Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso’s outburst, a rallying for the North or Personal frustration?
By Steve Ovirih.
The Kwankwansiya movement in the bubbling and boisterous Kano State over the years had built consensus around Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso, formidable political force and a house hold name in Kano body politic. Kwankwanso was two term Governor of Kano State and he handed over power to his Deputy, Alhaji Abdulahi Ganduje; they both fell out eventually and the former did everything within his power base to clamp down on the already fast rising fame of the Kwankwansiya movement. You don’t clamp down on a person’s ideological movement unless you see the movement as a threat to your political survival. In Kano till tomorrow, Rabiu Kwankwanso’s political dynamics cannot be wished away.
Not up to a month now, the grapevine has it that The Presidency was head hunting for a new Vice Presidential candidate and it was further pressed that Kano Strong man of ‘Talakawa politics’ who projects a cult following among the masses and elite class in The North, Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso is more favourably considered as a replacement for the Vice President position; this impression became very thick and was sustained so much that a section of the grapevine claimed this VP replacement talk broke the rank between former APC National Chairman , Alhaji Ganduje and the nation’s Vice President , Alhaji Shetima. It cannot be confirmed if this was a major reason Abdulahi Ganduje ‘lost’ his plumb job as the ruling party’s National Chair but after the rumoured cold -take between VP and Chairman, the latter relinquished his seat as APC Chairman. He has since been ‘compensated’ with another plumb offer though not as exalted as that of the National Chairman of the ruling party of the largest black country.
As the ways of all grapevine, always loud in the polity but weak on actualization, the talk of Kwakwanso becoming President Bola Tinubu’s VP designate ahead of the battle of politics in 2027 has crashed even when no source can actually confirmed that the Presidency was positive about pulling off Rabiu Kwakwanso from his vantage position as arrow head of one of the major opposition parties in the North UNPP.
Enter the former Kano Governor ,Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso …the newest harsh critic of the Bola Tinubu Presidency. Unlike the rumour of making him VP in the APC Presidential ticket, a kite flown by unknown political pressure group, the critiquing of the current policies of Bola Tinubu, Nigerian President was real and credited to Kwakwanso in black and white: he hit hard at President Tinubu, describing him as the President who is favoring the South in terms of infrastructure development spread and political patronage.
Kwakwanso noted that the north has been made to hold the short edge of the stick as this has underdeveloped the region , an idea he described as a disappointing development least expected by the good people of Northern Nigeria.
With the support base of President Bola Tinubu still soaring high among the Northern masses, it goes to motive that the Northern elite may not actually be feeling comfortable with the Presidency of Bola Tinubu; that goes without saying that President Bola Tinubu is still very popular in the north as so many political power blocks in the north are still rooting for the President.
The question remains would Alhaji Kwakwanso have questioned President Bola Tinubu if it was confirmed that of a truth he has been evidentially penned down as the one to replace VP Shetima? What if negotiation had failed, would Kwakwanso not have changed gear and put up the gab of ‘ northern rights activists,’ swaying his people with his opinion as a force to reckon with? With the approval of regional development commissions across the regions making up Nigerian and prompt appointment of Directors for these commissions, to finger the Presidency of Bola Tinubu for being bias against the north maybe difficult to prove. One thing you cannot take away from an average Nigerian politician is the fact that they desire someone from their region to call the shot from Aso Rock and until we allow the Presidency to have a pan Nigerian outlook, each region will continue to complain when someone from another region occupies the seat.
Now that Kwakwanso has entered the fray with his argument of Bola Tinubu denying the north of equitable infrastructure , except politicians are at their game of making the polity to second guess them, one can say that the theory of replacing Shetima with Kwakwanso is dead on arrival… you never can take anything pass the political elite because all of this media grandstanding can simply be an attempt to test the pulse of the north and check their reaction to the Kwankwansiya project lead ; no doubt his opinion is really receiving the expected rave assessment in the north.
One thing is clear, as politics is getting a rev up ahead of the decisive 2027, there will be alignment and realignment and grapevine will be at its best following up on guess work, second guessing and outright conjecture but for the politicians , they should strive not to rouse a region against the other for political gains.
