The origin of Kebbi’s current political feud

One can safely and without any fear of contradiction say that Nigeria, as it is today, has been conquered by a group of sadistic blood suckers who have appropriated our common patrimony and subjugated the rest of the hapless citizenry to a life of modern day slavery. Every one has been beaten into one straight […]

One can safely and without any fear of contradiction say that Nigeria, as it is today, has been conquered by a group of sadistic blood suckers who have appropriated our common patrimony and subjugated the rest of the hapless citizenry to a life of modern day slavery. Every one has been beaten into one straight line of servitude and the reality of today is that in many states of the federation, the people have hopelessly watched as a very few class of criminals have cornered and owned everything. The rest of us have helplessly watched as their children, brothers and wives showcase their ill-gotten wealth through such obscenities as wealth flaunting, arrogance and such unbridled lifestyles that are practically inconceivable in any saner clime. They live the life of the oil sheikhs, they flaunt their ill gotten wealth shamelessly and they still have the audacity to force candidates on us using the same stolen loot to harass, intimidate and force the poor to do their bidding of subjugation.

In Kebbi state today, a simmering feud is raging between Alhaji Adamu Aliero and his gang of reactionary political elements on one hand, and the class of his anointed successor, the reclusive Governor Usman Nasamu Dakingari on the other. It is between these two extremist groups that Kebbi is currently stewing with each group baying for the blood of the other and sparing neither armour nor resources in their desperate attempt to control both the politics and the resources of Kebbi state. Ironically, Adamu Aliero, who appeared to be at the receiving end of this dog fight and who, from all indications, has lost a measure of credibility, is the architect of the events that have snowball into what today appear to be a political cul-de-sac for him in his native Kebbi with the potential to mess him up further. Kebbi is like a political laboratory where all manner of political jesters can lay claim to its soul. Since its creation in 1991, the state has been under the grip of men in uniform of different shades. After a military interregnum of a few years, the state never felt the ambience of true civilian democracy in the real sense of it, as all the so-called civilian governors that had governed thereafter were men of the Customs and Excise. But it was the advent of the Aliero years in 1999 that had changed the concept and the rules. With limitless resources at his disposal which he himself and his millionaire friends like Abubakar Gari Malam cobbled together, they took the political landscape by storm and before long they were able to have their way.

The politics of the state was thus narrowed and the space made very uneven that no one that is not of the Customs and Excise will ever find the turf comfortable enough to aspire. They had the money, they had some semblance of unity amongst them and the environment was such that lacked the will to resist this assault on its soul. They were imbued by a common destiny to control the affairs of the state and with the kind of resources at their disposal, they sat down to help themselves to the carcasses. Aliero was to do his eight years, vie for the Senate while Abubakar Malam will take over as governor to also govern for further eight years and on and on. Greed, envy, treachery and betrayal set in as Aliero became more restless, more ambitious, more power drunk, more self-centred and more individualistic.

Power, money, influence and the trappings led Aliero to jettison all the gentleman’s agreement between him and Malam, who, despite all the ominous signs of a likely betrayal, still trudged on. It was at this stage that the idea to decamp to the ruling PDP became an attraction. The country was witness to Aliero’s participation in the cutting of the PDP’s victory cake at the Aso Rock Villa; a very shameless and needless act by a member of an opposition party.  Meanwhile, the search for a stooge, a lame duck, a harmless boy and the easy going successor had also commenced as the decision to do away with Malam had been reached.

 Alhaji Saidu Nasamu Dakingari, another customs officer who had known Aliero since their secondary school days perfectly fitted the bill. They have interacted for a very long time and Aliero had understood his friend inside out. What he didn’t truly grasp about Dakingari was the hidden hardness of a very stubborn man, the real Fulani stuff. He does not suffer fools gladly and he was his own man with an independent mien of a man of timber and calibre. He is frail and harmless looking alright, but those who mistook this for lameness lived to regret it.

For Kebbi to continue to be free from these usurpers and for the people to finally free themselves from the stranglehold of these reactionary elements, the citizens must be assertive, uncompromising, forceful and unyielding.

Maibindiga wrote from Kofar Kola, Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi state. He can be reached on [email protected]