The Return Of Ibrahim Shekarau And ANPP`s Dominance Of Kano Politics

The formation of the All Progressive Congress (APC) was made legally possible after an agreement of the three of the major opposition parties to collapse their party certificate so as to be stronger politically and fight the then ruling party;  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Apart from the All Nigerians People Party (ANPP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), there were other forces that strengthened the change movement that snatched power from the party that claimed it was designed to rule for 60 years.

Forces like the faction of APGA, supported by the Imo state governor, Rochas Okorochas; the n-PDP that later joined the movement, needs to be mentioned if one`s concern is to go beyond the formation of the APC, but the factors that led to its success at the centre and in most of the states of Nigeria.

As we know, the Nigerian politics is a kind of funny one, though the three mentioned parties are no longer in existence, members of these parties always try to see that they get their fair share in any political calculation, be it party leadership from ward to the state level, local government elective and appointed positions, or even appointments from the federal government.

Unlike in other APC states, for example like Lagos, where from the onset ACN was the dominant party, in Kano state the CPC had large followership, in fact if not because of their inability to resolve their internal crisis in 2011, the party would have won the state governorship seat and majority of the elective position, but unfortunately, despite General Buhari`s 1.6 million votes from the state in the Presidential election,  the party won only two seats at the House of Representatives.

The ANPP had its power; because at the time of the formation of the APC, ANPP had one senator (Sen. Kabiru Gaya of Kano South) and some members in both the state Assembly and House of Representatives.

It can be recalled that even  then deputy minority leader in the House of Representatives (Abdulrahman  Kawu Sumaila) was from the ANPP of Kano state.

Unlike ANPP and CPC, the third merging party, the ACN had some countable members with no any elected or appointed position.

The n-PDP on the other hand was a faction of the PDP which had seven serving governors at that time but five of them agreed to join forces with the APC to pay GoodLuck Jonathan and his PDP for what they perceived as a bad treatment on the n-PDP members.

The special treatment given to Rabiu Kwankwaso, the then Governor of Kano state, who upon joining the APC was given the role of a leader of the party in the state, was not accepted by Malam Ibrahim Shekarau; who was not only the ANPP leader in the state, but he led the ANPP three representatives in the formation of the APC. In an attempt to weaken the relevance of Malam Ibrahim Shekarau in the APC, Rabiu Kwankwaso gave appointments to some former ANPP members, and because of that most of them refused to follow Malam Shekarau to the PDP, even when he was appointed as the Education Minister.

Among the benefited members of the ANPP was Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, a close associate of Malam Shekarau. He served as the chairman of Shekarau`s Nassarawa Local Government three times (two by election and one by appointment as caretaker).

When Kwankwaso completed his second term in 2015, he picked his deputy, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje to become his successor. Dr. Ganduje, like how Shekarau (allegedly betrayed Buhari in his first tenure) also allegedly betrayed  Rabiu Kwankwaso; who after leaving the governorship position went to the Senate to represent the people of Kano Central.

The dynamism of the system has now brought Sen. Kwankwaso back to his PDP and a lot of his followers including the deputy governor, Prof. Hafizu Abubakar followed him and later resigned his position in alleged fear of impeachment trap by the governor. But Dr. Ganduje in his strategy to make Kwankwaso fail in actualizing his first political goal of unseating him, lobbied and brought back Malam Shekarau into APC.

In what can be seen as compensation to Malam Shekarau, Dr. Ganduje promised him Authomatic senatorial ticket of Kano Central, and to indicate his commitment, he (Dr. Ganduje) gave directives to all APC stakeholders in the 16 local government areas of Kano Central, to pay allegiance to the Sardauna of Kano, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau.

In addition to the senatorial slot, he also picked his Commissioner of Agriculture who is originally from ANPP and Shekarau`s associate, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, to fill the vacant position of deputy governor.

As it is today, Malam Shekarau is the APC`s senatorial candidate for Kano Central, Sen. Kabiru Gaya is the APC`s candidate for Kano South, Barau Jibril is the APC`s candidate for Kano North, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna is the deputy governor of the state, all of them were originally from ANPP. If after the completion of Ganduje`s second term, Nasiru Ganuwa becomes the Governor of the state, that will give Malam Ibrahim Shekarau absolute dominance of the state politics, and that means the return of ANPP government in the state.

Kabiru Sai’du Dakata is Civil Rights Activist and can be reached on 08064891110