Jibrin to Doguwa: You’ve never won fair election — I’m your godfather in the house

Abdulmumin Jibrin, a member of the house of representatives from Kano, says Alhassan Doguwa, a lawmaker from the state has never won a free and fair election.

Jibrin said the constituents of Doguwa, the chairman of the house committee on petroleum resources (downstream), see the lawmaker as the late Idi Amin, a former leader of Uganda, who is reported to have ruled with “iron fists”.

Amin was a military dictator who ruled the East African country between 1971 and 1979.

Jibrin is a New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) member, while Doguwa belongs to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The two politicians have been at loggerheads for days now.

Jibrin had warned Doguwa, who is a former house whip, against insulting Rabiu Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate of the NNPP, in the 2023 elections.

However, Doguwa said it was Kwankwaso who first insulted members of the APC in Kano.

In a statement on Wednesday, Sani Paki, media aide to Jibrin, quoted the lawmaker as saying that it was his influence that ensured that Doguwa was made the chief whip of the house in the eight national assembly.

“Doguwa has never won a free and fair election. His party also neither found him suitable for the position of whip nor leader of the house in 2023,” the statement reads.

“Two positions he previously held, which before God, I played a significant role in his emergence, giving him a benefit of doubt in the hope that he will change his ways. Alas, I was wrong.

“In fact, though, he worked against us in the speakership race of 2015 and covertly in 2019, both of which I defeated him, and I single-handedly pushed for him to be chief whip on the instruction of Kwankwaso in 2015.

“I repeated same after I led the speakership race in 2019 to make Alhassan leader of the house on the instruction of the then Governor of Kano, two leaders he has betrayed and continue to plot against, overtly and covertly, respectively.”

The lawmaker said Doguwa is “the real political parasite” who has allegedly remained a problem in Kano politics.

“I challenge Doguwa to show us his political structure, aside from only being able to strive and get relevance in crisis situations or a divided environment, which is the hallmark of his politics.

“I am fit to be called his godfather in the house of representatives. This is what a little boy who was in school in 1992 can do to an old man like Doguwa.”