Poltics of defection and realignment in Kano

In this piece, Ahuraka Yusuf Isah examines the defection of Senator Basheer Garba Lado from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State and its implications for the realignment of forces, ahead of next year’s general elections.

When Peoples Democratic Party’s Senator Basheer Garba Lado in the Seventh Senate who represented Kano Central Senatorial District from May 29, 2011 to May 28, 2015 defects to the All Progressive Congress (APC) on January 27, 2018, a new political realignment will be  on course in Kano State.

Lado is not new to playing the role of upsetting the political equations. Against the backdrop of the 2011 general elections, he contested the PDP primary with the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Umar Ghali Na’abba, for Kano Central Senatorial ticket and defeated Na’abba to clinch the ticket. Of course, it was akin to biblical story of ‘’David slaying the Goliath.’

But, there is more to Lado’s defection that meets the eyes. What is likely to be unfolding readily reminds one of ‘’algebra elimination by substitution,’’ in higher school lessons.

Perhaps, the following lesson quotes may explain it all: ‘’The idea here is to solve one of the equations for one of the variables and plug this into the other equation. It does not matter which equation or which variable you pick. There is no right or wrong choice; the answer will be the same, regardless. But, some choices may be better than others

Neither of these equations is particularly easier than the other for solving. To solve a system of equations by elimination we transform the system such that one variable “cancels out”.

The fundamental justification for the restrained relationship between Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso and the state Governor Umar Ganduje is that while the later wants the status quo maintained in the control of  rein of political structure or power, perhaps the new man at the helm of affairs wants to assume his own political personality.

The current political climate in Kano politics began as a result of the fallout of Buhari’s emergence as President. While the likes of Atiku and other contestants in the primary collapsed their political structure for Buhari in the run down to the presidential election, the understanding was that Kwankwaso did not. Take for instance, Atiku handed Garba Shehu to assist Buhari for the press and publicity issues, just as Nda-Isaiah turned in his Leadership newspaper for Buhari’s official campaign organ.

By the time Buhari won, even with landslide in Kano State, the belief in Ganduje’s camp was that it was all due to their efforts. This also translated to tacit refusal of Kwankwaso for FCT minister position he wanted from the villa, just as he lost out for senate leadership slot.

To buttress their point, Ganduje and his supporters made sure a mammoth crowd turned up to receive President Buhari during his recent visit to Kano state.

There appears no immediate solution to the strained relationship between Ganduje and Kwankwaso. President Buhari was said to have attempted to broker peace, but without success.Their erstwhile cold war has since degenerated to full blown hostilities.

On January 14, 2018, no fewer than six members of Kwankwasiyya and Gandujiyya groups were injured at Chiranchi quarters in Gwale Local Government Area of the Kano state following a clash between the two political groups. Both Ganduje and Kwankwaso were formally seeking control of the APC party machinery in the state. It is expected that the dynamics of Kano politics will change with the entry of Lado into APC and the strongly rumored exit of Kwankwaso from APC.

This is in tandem with the story making the rounds that Kwankwaso who came second in the APC presidential primary held in Lagos in December 2014 will make another attempt to contest for the Presidency in 2019 under the platform of the People Redemption Party (PRP).

PRP was Second Republic incarnation of the Northern Element Progressive Union (NEPU) and 4th Republican incarnation of a similar namesake. The party was created by supporters of Mallam Aminu Kano after his withdrawal from the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

Although Kwankwaso had as at August 15, last year denied reports through his Chief of Staff, Aminu Abdussalam, that he was defecting from the APC to PDP, saying the report was “totally unfounded.’’ His nephew, Musa Iliyasu Kwankwaso on November 30, last year said Kwankwaso, has given the go-ahead to his supporters to dump the APC for the opposition PDP.

He said: “Already, he has given the go-ahead to his supporters to join the PDP in Kano State so that they can contest in the forthcoming local government election in the state. But what I can assure him is that the APC will win all the 44 local governments because of the growing support base of Governor Ganduje.

“It was because of Kwankwaso that the chairman of the PDP was thrown out of office so as to hand over the party structures to him ahead of his defection.”

However, the understanding in many quarters within Kano is that Kwankwaso may dump the APC and not for the PDP, but for the PRP because of his 2019 presidential ambition. It will rather be easy for him to get the presidential ticket under the PRP than in the PDP.

Lado had in the April 2011 election for the Kano Central Senatorial seat polled 359,050  votes, ahead of Aminu Abba Ibrahim of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) with 273,141 votes and Alhaji Bello Isa Bayero of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) with 227,792 votes.

The construction of the Kundila flyover, which the masses named after Lado as ‘Gadan Lado,’ in appreciation of the role he played not only to bring the project to Kano State but also in ensuring its completion, has marked him out amongst senators, both past and serving ones of Kano State extraction. Also, the ongoing dualisation of 171km Kano-Katsina road, was one his defining constituency projects when he was in the senate.

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