Date Published: 09/16/09
Kano and the 2011 Guber election By Saka Raji Audu
I read an interesting news report on the front page of the Sun Newspaper dated 20 th August, 2009 under the caption, "Guber 2011: Kano will fall" attributed to a PDP scribe, Alhaji Danladi Sankara. Initially, I was amazed and disturbed by the caption of the lead story, which is more of a curse on Kano than blessing. Having gone through the detail of the big but screaming headline on page 30, I got to know what " Kano will fall" means to Alhaji Danladi Sankara and the Sun Newspaper reporter.
The north-west Chairman of the national ruling party was speaking about the outcome of the election into the state executives of PDP in Kano State. According to Sankara, the outcome of the election portends that all is now well in the State Chapter of the party that had almost been ravaged with internal bickering, calling on all descending voices within the party to cooperate so that the ruling party (ANPP) in the state can descend and fall flat under the armpit of Sankara's PDP in the state.
It is however axiomatic that in a democratic society as ours, it is believed that the majority would always have their way while the minority would also have their say. While one would like to commend the peaceful nature of the Kano PDP state Congress leading to the election of the state executives, one has always argued that good manifestoes, ideological inclinations and good governance are the most important panacea towards winning the hearts of the people. That if people realise that a party or individual has what it takes to develop and empower them economically, politically and even religiously, they would automatically fall for such party or individuals. This is the secret behind Malam Ibrahim Shekarau's enduring mission in Kano State for the past six years.
It was however based on the rising profile of Shekarau led ANPP administration that on 20 th December 2008 in the same Sun Newspaper, the same Sankara had called on Malam Shekarau to dump his state ruling party for PDP. Because Shekarau believes that party affiliations are not just based on bandwagon device or platform for securing position, Shekarau has therefore remained in his national opposition party (ANPP), come rain or sun shine. It is also based on this principle that the world acclaimed social critics; Professor Wole Soyinka popularly known as Kongi had thumbed his finger for Malam Ibrahim Shekarau and described him as a man of principle and integrity, as well as one of the saviours of the nation.
In essence, what am I saying? That Kano, one of the politically advanced and sophisticated states in Nigeria will not just fall for any party or group of people based on platter of gold or mere pronouncement or even threat. Thus, whoever is interested to take over Kano after Shekarau's tenure in May 29, 2011 in the state should be ready to unfold better convincing programmes of manifestoes to the people than what the people are already enjoying today as a result of Shekarau's good governance. It is however oblivious that making Kano to fall under the feet of any party or individual goes beyond successful conduct of any party's State Congress, where it was even noted that only one side of the internal political divide swept all the fifty one executive positions of the state chapter of the party. The absence of even representation across the wide and breadth of party loyalists indicates that it is still not yet Uhuru for those who assume Kano to fall under their feet like miracle in the 2011 Kano guber.
By the year 2011, PDP government at the national level would have ruled this country for 12 years. What tangible development has this government put on ground for the people of Nigeria that would make them fall at its feet by the year 2011? Apart from the little success the PDP national government recorded in communication by creating room for telecom providers to get at the throats of their subscribers in Nigeria, there is nothing else one can conveniently point at as success of the government for the poor people of Nigeria.
For instance, our educational system has been in shamble, while corrupt practices, both at the higher and lower echelon have been so permeated that the EFCC and ICPC cannot easily contend with the worrisome situation. Unemployment is extremely high that social insecurity and restiveness have become recurring decimal among our able bodied and educated youths in the country. Our national hospitals have become poorly equipped and un-trusted that our sick leaders are easily flown abroad for medical attention. In spite of the transformation of our power authority from "Never Expect Power Always" (NEPA) to "Please, Hold Candle Now" (PHCN), things have remained the same in this sector of the economy.
The PDP government still has more aces up her sleeves. Our industries have become ghosts and shadow of themselves due to unchecked heavy smuggling of fake and counterfeit goods into the country. What happened to the Ajaokuta Steel, the supposed hope of the country's industrial revolution? Almost every government parastatals are today on strike for one reason or the other. And yet, the government refuses to kowtow. If all these unfortunate but negative developments are true picture of what we have in the country led by PDP today, why and how does Danladi Sankara, the North-West PDP Chairman want Kano whose ANPP led government has been up and doing to fall under PDP in 2011?
In any case, are all of the above mentioned incompetence and negative phenomenon under the very nose of PDP that warranted Danladi Sankara to elude that "majority of Nigerians are satisfied with the performance of PDP in its 10 years governance of the country?" Haba Danladi! What kind of satisfaction are you talking about? I think the reverse of this statement as reported in the Daily Triumph of 8 th September, 2009 should be the case. Indeed, gone are the days when mere pronouncement to win election by political heavy weights matters to any body. People of this country should now be tired of false impressions and bogus political alarm by some one who thinks he or she has eaten enough to forget the majority in squalor. We should be tired of politicians that make big noises over an achievement that they cannot simply identify. We should begin to distance ourselves from politicians that are enmeshed in ideological crisis.
In Kano, for PDP to grab power in the next political dispensation, it should begin to tell the Kano people what the party did between 1999 and 2003 that made it to fall for ANPP in spite of its might at the national level. The party should tell us what it hopes to achieve for Kano that the Shekarau led administration of ANPP has not done. A mere peaceful conduct of state Congress in which only one side of the divide parked every thing is not the panacea for making Kano to fall under its feet in 2011. This is not the time for big talk but the truth and nothing but the truth must be told, if Kano must continue to progress, as we can now see under Shekarau ANPP administration.
It is however axiomatic to also observe without sentiment that unless the Kano PDP changes its modus operandi of politics with bitterness and also refrains itself from the anti-human agenda of its parent body at the national level, it will be extremely cumbersome to push the ruling ANPP in Kano State aside just like that. Still, if the national ruling party of PDP will be spending twelve years on the throne in spite of its unimpressive performance, the ANPP government in Kano with its myriads of successes should not in any way be disrupted. This is considering the way Shekarau administration has fortified every nook and cranny of the state with human and structural developments. For sure, the good people of Kano will be afraid of losing the unprecedented hard earned achievements of the ANPP government since it is evidently clear that in Nigerian politics, continuity in governance by opposition party is some time very difficult, thereby setting the state back. This is simply why the Kano people will be very careful and meticulous not to be misled or bamboozled into following the same path that had not been meaningful to them.
After all, it is often said that a bird at hand is worth two in the bush. All these factors, no matter how they are down played are why Kano cannot fall under the thresh hold of PDP in 2011. It is however advisable for Danladi Sankara and his group to consecrate their energy towards struggling hard to retain their national grip because the way things are going, their party may be doomed to also lose Aso Rock by 2011 if care is not taken. Even the blind can see the handwriting on the wall.
Saka Raji Audu writes from Kano and he can be reached on his email: sakaraj@yahoo.com
