LG dissolution as Dakingari’s gambit
Strategic political decisions that verge on the cohesion of the north within the context of a united Nigeria hardly crystallize from Kebbi. Indeed, despite its quiet temperament, Kebbi State does not also have the caliphal elegance of Sokoto State. Yet, no one can deny Kebbi State its unique, distinguishing cultural features. Consider the famous Argungu […]
Strategic political decisions that verge on the cohesion of the north within the context of a united Nigeria hardly crystallize from Kebbi. Indeed, despite its quiet temperament, Kebbi State does not also have the caliphal elegance of Sokoto State. Yet, no one can deny Kebbi State its unique, distinguishing cultural features.
Consider the famous Argungu fishing festival which is a yearly boost for the tourism potentialities of the largely agrarian state. That is a good reason, in any case, to celebrate the state. Someone said Kebbi could be situated in the same socio-cultural context with Zamfara and Jigawa States.
This contextual situation is in terms of their not-too-rambunctious political contents/events; and, the not-too-defined shapes and textures of the ever unfolding political scheming as the case has always been in Kaduna and Kano States, and occasionally in Sokoto, though with a measure of caliphal flavor.
In fact, this explains why the political gambit of Governor Saidu Dakingari which manifested in the dissolution of the Local Councils has not generated so much interest in the larger polity as the question of location has tended to water down the impact and the import of the political move, which was done in breach of the Kebbi State Local Government Law, 2000.
But the dissolution, which was predetermined to bolster Dakingari’s re-election bid in 2011, is gradually becoming his Achilles’ heel. Analysts have drawn two conclusions from his action of dissolving the 21 Local Government Councils whose chairmen were elected into office on February 25, 2008.
First, by dissolving the councils, he has set himself against the elected public office holders closest to the grassroots people whose votes are critical to the victory of any governor in an electoral contest. And, rather than respect the letter and the spirit of the relevant extant laws, the governor chose to violate them.
He should have known, for instance, that there is no place for Sole Administrator in a constitutional democracy. There is no such provision in the nation’s 1999 Constitution. Even the Kebbi State Local Government Law, 2000, which he ensured that the State House of Assembly amended to pave the way for the dissolution was retrospectively applied and so brazenly in error.
The reason is that the 21 Local Government Council Chairmen who were sacked by him on the strength of the purportedly amended Kebbi State Local Government Law, 2008 had already been elected for three years in February 2008 on the basis of the State Local Government Law of 2000. Their tenure should expire on February 25, 2011.
Dissolving the councils after two years in office was a gambit by Dakingari to control the accumulative political machinery of the third tier of government to bolster his re-election bid. The calculation was that the new helmsmen would be his men whose loyalty he could vouch for and latch on to deliver himself as re-elected governor.
Whereas, the majority, if not all of the council bosses that he deliberately pushed out of office, are loyal to some other forces in the State, including the former governor and one-time Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Adamu Aliero. But the battle against Dakingari is being well fought by the ousted council chairmen in the court of law.
On June 1, this year, they got a reprieve from the court, which ordered their immediate reinstatement. But Dakingari, acting in concert with his co-travelers on the path of unconstitutionality, has refused to obey the order of the court. He is seeking, as it were, to appeal against the clear and unambiguous judgment of the High Court.
Although, the move cannot be faulted as he has the right to appeal, but if the motive was to dilate the process of the reinstated council chairmen returning to their offices to perform the functions of their office and for them not to be part of the political process that would determine the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2011 poll, then he (Dakingari) may be overreaching himself and playing God.
But he should know that it is not solely in his place to determine the political landscape in Kebbi in the build-up to the 2011 governorship election. He should also not delude himself that he can railroad himself on the party as its governorship candidate in the election.
The arguments, in circles close to the political development in Kebbi, have been that the race for the PDP ticket will certainly not be a tea party. It will be witty and gritty as friends, turned foes, will square it up to dislodge one another. Forces who are interested in the ticket would be required to showcase their achievements, their possibilities and their capacities to deliver on the expectations of the people.
The contention is that Dakingari has become unpopular within the top hierarchy of the party in Kebbi; he is said to have been unpopular also with the people. His performance is said to be below average when compared with the administration of his predecessor (Aliero). This could be arguable, but it is part of the growing anti-Dakingari’s sentiments.
This will certainly assume a much deeper and larger dimension in the months ahead as gladiators in the state dig in for a solid foothold in the political landscape. But in a move that appeared self-inflicting, Dakingari would appear to have done himself in with the dissolution of the council in breach of the law.
Indeed, time will tell whether Dakingari’s gambit will result in his desire to maintain his stranglehold on the state for the next four years effective from 2011. Time will also tell whether or not the opposition would successfully dislodge him.
Ahmed, a political analyst, contributed this piece from Kaduna