A man’s nature is revealed once he has money or power. Most politicians who want authority say they want to serve, but once in government, they pursue power and influence rather than the public good.
Most political observers claim Kano State Governor Kabir Yusuf is acting like a bull in China.
Kano’s Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso-Abdullahi Ganduje battle will continue.
The explanation is simple: With the election of Kabir Yusuf, a Kwankwasiya protégé, as the conflict’s arrowhead, Kano State’s people are guaranteed a never-ending battle.
Yusuf has played a big role in Kano’s bizarre, passionate, and frightening politics.
Anybody that has watched the 2023 polls would not expect the NNPP or APC to fold over or come to power with soft gloves. Politics has traditionally ruled Kano, with the winner taking everything.
Yusuf’s refusal to sit on Ganduje’s chair at the swearing-in was a melodrama that foreshadowed future events.
Yusuf, inheriting his benefactor’s enmity, promised to scrutinise Ganduje’s policies and investigate his administration’s N241 billion debt.
In little than a month in office, he has destroyed so-called unlawful structures in a manner that would impress the Guinness Book of World Records.
The governor pledged to restore the state’s grandeur by recovering any encroached public land used to build “illegal” constructions, notably in schools, mosques, playgrounds, graveyards, marketplaces, and hospitals.
The governor began implementing his campaign pledges at the Race Course playground, known as Filin Sukuwa, where a three-story structure with 90 businesses was demolished to restore the site.
He demolished the Hajj Camp and Daula Hotel, leased out for a retail mall and plaza under the public-private partnership.
The demolition spree wrecked stores at the Eid worshipping ground, Kantin Kwari and Kofar Wambai marketplaces, and other city commercial sectors.
Yusuf seems to believe that wrong is wrong, regardless of appearance.
No one can criticise a leader who comes to right wrongs, but effective leaders are distinguished by their intentions and how they balance their commitments on the hard scales of justice.
According to numerous analysts, Governor Yusuf should have investigated to distinguish legitimate investors from Ganduje’s appropriations. At least those created with state money should have been seized or sold to raise limited public resources. It would have prevented these debates from distracting.
Yusuf should realise that he will rule for four years and everyday matters.
According to sources, Ganduje’s government was engaged in land allocations and other operations that violated fundamental decency and propriety. Yet, popular opinion on Yusuf’s move so far points to political revenge.
Several investors have threatened to sue his administration.
Political pundits believe that the Kano governor’s legacy will be youth issues. People will walk past ruined structures but cannot tolerate the menace of young, out-of-school, intoxicated, and aggressive adolescents.
In the state’s and his administration’s greatest interest, Yusuf should take another comprehensive, critical look at those 10,000 persons who may lose the employment Ganduje provided them to determine whether any should be kept.
Kano indigenes are entering the unemployment line every day; therefore, releasing 10,000 more to the overcrowded job market would be a time bomb that no one can avoid.
Strangely, the Yusuf administration wants to revisit the Ganduje dollar video to nail him, not for any humanitarian motive. Ganduje should be punished if proven guilty, but the reason counts.
Now, Ganduje is an ordinary citizen and will likely lose out in the APC power equation as Kwankwaso, whose party NNPP has taken the state from APC, is being courted by the party in the centre. Lesson: Power is fleeting.
Abba Kabir Yusuf was born January 5, 1963.
Kaduna Polytechnic awarded him an HND in Civil Engineering with a speciality in Water Resources/Environmental Engineering.
Yusuf studied business administration at Bayero University, Kano.
