True Change Blowing In Kano And Zamfara States

“But Fortune’s honey turns to gall…thus Fortune with a slight turn of her wheel; brings men from joy to sorrow.”  Geoffrey Chaucer, 1342-1400.

 Revolution is taking place where it is last expected in Nigeria. When the All Progressives Congress, APC, grabbed power; promising change in 2015, and nothing happened for eight years, few of us knew that   change was only delayed. Change apparently has arrived; and it is taking place in states which are not the most advanced – while the Southern and Kaduna States recede into decadence.

Governors Yusuf Abba and Dr Lawal Dauda Dare of Kano and Zamfara States, respectively, are shaking up their states in ways unprecedented in the country. They, obviously, had been working since they were declared the winners of their elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, earlier this year. Hitting the ground running, as the cliché goes, was very easy for them.

 Incidentally, I have some stake in the two states. I lived and worked in Kano for ten years, had two daughters there and more. My paternal grandmother, Hajia Aisha, was from Shinkafi and my father was born in Gusau, Zamfara State. There is a monument in the state capital to prove my family’s long association with Zamfara. In addition, I had two large rice farms in the Talata Mafara and Chafe axis when I managed a rice mill in Sokoto. So, taking a keen interest in the two states is only natural. The blood of my grandmother runs in my veins.

 Abba and Dare had taken two different approaches to announcing change in their states. Abba went for public land retrieval. Dare went to recover 40 vehicles and other alleged government properties from ex-Governor Matawalle’s residence. In the end, both are seeking to make their predecessors in office accountable to the people and to keep holders of transient power honest.

Abba, on the first day in office, ordered bulldozers to demolish structures illegally built in the Government Reserved Area, GRA, of Kano – including a new and prestigious hotel known to be owned by one of literally “Yesterday’s men”. Encouraged by immediate ex-Governor Ganduje, to flout building regulations; and wanting to privatise valuable public land, a few well-connected individuals, loaded with funds of unknown origin, had turned beautiful areas of the ancient city into eye-sores. Development is one thing, environmental madness is another. On my last visit to Kano, to check on the property and pay courtesy calls on old acquaintances in Kano, Bagauda and Rano, I could not believe how in a short period of eight years the city could have become so unrecognisable.

 A correction was urgently required – if permanent damage would not be done to the city landscape. Ganduje’s anointed successor in APC could not have undertaken the challenge; because he is too much wedded to the past and a beneficiary of the rot which had set in. Only a new leader; different from the outgoing mob can tackle the monumental mess. Abba has stepped up to the challenge. He should be encouraged.

Dare, as mentioned before, started by taking back vehicles and other government properties, not only from Matawalle, but from Commissioners and heads of parastatals. My old friends in Gunmi, Maradun, Kaura Namoda, Shinkafi as well as Gusau, tell me that nobody has witnessed the courage demonstrated by the new Governor since the state was created on October 1, 1996 by General Sani Abacha.

 Since the Governor is embarking on stench cleansing, he might need to look into the donations said to have been made to bandits in Zamfara State. He once claimed to have personally carried N900 million to bandits in the bush in the state. In an article published about two years ago, I challenged Matawalle to show where 300 forests exist in a mostly arid state. The question still remains: what happened to N900 million said to have been personally paid?

 Altogether, it is quite refreshing that it is the North taking the lead in dismantling the status quo and bringing a new era of transparency and accountability to governance in the states.

TINUBU TOUCHING THE UNTOUCHABLES – EL-RUFAI’S FOLLY

“Intelligent but not wise” El-Rufai is also very erudite. That gift of gab has always hidden his lack of wisdom and ethics. He is, of course, a Fulani jihadist to the core. I knew that long ago. In 2016, an article was published on this page titled EL-RUFAI TAKING KADUNA TO ALEPO AND NIGERIA TO SYRIA. In it the following predictions were made in the first paragraph.

