"I am happy because we have humbled this man. He went and had his diploma in Zaria, and then became a permanent secretary in the civil service. From there, he left the civil service and within a few months, he became the governor. As a result, he now believes that whatever he imagines, whatever he conceives in his mind, would become a reality...before we knew it, he wants to be president..."
Those were the words of the governor-elect (and former governor) of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, describing Ibrahim Shekarau, his successor and predecessor as governor of the state.
What is it about the Nigerian political system that turns humble, down-to-earth human beings into demigods once in office? From a thoroughly debased prisoner, Olusegun Obasanjo became president 1999. Four years after leaving office in 2007, the country is yet to recover from the psychological trauma he inflicted on us with his supersized ego. Governors Sule Lamido, Danjuma Goje, Adebayo Alao-Akala, Ikedi Ohakim and Gbenga Daniel all seemed to develop feudal tendencies once in power.
In the case of Shekarau, from a humble classroom teacher, he rose to become a permanent secretary in Kano State. He was demoted back to a classroom teacher in what was regarded as political witchhunting only to end up as the governorship candidate of the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2003. He rode on the popularity of the party's presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari to win the elections. His major selling points were his humility and self-deprecating nature.
In office, Shekarau started well. He ensured that salaries, entitlements and pensions of civil servants were paid on time. He promised to focus on human capital development and solve Kano's perennial water crises. But with time, the overwhelming powers and access to state treasury as governor may have gotten to his head. He fell out with most people who could tell him the truth, including Buhari, and began to entertain illusions of grandeur. He clinched one of the most coveted titles in the Kano Emirate - Sardauna. And so he thought he should be the president of Nigeria.
What happened to the humble man who went to Government House? What happened to the promises of honesty, transparency and accountability? Where did Shekarau get the money (possibly billions) to sponsor his presidential bid? Has his advertised fear of God made Kano a better place to live and work? What happened to Mallam?
As governor, it was obvious that Shekarau had lost touch with reality. This may be due to the fact that Nigerians are often afraid of speaking truth to those in power, especially the unpalatable variety. But he had a retinue of highly intelligent advisers and aides working with him. Perhaps, they did not have the courage to tell him the real truth, bitter as it may have been: That was to be reserved for the rude shock he received at the polls - losing at his own polling unit, three times in a row, to opposition parties. If his relatives and neighbors could not trust him with their votes, how could other Nigerians?
According to Kwankwaso, "At the end of the day, he (Shekarau) succeeded in purchasing the delegates across the country, and he has been sponsoring all the 36 state chapters of ANPP, plus Abuja, and the party structures in all the 774 local government areas with Kano State government treasury...here in Kano, there was no fundraising because the money was readily available....so they took money left, right and centre, and at the end of the day, with all the money spent on jingles and campaigns and even in the few states controlled by his party, the ANPP, they did not get up to one million votes nationally. I got over one million votes in Kano. What a big shame. If you calculate the cost of one vote for the taxpayers' money in Kano, you will be shocked".
Now that Shekarau has spent so much time, energy and resources to earn the title ‘former presidential candidate', I hope that his ambition is sated, and that the humbling lessons he has learnt will remain with him for life. Kwankwaso puts it very succinctly: "It is a huge embarrassment, but the good thing is that he is leaving Kano State Government House as a human being. Before now, he thought he was a super human being. So now that we have made him to become a human being, I think the lessons have been well learnt".
Welcome back to earth, Your Excellency!
Those were the words of the governor-elect (and former governor) of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, describing Ibrahim Shekarau, his successor and predecessor as governor of the state.
What is it about the Nigerian political system that turns humble, down-to-earth human beings into demigods once in office? From a thoroughly debased prisoner, Olusegun Obasanjo became president 1999. Four years after leaving office in 2007, the country is yet to recover from the psychological trauma he inflicted on us with his supersized ego. Governors Sule Lamido, Danjuma Goje, Adebayo Alao-Akala, Ikedi Ohakim and Gbenga Daniel all seemed to develop feudal tendencies once in power.
