Kano and the 2011 guber election

The north-west Chairman of the national ruling party was speaking about the outcome of the election into the state executives of PDP in Kano State. According to Sankara, the outcome of the election portends that all is now well in the State Chapter of the party that had almost been ravaged with internal bickering, calling […]

The north-west Chairman of the national ruling party was speaking about the outcome of the election into the state executives of PDP in Kano State. According to Sankara, the outcome of the election portends that all is now well in the State Chapter of the party that had almost been ravaged with internal bickering, calling on all descending voices within the party to cooperate so that the ruling party (ANPP) in the state can descend and fall flat under the armpit of Sankara’s PDP in the state.  

It is however axiomatic that in a democratic society as ours, it is believed that the majority would always have their way while the minority would also have their say. While one would like to commend the peaceful nature of the Kano PDP state Congress leading to the election of the state executives, one has always argued that good manifestoes, ideological inclinations and good governance are the most important panacea towards winning the hearts of the people.

Thus, whoever is interested to take over Kano after Shekarau’s tenure in May 29, 2011 in the state should be ready to unfold better convincing programmes of manifestoes to the people than what the people are already enjoying today under Governor Shekarau.

By the year 2011, PDP government at the national level would have ruled this country for 12 years. What tangible development has this government put on ground for the people of Nigeria that would make them fall at its feet by the year 2011? Apart from the little success the PDP national government recorded in communication by creating room for telecom providers to get at the throats of their subscribers in Nigeria, there is nothing else one can conveniently point at as success of the government for the poor people of Nigeria.

For instance, our educational system has been in shamble, while corrupt practices, both at the higher and lower echelon have been so permeated that the EFCC and ICPC cannot easily contend with the worrisome situation. Unemployment is extremely high that social insecurity and restiveness have become recurring decimal among our able bodied and educated youths in the country. Our national hospitals have become poorly equipped and un-trusted that our sick leaders are easily flown abroad for medical attention. In spite of the transformation of our power authority from “Never Expect Power Always” (NEPA) to “Please, Hold Candle Now” (PHCN), things have remained the same in this sector of the economy.

If all these unfortunate but negative developments are true picture of what we have in the country led by PDP today, why and how does Danladi Sankara, the North-West PDP Chairman want Kano think that Kano will fall under the PDP in 2011?

In any case, are all of the above mentioned incompetence and negative phenomenon under the very nose of PDP that warranted Danladi Sankara to allude that “majority of Nigerians are satisfied with the performance of PDP in its 10 years governance of the country?” What kind of satisfaction is he talking about?

People of this country should now be tired of false impressions and bogus political alarm. We should be tired of politicians that make big noises over an achievement that they cannot simply identify. We should begin to distance ourselves from politicians that are enmeshed in ideological crisis.  

In Kano, for PDP to grab power in the next political dispensation, it should begin to tell the Kano people what the party did between 1999 and 2003 that made it to fall for ANPP in spite of its might at the national level. The party should tell us what it hopes to achieve for Kano that the Shekarau led administration of ANPP has not done. A mere peaceful conduct of state Congress in which only one side of the divide parked every thing is not the panacea for making Kano to fall under its feet in 2011. This is not the time for big talk but the truth and nothing but the truth must be told, if Kano must continue to progress.

It is however axiomatic to also observe without sentiment that unless the Kano PDP changes its modus operandi of politics with bitterness and also refrains itself from the anti-human agenda of its parent body at the national level, it will be extremely cumbersome to push the ruling ANPP in Kano State aside just like that.

Audu writes from Kano and he can be reached on his email: [email protected]