“It is probably the first time in Nigerian history that a columnist would be the first to alert all Nigerians to a war already underway in Kaduna State which might eventually engulf, at least, the entire North and perhaps Nigeria.” Later in the article, I specifically mentioned, then, Governor El-Rufai, as the instigator of attacks against non-Muslims, non-Fulanis and non-Suni Muslims i.e Shiítes, in Kaduna State.

 I came to this conclusion after a visit to Southern Zaria following repeated attacks by Fulani herdsmen on the other ethnic groups – Kataf, Hausa, Adara, Bajju, Gbagyi, Atyap, Tukur etc. From the time it became the Northern Regional capital, under colonial rule, Kaduna had been the second most cosmopolitan city in Nigeria – after Lagos. Said to be home to 50-plus ethnic groups, it would have qualified as Nigeria’s Tower of Babel if Hausa and English had not been imposed as unifying languages. Eventually Kaduna became home to all the ethnic groups in Nigeria. I had the opportunity to travel to every part of the state during ny years in the North – including one year living in Kaduna and shuttling to Kano, Jos and Sokoto.

 All the ethnic groups lived in almost perfect peace until Muslim jihadists started imposing their doctrine and way of life. Still, every Governor in Kaduna State, perfected the balancing act. Irrespective of where they came from or their religion, they ensured they ran all-inclusive governments – until El-Rufai. Despite the fact that Fulani constitute less than ten percent of Kaduna’s population; and they are not even indigenous to the state, El-Rufai was determined to use state power to suppress the rest. Probably owning a herd of cattle, like Buhari, the Life Patron of Meyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, El-Rufai held cows in more regard than other human beings who are not Fulani or Suni Muslims.

 His first few steps as Governor in 2015 gave him away as an anarchist who will eventually wreck the state with religious and ethnic violence. My article was categorical about that (it might be reprinted in full if there is request for it), and I warned the eager but cowardly warrior, in another article, that he was sadly mistaken if he thought Gbagyi or Atyap Muslim farmers will sit quietly while herdsmen and their cattle ravage their farms. Kaduna would eventually become a killing field. I was in Zonkwa a few nights after herdsmen had attacked the town killing several people. Instead of being totally intimidated, the young men vowed to retaliate against their attackers and other Fulanis they can find.

 He has left Kaduna State in a terrible mess. Only foreign or even Nigerian investors who had gone too far to step back now continue to regard Kaduna as an investment destination anymore. Fulanis risk being wiped out if the war of attrition which El-Rufai started in Kaduna State goes on.

 El-Rufai spoke too soon; about how the election of Tinubu will favour his Islamic jihadist’ religious agenda. He does not know Tinubu. If he thinks Jagaban will risk his presidency on a religious war; then he does not understand the mentality of Yoruba people with regard to religion. We are not fanatical. If he really wants to know what happened, he should look at the line up of power-holders now – President, Senate President, Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chief of Staff to President. There is no single Fulani among them. And as the offices of National Security Adviser, Chief of Army Staff, D-G Directorate of State Security, Inspector General of Police, Chairman EFCC, Comptroller Nigerian Customs Service etc are shared around and more are moved to the South, El-Rufai will eventually realise that, for the first time since 1960, the Fulani are totally out of power; and may never be dominant again.

He and his co-jihadists have handed power to the South – at their own political peril. The herdsmen will be the first to feel the difference. Their Life Patron is no longer calling the shots at Aso Rock. The next Chief of Staff Army and IGP will not turn their faces when armed herdsmen walk past them. They will be disarmed.

Furthermore, he obviously has not taken a good look at the list of those suspended. The former EFCC Chairman, ex-GMD NNPCL, Hadi Sirika, former Minister of Aviation, who forgot that his immunity ended when Ministers met on the last Wednesday in May, is now wanted by the EFCC. Those were Baba Buhari boys – the formerly untouchables. If I were El-Rufai, I will run away…

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