2015: Assessing Kwankwaso’s candidacy for president

The governor had arranged an elabo-rate ceremony to launch the foreign scholarship scheme he instituted for indigenes of Kano state, and since it was obvious I could not make it on time to witness the official ceremony I could at least join them for a chat with the Governor later in the evening. It was […]

The governor had arranged an elabo-rate ceremony to launch the foreign scholarship scheme he instituted for indigenes of Kano state, and since it was obvious I could not make it on time to witness the official ceremony I could at least join them for a chat with the Governor later in the evening. It was an invitation I could not refuse for multiple reasons.
Dr. Mato and I have been friends since 1988. In a Faculty that still had the late Drs Yusuf Bala Usman, Yusuf Bangura, et al; we were the only two out of the four candidates to successfully make it out of our Msc. Political Science class of eleven students in 1990. It was also Modibbo Kawu, who, as the editor of Daily Trust, first invited me to start a weekly column in 2003. So instead of boarding a flight back to Abuja that Friday, I left the venue of the wedding to connect an Arik Air plane headed for Kano.    
But my first and only encounter with Governor Kwankwaso to date started on an embarrassing note for me. I arrived at the Government House totally unaware of the new dress code at the location. Except for the uniformed security personnel, almost every person from the Gate House, to the inner recesses of the Governor’s Office, including my two friends, wore maroon or various shades of red caps to identify with the Kwankwasiya template or ideology of governance. Dressed as I was in black Kaftan with a clack cap and shoes to match, my uneasiness couldn’t have been more palpable. I felt lost in the sea of red that surrounded me.
I jokingly suggested to the governor that my appearance in black was not an affront, indicating that my friends, who were already seated and mischievously enjoying my predicament, failed to educate me on the correct dress code in advance. Amused, the governor smiled and waved me to a seat. For the next two hours or so of the interesting encounter, Kwankwaso lectured us on the bare essence Kwankwasiya movement he initiated and its template of governance with emphasis on ‘business unusual’ to underscore the stark difference between his style and that of his predecessor in office.
It was a lecture that sprang readily into mind when the first hints emerged that the Governor was in deep consultations to run for president on the platform of the APC next year. With the insight at my disposal, coupled with the way events have unfolded in Kano state since the second coming of the Governor, against contemporary developments in the remainder of the polity, it was not difficult for me to do a quick SWOT analysis of his chances in likely event that the Governor decides to run for the presidency. But first, permit me to offer this brief narrative:
In the past few years, I have read numerous accounts of the tremendous developments in Kano state today and the role of the Kwankwasiya template of governance in its transformation. Few of the accounts dwelled on the personal courage and tenacity it required to enforce the robust changes it took especially for a state steeped so much in culture and religion for centuries. None of the positive changes would have occurred if the very people they were intended to serve rejected them.
It may well be argued that Kwankwaso was emboldened because he knew the constitution foreclosed him from seeking another term in office. Even at that the Governor risked a lot given the dynamics of Kano and the intricate politics that saw to the emergence of his immediate predecessor as governor in 2007.
Back then, the former governor had coasted to victory at riding the crest of the overwhelming popularity of General Muhammadu Buhari and the manner he effectively sedated the masses using religion in the form of Sharia. But like we saw in Zamafara state, were religion could so easily be manipulated by dishonest politicians often at the expense of unsuspecting masses, for a nation like ours, religion is better left to the individual and his maker.
And in any case, like one of the governor’s aides pointed out, Kano had been a melting point of business and civilizations for centuries. It hardly requires the enthronement of a state religion in a manner that risked the alienation of significant portions of people other faiths who continued to contribute meaningfully for its economic development.  
The government had no business spending over two billion naira annually in sponsorship of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. The practice was neither supported by teachings of the Quran, nor the Hadith. The teaching of the religion did not also support street begging which he also put a stop to. Most of the pilgrims who benefitted from the practice ended up selling their seats for profit, in any case.
Given the dynamics at play, it took tremendous courage for the Governor to stop the practice. It also took uncommon courage to insist that for the duration his current tenure, seventy-five percent of all revenue that accrued to the state should be dedicated to capital projects with only twenty-five percent for the recurrent.
It took integrity to also prune the amount spent on security votes to under twenty percent of their previous levels under Shekarau. Governor Kwankwaso is also the only one I know of among his peers to insist on the monthly publication of the minutes of meetings of the state Executive Council.
Under the foregoing circumstances, it became possible for Kwankwaso to embark on the rapid infrastructural transformation of the Kano municipality. It also enabled him to invest heavily on education. More than a thousand indigenes of the state are on government scholarship abroad to study medicine, engineering and aviation. The massive savings from sponsorship of loafers for the holy pilgrimage among others also enabled the state to offer free meals to primary school students and to also maintain two state universities.    
Therefore, if Kwankwaso decides to run for the presidency tomorrow, his track record in the past several years will serve as a good reference point. In my opinion, he ranks only a close second to Governor Fashola in Lagos in the provision of good governance and the dividends of democracy. Under his watch, we have seen the rise of Kano into a mega city it promised to be for several centuries.
But all these facts will count for nothing if the governor decides to run for the presidency tomorrow. Were Nigeria a sane country, given the way events unfolded in the country in recent times, the incumbent president would have no business seeking for re-election. With the only exception of the strides made in the agricultural sector and rehabilitation of our antique rail system, I can hardly point at any other positive improvement under the existing leadership of the nation.
Under normal circumstances, the general insecurity in the land, coupled with the deliberate manner the president had gone about polarizing the polity along our predictable fault lines, presents an excellent opportunity for Nigerians to effect a change of leadership at the next general elections. But I doubt if that will ever happen. The exploitation of primitive sentiments has seen the collective values of Nigerians hopelessly debased. Under the present circumstances, the personal examples and visionary leadership of the likes of Kwankwaso and Fashola hardly matters.
Another hurdle the Governor will also have to face comes in the intimidating figure of the former Head Of state General Muhammadu Buhari, Atiku Abubakar and of course, Bukola Saraki. The good thing for him, though, is that his candidacy will come without the misperceptions often suffered by Buhari outside his comfort zone, and the excess baggage’s of Atiku Abubakar.
Kwankwaso will run on his currency. Whether he is capable of forging the sort of nationwide networks of the type available to Atiku Abubakar is however another thing entirely.
But time will definitely tell.