Run, Masari, run

Speaker Aminu Bello Masari has not been known for crying wolf where there has only been sheep. He is also ‘not to be a rabble-rouser or political radical but rather a moralist who believes politics should be played according to laid-down rules, democratic norms and best practices. Above all, he is a man of peace, […]

Speaker Aminu Bello Masari has not been known for crying wolf where there has only been sheep. He is also ‘not to be a rabble-rouser or political radical but rather a moralist who believes politics should be played according to laid-down rules, democratic norms and best practices. Above all, he is a man of peace, honour and dignity who until recently had followed his governor, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua almost like a zombie. He was a model of how best the relationship between state governors and Abuja senior political office-holders should be.
But unfortunately, most of these things are now history as he realised rather too late that in his ruling PDP, rules are of different categories and they apply to different people differently according to the whims and caprices of the powers that be. For over two years now, he has been nursing the ambition to become the governor of Katsina State. Not only that, he has been working very hard and setting up the necessary structures to realise his ambition. He also opted to follow his governor with great respect sometimes even at the expense of protocol where he is the Number Four Citizen far ahead of the governor.
At least, I was a witness at an Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Alumni Association dinner in Abuja where he followed Yar’Adua. In his brief speech there, he said though not an ex-ABU graduate, he followed his governor out of solidarity. But all these niceties have changed as things have fallen apart and would no longer be at ease as they’ve shot an arrow against his gubernatorial ambition. The Katsina political establishment and the powers that be in Abuja seem not to be interested in Masari becoming the governor of that state. Not because he is not qualified or did not serve them well or did not do well as the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives. No!
In fact, some of us would even accuse him of bending too much backwards to toe the line of his party and the Presidency. In order to understand the political woes of Masari, one has to understand the real Katsina politics as well as age-old saying of blood being thicker than water. We’ll start with the invisible dichotomy between the central, north and south of Katsina. The central is where the capital is located and the seat of the emirate. Since the establishment of the Emirate following the jihad of Usman Dan Fodio in the early 19th century, central Katsina has been monopolising power to date. Nobody from the south (Karadua) has ever occupied the big seat. At best, those from Karadua were only confined to the position of Deputy Governors and north (Daura) is allocated the position of Secretary to the Government. Karadua, in the event you want to look it up from your map, consists of eleven local government areas comprising Funtua, Bakori, Malumfashi, Danja, Faskari and Kafur axis. Indeed, for several years, they have been agitating for their own state as a matter of self-determination. They never had a strong candidate like Masari and he wasted no time in going for the big apple. But on the other hand, this is like a taboo to central Katsina where the fear of the unknown and a possibility of the known have ravaged their psychology.
I always joke with my central Katsina friends especially during the third term debate on the inevitability of power shift in Katsina. I used to argue that what is good for Nigeria, for power to shift to the north should also be good for Katsina for power to shift to the south of Katsina. The major fear of the central Katsinawa seems to be hinged on the belief that governors from Karadua might promote the agitation for the creation of their own state. The second fear seems to be that such a governor might also create some new emirates around Malumfashi and Funtua thereby breaking the monopoly of the Emir of Katsina. Presently, there are only two emirates in Katsina State – Katsina and Daura respectably. The thought of these possibilities is kind of an anathema to the average central Bakatsine.
The second most serious hurdle for Masari is that he is facing a strong family relationship that in all probabilities he may not be able to cross. This is because in the last several weeks, words have been going around the country that wedding bells are ringing in the Katsina State Government House and the PDP National Secretariat for the Deputy National Chairman (North), Ibrahim Shema. The amiable lawyer and former Katsina State Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice under Yar’Adua is billed to marry one of the daughters of His and Her Excellency, Umaru and Turai Yar’Adua! So, dear reader, you can see the odds against Masari becoming the governor of Katsina especially on the platform of the PDP that the governor and a presidential aspirant have absolute grip on.
We are therefore putting you on notice of the great celebration ahead when Shema marries his former boss’s daughter and takes over from his father-in-law! This certainly qualifies what another Bakatsine, the late Alhaji Mamman Shata, would have called tuwona, maina and namana!!! When therefore recently the political temperature was hitting to boiling point in the state where it was alleged that Governor Yar’Adua summoned local government chairmen and party chairmen to the Government House and hosted them to a lavish reception and raised the hand of Shema and announced him as the government candidate for the governorship, this obviously alarmed Masari and other PDP governorship aspirants, especially former Internal Affairs Minister, Magaji Mohammed who regarded the action as a personal affront. This was because Shema was said to be like his own son as he allegedly raised and trained him. Indeed, the speculation is that Yar’Adua brought in Shema to stop Mohammed who is from the same Dutsinma area of the central zone. As things were getting out of order, President Obasanjo was said to have called Masari, Yar’Adua and Mohammed for a reconciliation meeting in Abuja.
At the said meeting, the two aspirants stated their case against the governor and the governor denied all allegations. Subsequent congress meetings to elect delegates that would elect the governorship candidate showed that Masari and co. were edged out. This eventually led to the formation of a grand alliance of Katsina from PDP, ANPP, Masari, Mohammed and Murtala Safana and other political parties against the governor. They inaugurated the Alliance just a week ago in Kaduna. From the foregoing, it is very clear to me that Masari and others cannot get justice, equity and fair play under the prevailing situation of PDP in Katsina State.
The fact that the recent National Executive/Working Committee meeting of the PDP did not order investigations into their complaints of electoral malpractices in some local governments is a strong pointer to the fact that justice has eluded them. Masari should also not ever forget that he would ever be forgiven for allowing democracy to work during the aborted third term elongation debates in the House of Representatives. It is therefore our candid advice to Masari and other aggrieved politicians to move out of the PDP in pursuit of their ambitions.
The Grand Alliance therefore should move to the newly-formed Action Congress (AC) and fight from there as there is no way they can succeed fighting from within the PDP. They should also not be deceived by the offer of any ministerial or senatorial ticket. Thus, for me, Masari should negotiate for an automatic governorship ticket from the AC and pursue his legitimate ambition and liberate Katsina from the clutches of the emerging family despotism.

This article, penned by late Ujudud Shariff, was first published on Tuesday, November 28, 2006 in his column in the Daily Trust. It was reproduced with a regrettably  unfitting headline on June 2 edition. We hereby re-present it again with the correct title.