As preparations for 2023 general elections gather momentum, politics in Kebbi state is seemingly taking an ominous shape. Candidates for the NASS, State Assembly and the coveted office of governor, have thrown their hats into the ring.
It is going to be an interesting political duel. Political observers see the 2023 general elections as likely to be dramatic as well as daunting. Thus, political stalwarts as well as observers are monitoring the situation with trepidations, an expectation devoid of equanimity.
The political event that took place at Royal Events Centre in Birnin Kebbi, between Senator Muhammadu Adamu Aliero and Malam Haruna D. Saidu which produced the former as the candidate of the PDP pithed him against Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, of the APC, an incumbent governor, for the same Senatorial zone. Doubtless, it is going to be a Titanic clash and a watershed in the political trajectory of Kebbi state.
Suffice to take a glimpse to the two political combatants that whose contest would encapsulate a political blitzkrieg for the diadem. Senator Muhammadu Adamu Aliero was Governor for Kebbi state in 1999-2007. He became senator in 2007-2009 and later became Minister of FCT 2009-2011. He has been in the Senate from 2011 till date..
Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu was elected Senator in 2009 and became governor in 2015 where he is still holding forte until May 2023.
Interestingly, the two candidates from the two dominant parties in the state, APC and PDP are obviously, neophytes. For the PDP, we have General Aminu Bande (rtd) who will slug it out with Dr Nasir Idris Kauran Gwandu of the APC. A proven comrade who had been at the forefront of the struggle for the betterment of the lots of civil servants. More interestingly too, is the rare coincidence that both of them are old students of Government Teachers College Dogondaji, in Sokoto state. General Aminu Bande (rtd) graduated in 1981 alongside with Sokoto state governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as classmates while Dr Nasir Idris Kauran Gwandu graduated in 1984.
KEBBI State Political File since 1991
A nostalgic reference would be apt, at this juncture. Then, Abubakar Garba Koko contested alongside Abubakar Garkuwan Yauri of the NRC. Garkuwan Yauri won as the first Executive Governor of Kebbi state. There was a military interregnum.
In 1999 when there was a return to democratic rule, the same Garba Koko contested on the platform of the PDP and, in their primary which he was victorious but seemingly “civilian palace coup”, was orchestrated through which Bello Khaliel was imposed on the members of the party. It was greeted with disenchantment and spurious anger. The followers of Garba Koko as well as those sympathetic to his plight then cast protest votes by voting the APP candidate, Muhammadu Adamu Aliero in 2999 (Kwakwalema).
That gibberish or unpalatable melodrama reared its ugly head in 2015, during Saidu Nasamu Dakingari’s administration. There again, rainbow of candidates for the governorship seat with the odds favouring Bello Sarkin Yaki. The likes of General Muhammad Magoro, General Isah Dan Hanne, Buhari Bala, including Governor Nasamu and his cabinet members, were at the Haliru Abdu Stadium for the primary election while Bello Sarkin Yaki were at the Race Course conducting their own primary election where he became the standard flagbearer. Expectedly, as a direct consequence of the obvious malfeasance, there was a gale of defection to the APC wherein Senator Atiku Bagudu emerged as the standard flagbearer of the APC and subsequently won the election.
These are purely odium reference points and common place in Kebbi political space as well as the consequences of past charades that were there to be seen by everybody.
In May 26, 2022, when APC conducted its primaries at Haliru Abdu stadium, it was stage-managed to produce Dr. Nasir Idris Kauran Gwandu as the party’s standard bearer. APC stakeholders saw the scenario as a concocted template and brinkmanship skewed to decapitate Yahaya Abdullahi in a charade where he purportedly scored zero
A political stalwart, who spoke in condition of anonymity affirmed that the list of delegates from the National Headquarters of the party was jettisoned for the one cooked up and presented by the state government. The state government then insisted that the compromised list must be used for the primaries. He disclosed further that Dr Yahaya Abdullahi noticed that there could be a brouhaha or bedlam. Suddenly, he intervened and directed the Returning Officer to use the government’s corrupted list for the primaries. Providing a water tight submission, he added that delegates were never allowed to display any trait of Maverickism.
