoever the governor wants to appoint and has hinted during an empowerment programme at Bichi about the young man that will succeed her husband, that young man is nobody other than “Yaki sai da commander“, a war cannot take place without a commander, referring to Murtala Sule Garo, commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs in the state.

Garo is enjoying the support of the first family, the state APC chairman, Abdullahi Abbas, and a host of other party members loyal to Ganduje. Some have identified with him and others have not, time will reveal those that seriously stand by his side ahead of 2023.

Many of the party members on the side of Ganduje are loyal because of their interest in 2023 or the exalted seat the governor is occupying. The moment Ganduje is out of power, they will be the first to switch their loyalty to whoever assumes the mantle of the Kano government house.

The G-7 is a group of seven politicians in Kano APC holding different political positions, they include Ibrahim Shekarau, a former governor of Kano state, Barau Jibrin, Shaaban Sharada, Tijjani Jobe, Haruna Dederi, Nasiru Abduwa, Shehu Dalhatu before the former deputy governor of Kano, Hafiz Abubakar, joined the group.

The group’s number one grudge with the governor is his support for Abdullahi Abbas as Kano APC chairman, they allege that Abbas is a hate speech and violence promoter that is not qualified to be a party chairman.

Other allegations against Abbas are his siding with a particular aspirant for the 2023 guber and the familiarisation of government affairs by the governor.

The party went into a serious crisis after the ward, local government, and state congresses in the state where Abdullahi Abbas and other party members loyal to Ganduje emerged as leaders. This is just on the part of the G-7 not to talk of the other party members loyal to the governor that have indicated interest in different political positions.

This is all happening while the deputy governor, Nasiru Gawuna, has remained mute, it is obvious that he stands with his principal with an unshakeable loyalty but Gawuna is not enjoying the support of majority party stakeholders. Among the governorship aspirants in Kano APC, Gawuna has the weakest structure with no vision and blueprint to lead the commercial hub.

I have so much to say about the gubernatorial ambition of the deputy governor in my upcoming article next week.

The Kano APC crisis took a new dimension when an FCT high court presided by Hamza Muazu nullified the ward and local government congresses of the state and affirmed the congress of the Danzago faction. Ahmadu Haruna Zago is the factional chairman of the APC enjoying the support of the entire G-7 members with the governor supporting the Abdullahi Abbas faction.

The APC at the national level has sent an appeal and reconciliation committee to Kano as a way of resolving the crisis. The committee headed by Abdullahi Adamu has met with the Shekarau faction and that of the governor but efforts to reach a positive outcome have not yielded results.

This crisis is brewing day by day and the party is yet to take serious action ahead of the 2023 poll as time is not by its side, the earlier the APC resolves this, the better seeing as Kano is their biggest political stronghold. Kano is too strategic for any political party because of the large population and the massive votes it pulls during elections.

No party will play with its internal crisis in Kano. It seems APC is not learning lessons from what happened in Zamfara.

Factions and internal crises are not good for any political party, the parties involved have large followership, with two serving senators, four members of the house of representatives; it will be suicidal and ridiculous to underrate them. Whoever will do that is ignorant of political history.

Adnan is a political PR consultant and manager of PRNigeria centre in Kano. He can be reached via [email protected]