About two months ago, a popular Northern politician reportedly expressed his readiness to drop his presidential aspiration and serve as a running mate to a renowned presidential aspirant of another party.
By Abdu Labaran
Now, the same politician is vehemently claiming that there would be no vacancy in the Villa in 2027, as, according to him, the current occupiers, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Senator Kashim Shettima, are performing well. He stated that the Muslim-Muslim ticket of President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima was the right choice for the next general elections.
The politician’s desperation for power appears to be driven not by national interest but by personal gain. This is evident in his cousin’s alleged monthly benefits from local governments in the state, attributed to the politician’s influence over the state government. Meanwhile, many of his followers, including cult-like supporters, were often seen intoxicated, languishing in poverty and hunger.
His pursuit of power is also not for the advancement of the Northern region. It may even be said he is targeting a fellow statesperson who holds a prominent position in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and has a powerful voice at both federal and state levels. Moreover, his voice was noticeably absent during prolonged power outages in most Northern states, a development that would have likely sparked protests if it had occurred in the South.
The politician’s actions also appear contrary to his professed religion, as he has been accused of “selling his soul to the devil (shaitan).” One of his closest aides publicly claimed that, during his time as the number one citizen of his state, he had never seen the politician perform one of the compulsory daily prayers.
Failure to perform obligatory daily prayers is regarded as one of the greatest sins, as God has pronounced that it will not be forgiven if the offender dies unrepentant.
As previously noted, the politician’s pursuit of power is driven by self-aggrandizement. It benefits primarily his immediate family, praise-singers, and clerics from the country’s two major religions, including insincere religious figures. The Northern politician would rather give hundreds of millions of naira to these clerics and praise singers than support his impoverished supporters, who occasionally receive a small donation to buy intoxicants or drugs.
This political figure often holds extravagant celebrations for his children, displaying opulence as though money were no object. These funds are allegedly not legally acquired.
Additionally, he builds large houses for his family while relegating house help to quarters known as ‘boys’ quarters’ (BQs). Once the family’s breadwinner passes, these mansions are often abandoned due to high maintenance costs, becoming home to reptiles unless an inheritor follows in the politician’s footsteps of illicitly tapping public funds.
Typically, these politicians claim to make their living from income derived from shopping plazas or stores. However, this narrative is hard to believe, given the size and lavishness of their estates.
For many Northern political elites, corruption has come to mean self-enrichment, with themselves as the sole beneficiaries. Aside from what they give to boost their egos, their primary concern seems to be where to stash their wealth, amassed as though there were no tomorrow.
Meanwhile, their Southern counterparts are busy developing their region, state, community, and people with funds acquired through similar channels. A single state in the South hosts more manufacturing companies than the entire Northern states combined.
On the prolonged power outage in parts of the North, Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Musa dismissed claims that the military had failed to repel terrorists in the area. He said the delay in repairs, as reported by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Engineer Asabe Ali, was due to a lack of orders for the military to intervene.
General Musa’s explanation seems credible unless it is a case of “giving a dog a bad name to hang it,” as if there were a hidden agenda against the North.
The Nigerian military has successfully conducted peacekeeping operations in various countries across Africa and beyond, so it is unlikely that it would fear taking on ragtag armed groups within the country.
In Katsina, my city regained power on Wednesday, October 30, at 8:30 pm after 12 days without electricity. However, power went out again on Thursday, October 31, at 9:00 am, barely 12 hours after restoration. This power failure, as usual, came without explanation to the tariff-paying public.
May the merciful God grant Nigeria a lasting solution to the problems that hinder its progress toward greatness.
Labaran wrote from Katsina.
