The politicking for the 2015 presidential elections among the northern elites in Nigeria has begun to take form. And the various political camps have also started the divisive demarcations. This is as 247ureports.com has gathered through reliable sources in Kano that the current People Democratic Party [PDP] Governor of Kano State, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has launched what many consider the prep work towards his 2015 presidential aspiration.
Gov Kwankwaso’s 2015 ambition has however tossed his administration and his person into shark infected waters. The pre-existing political block consisting of the former governor of Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, Arc Namadi Sambo, Emir of Kano, in the Kano-Kaduna environs, find Kwankwaso’s 2015 ambition an unnecessary obstacle. And has thus set off a silent but disruptive war between the camps.
As gathered, the former All Nigerian Peoples Party [ANPP] presidential candidate in the 2011 general elections, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, following his failed attempt at the presidential polls, took a stock of his political options, noting that he had fallen out with the former flag-bearer of the ANPP, General Buhari, chose to act to avert his political irrelevancy. He opted to join forces with what appeared the only feasible and available choice, the PDP Vice President of Nigeria, Arc Namadi Sambo. As gathered, the Vice President welcomed the decision with open arms, and together the two politicians launched what is now silently understood amongst select quarters as the Namadi Sambo’s political machinery against a likely 2015 presidential drive.
With the addition of Shekarau into the political machinery of the Vice President, the Vice President was inevitably drawn into the local politics of Kano State. The duo of Shekarau and Sambo simultaneously found themselves working against the 2015 aspirations of Gov Rabiu Kwankwaso and by extension the Kwankwaso’s administration in Kano. It is not news that Malam Ibrahim Shekarau and Gov Rabiu Kwankwaso are not best of friends, privately and politically.
Exploiting the bad blood between the present governor and the former governor [Shekarau and Kwankwaso], Vice President Sambo staged the former governor of Kano State, Shekarau to be ever present in the media and social scene in Kano State. This is believed by political pundits to frustrate Gov Kwankwaso and to “steal” the political limelight from Kwankwaso. Vice President Sambo believes Shekarau enjoys a higher political acceptability from the people of Kano over Kwankwaso.
In the effort to remain ever present in the Kano limelight, Malam Shekarau, as gathered, has retained his media group and has continued to observe a hectic media schedule – that has kept him a regular in the pages of the Newspapers and in the electronic media. One of the recent incidents where the state security services [SSS] had to express safety concerns to the former governor – was on his return from HAJJ.
Shekarau had his media team set up a massive welcome party at the Aminu Kano International airport. The large number of crowd caused a worry to the men of SSS, who warned Shekarau to consider the current security atmosphere in the country and to tune down his “razzmatazz”. But Shekarau did not heed the warning. His recent marriage to a fourth wife and the noise around it is said to be a part of the strategy to remain in the limelight. Malam Shekarau is scheduled to receive an honorary doctorate degree from a university in Ilorin next month.
On the other flank is the Emir of Kano. The Emir makes no apologies of his preference of Shekarau over Kwankwaso stemming from the 2003 gubernatorial elections when the Emir openly throw his weight behind the then ANPP candidate [Shekarau] over the candidacy of the PDP incumbent governor [Kwankwaso]. Through this effort, the Emir is reported to have thrown his weight behind Shekarau’s media blitz and by extension, Vice President Sambo’s agenda for 2015.
A recent incident in Kano between the Governor of Kano and the Emir depicted the bad blood between the political camps. As per Islamic tradition, at the end of Salah, the Emir of Kano would take a majestic ride on horses around the city and would pay a courtesy call to the governor of the State. But with this Salah, there was a twist. The Emir reported that he was sick and would not take the ride this year. This message was conveyed to the Governor. And the governor agreed. But on the day on the supposed ride around the city, the Emir rose and got upon his horse and began his majestic tour around the town – skipping the courtesy visit to the Governor’s office –citing that he was too sick to make a stop at the governor’s office.
The infuriated governor reacted by telling the Emir that since he was fit enough to make the tours around the city, that he is being “asked” to pay the governor the visit. The Emir who found himself caught between a rock and a stone did not know how not to disobey a seating governor while not disappointing the Emir’s cabinet members who are said to despise the governor. It took the intervention of the President of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Jonathan for the matter to be resolved. The Emir, after the matter was resolved, paid the governor the courtesy visit. But the visit was not with the customary horse and pageantry, the Emir and his cabinet drove in their vehicles to the governor’s office.
The political trio led by the Vice President has spewed the squalor into the cabinet of the Kano State government with the intent to destabil
