Re: The message from Kwankwaso

Najakku must be one of the following: he is either not from Kano or he is lacking in sufficient knowledge about Kano affairs generally.Writing a column is not an easy thing, as it requires so many things, including wisdom, tact, fairness and maturity. In fact, the ability to express self clearly is not enough in […]

Najakku must be one of the following: he is either not from Kano or he is lacking in sufficient knowledge about Kano affairs generally.
Writing a column is not an easy thing, as it requires so many things, including wisdom, tact, fairness and maturity. In fact, the ability to express self clearly is not enough in this regard; it is more than that. And, any newspaper or magazine worth its salt only engages columnists with the required skills to enhance its editorial credibility.
Again, the mere privileged of being column writer shouldn’t, in any way, be a license to promote your own selfish personal agenda apparently at the expense of the generality of people. A column writer should always own up to telling the truth however bitter and should not allow his selfish interest to becloud his own sense of judgment.
In Najakku’s article, I can clearly see an open hatred for former Kano governor Malam Ibrahim Shekarau. He simply began an open presidential campaign for Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso. It shouldn’t be so. Najakku was happy over APC’s ‘winning’ all 44 chairmanship seats and all 484 councillorship seats in the May 17 local government elections ignoring the fact that in a free and fair election PDP could not be defeated. The election was marred by irregularities. This was even attested to by an accredited civil society observer group led by Comrade Victor Onyedikachi at a press conference when it described the polls as stage-managed.
And, in the article, Najakku forgot to realize that he shot himself in the foot when he said “The vow by PDP to file its case at the election tribunal could probably get one or two local government chairmanship and councillorship seats, but no more.” Even one Dianna-Abasi Alphonsus in an online reaction to the article the following day after the article was published in Daily Trust was intelligent enough to fault Najakku’s argument, when she said “To admit that PDP may get one or two LGA seats at the election tribunal is a clear admission that the elections were rigged by APC.”
One doesn’t need to be told that Shekarau has a large following in his home state, Kano; and it will continue to remain so. It is illogical to say Shekarau, who had ruled the state for eight years through popular votes, has no following. He strenuously worked hard to earn for himself the popularity and respect he commands in Kano and beyond.
Unlike Kwankwaso, who takes pride in creating too many enemies for himself through his actions and uncomplimentary utterances, Shekarau is always at peace with everybody.
If Shekarau has no political relevance, he would not have been jealously approached by PDP national leadership to join the ruling party. It is no longer a secret that the former governor has a strong political structure all over the state; he and his supporters, who left APC for PDP, are now a great political asset for the ruling party. Kwankwaso is conscious of this fact; and that was why he regretted Shekarau’s defection to PDP. He said he wouldn’t have left PDP, if Shekarau would join it.
Najakku tried to say not all Shekarau’s supporters followed him to PDP. It is natural that as a political leader you shouldn’t expect all your supporters to follow you to the party you defected to as there must be some who would remain in the party you left. When Kwankwaso first, for example, signified his intention to hurriedly leave PDP for APC, his Commissioner of Education Alhaji Faruk Iya quickly tendered his resignation letter as he would not follow him to PDP. And, when he finally left the party, Speaker Kano State House of Assembly Alhaji Gambo Sallau relinquished his plum position to remain in PDP. Not long ago also, Kwankwaso’s Commissioner of Agriculture Hajiya Baraka Sani resigned and returned to PDP.
It is not true that President Goodluck Jonathan had left the victims of Nyanya bomb blast as portrayed in Najakku’s article. We should be fair in issues like this. Jonathan cancelled his Ibadan trip in order to be immediately at the scene the very day the blast occurred to sympathize with victims.
I would want to tell Najakku that the April 15 PDP rally at Polo Ground in Kano was a huge success against the wish of those strongly opposed to it. It is true the rally took place at the Polo Ground for safety and there is nothing wrong in securing a safe place for such a political event. What would Najakku say of the maiden matriculation ceremony of Kwankwaso’s Northwest University that took place right inside Kano Government House? The university event was moved to Kano seat of power on security grounds because Kwankwaso is simply afraid of being booed by angry Kano citizens.
So Najakku needs to carefully restudy the general affairs of Kano to be able to have a clearer picture of the true things. Kano is not like the way he sees it as captured in his article. And, in Kwankwaso as the writer wants Nigerians to believe, Nigeria will never find a well-deserved president.

Kwankwaso, a former Kano State Commissioner for Rural and Community Development, is spokesman of state PDP caretaker committee.