In the case of Shekarau, from a humble classroom teacher, he rose to become a permanent secretary in Kano State. He was demoted back to a classroom teacher in what was regarded as political witchhunting only to end up as the governorship candidate of the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2003. He rode on the popularity of the party's presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari to win the elections. His major selling points were his humility and self-deprecating nature.
In office, Shekarau started well. He ensured that salaries, entitlements and pensions of civil servants were paid on time. He promised to focus on human capital development and solve Kano's perennial water crises. But with time, the overwhelming powers and access to state treasury as governor may have gotten to his head. He fell out with most people who could tell him the truth, including Buhari, and began to entertain illusions of grandeur. He clinched one of the most coveted titles in the Kano Emirate - Sardauna. And so he thought he should be the president of Nigeria.
What happened to the humble man who went to Government House? What happened to the promises of honesty, transparency and accountability? Where did Shekarau get the money (possibly billions) to sponsor his presidential bid? Has his advertised fear of God made Kano a better place to live and work? What happened to Mallam?
As governor, it was obvious that Shekarau had lost touch with reality. This may be due to the fact that Nigerians are often afraid of speaking truth to those in power, especially the unpalatable variety. But he had a retinue of highly intelligent advisers and aides working with him. Perhaps, they did not have the courage to tell him the real truth, bitter as it may have been: That was to be reserved for the rude shock he received at the polls - losing at his own polling unit, three times in a row, to opposition parties. If his relatives and neighbors could not trust him with their votes, how could other Nigerians?
According to Kwankwaso, "At the end of the day, he (Shekarau) succeeded in purchasing the delegates across the country, and he has been sponsoring all the 36 state chapters of ANPP, plus Abuja, and the party structures in all the 774 local government areas with Kano State government treasury...here in Kano, there was no fundraising because the money was readily available....so they took money left, right and centre, and at the end of the day, with all the money spent on jingles and campaigns and even in the few states controlled by his party, the ANPP, they did not get up to one million votes nationally. I got over one million votes in Kano. What a big shame. If you calculate the cost of one vote for the taxpayers' money in Kano, you will be shocked".
Now that Shekarau has spent so much time, energy and resources to earn the title ‘former presidential candidate', I hope that his ambition is sated, and that the humbling lessons he has learnt will remain with him for life. Kwankwaso puts it very succinctly: "It is a huge embarrassment, but the good thing is that he is leaving Kano State Government House as a human being. Before now, he thought he was a super human being. So now that we have made him to become a human being, I think the lessons have been well learnt".
Welcome back to earth, Your Excellency!
This is incredible. I do not kow much about Kano state, but like you said, most of us saw a humble man who would turn Kano into Dubai when this man became the governor. Rather he became a demi god. One thing is that most of these governors or public office holders are actually psych patients. The mistake we make in Nigeria is that we assume it is only the loony bins in the market places who are crazy. Not at all. Most of those others you see like Obasanjo are actually more crazy than those ones. Now look at all the pain and trauma they have inflicted on us.We may never recover from it. How I wish Buhari won the April elections. He would have brought sanity back to Nigeria. These pseudo armed robbers prevented that from happening because they cannot afford to have their wardrobes xrayed. Nigeria is completely messed up.
ReplyDeleteI heard it once said that it is the poor that make gods out of men.
ReplyDeleteImagine if a politician went to a village and didn't have throngs of people throwing large parties, hanging on every word that comes out of his mouth or treating him like he is somehow more than they are simply because he was elected to office.
Power corrupts!
Let us push/pray Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to do/does better than the office-made demigod he was referring to.
ReplyDeleteLooking back now we know the sort of leadership Kwankwaso is going to be this time around.
ReplyDeleteKano has its work cut out. But what we see is the ruling class are above the law and the electorate dont know their rights and powers. We are not engaged in this "thing" called politics or engaging leadership as it ought to be. If the forums to engage the visible leaders are not there we need to create it. Just like you are doing now. We need to use what we have to get what we dont have.