According to him, the delegates were never allowed to write on their own but rather teleguided. There was a lackey who, at the behest of delegates, was assigned to write for them. They cast their votes into the respective boxes allocated to each of the 21 local governments. It was a hoopla, a brigandage engineered and supervised by the pseudo and the de facto Deputy Governor, Faruku Musa Enabo, a Personal Assistant called by the editor of a national magazine. This unsavoury chicanery has created a divisive wall between Atiku and Aliero. A chasm that has pitched the duo against each other.
Since 2021, Governor Atiku Bagudu administration has been plagued by serious wrangling courtesy of Faruku Enabo who has hijacked the affairs of the party. The former chairman of the party, Arc Bala Sani Kangiwa, Aliyu Bature, the Treasurer, Sani Dododo, the erstwhile PRO and others were dismissed from the party.
Quite remarkably, several stakeholder’s meetings were held, designed and packaged to engender peace and obliterate or avert the calamity which the horrendous happenings within the party will bring about. Nothing meaningful came out of the parleys: the warring factions were uncompromising by sticking to their hardline postures. The political vuvuzela got to a boiling point when the relationship between the governor and his elder brother, Bello Bagudu became fractious to the extent that they had to exchange verbal attacks through conventional and social media!. Presently, the APC is witnessing mass decampment from the party. A mass exodus from the APC to the PDP.
PDP’s Winning Chances
All the entire think tank and power brokers of the APC have all exited the party, they have all defected to the PDP. These includes personalities like Senator Adamu Aliero, Senator (Dr) Yahaya Abdullahi, member representing Dandi-Arewa, Abdullahi Umar Zimbo; Honourable Bello Rilsco, member representing Birnin Kebbi, Kalgo and Bunza; Honourable Samaila Bui, member State House of Assembly representing Arewa local government and Alhaji Ibrahim Mera, former Deputy Comptroller General of Customs, among others.
Political analysts have affirmed that the time of change of baton has come. The present administration in the state is gradually loosing its grip in all fronts as it is becoming overwhelmed by myriad of problems. The state is gradually becoming cesspool of challenges.
It is presently battling with unabated issue of insecurity in the South Senatorial district which comprise Yauri, Zuru,, Ngaski, Shanga, Danko Wasagu, Sakaba and Fakai local government areas. This current security challenge in the state remains one of the focus of the PDP’s governorship candidate, General Aminu Bande. It is of interest to note that destiny has arranged and made it possible for him to have been primed to contribute his quota in firming up security in the state, when he was the GOC. There was peace and stability courtesy of his being at the helm of things then. Now, perhaps, as answers to the prayers of the citizenry, General Aminu Bande (rtd), who believes he needs to be part of the system, to work within, and consequently, be in control, to address the staggering and ominous drift in the security, is here for the populace. A tested and trusted military and war veteran. Never a rear soldier but someone that knows the nitty gritty of war and understand sufficiently how to arrest it and put a stop to challenge.
The standard of living of inhabitants of the state has nosedived. There is a parlours situation as they now wallow in squalor. This unwanted situation is partly caused by a self-destructive stance of the Senator Atiku Bagudu. He has failed, or rather, refused to pay leave grants to civil servants since 2019! The last one that he paid was a thug of war because, the NLC put up a fight wherein a strike was organised. He Atiku baulked and paid. Since then, he has withdrawn to his cocoon and made the payment ”a no -go area” Even recently, in response to a journalist, he affirmed that payment of leave grants is in the cooler until economy improves”. This has certainly affected money in circulation in the state. So in essence, the State Government has stood aloof distancing itself from the plight of the both the workforce and the generality of the inhabitants of the state.
There is consequently gloom. The audacious, exquisite and administrative ingenuity deployed by the previous administrations of Nasamu Dakingari including Adamu Aliero, to empower the people via provision of mini constituency projects to alleviate suffering and reflate the economy and brought about buoyancy has been torpedoed by the present administration of the APC, in the state.
Now, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah and Kabiru Tukura will find it almost impossible to obliterate the challenges confronting them as Garba Musa Maidoki and Prof. Sahabi Danladi will give them a run for their money.
Zuru Emirate is a strong hold of PDP. General Ishaya Bamaiyi, Bala Geredi, Alhaji Garba Dandunkulo and their likes are unwavering in holding on to the party and warding off poachers. Likewise, Argungu Emirates are all out to ensure that APC lose woefully. It is PDP all the way!!!
