Godfatherism and politics of ownership has continued to define the way and manner power is determined in Katsina state. It has been so with politics of the state since the return of democracy in the state in 1999 that ushered in the Fourth Republic. A class of politicians, businessmen and leaders of thought in the past played pivotal roles in deciding who gets the nod of the people, leaving the electorate who sacrifice their time queuing under the harsh weather to exercise their constitutional guaranteed franchise in the leadership recruitment process.
This set of people, findings have revealed, must be appeased, and in many instances their palms are greased, in order to secure their endorsements largely considered key to winning in elections. For instance, the unfortunate power tussle that engulfed the politics of Anambra state in 2003 pitted a sitting governor against a supposedly godfather of the state politics. The development that followed later is a good topic for history students of godfatherism politics in Nigeria.
Similar cases have been recorded in Edo, Osun, Benue and Delta states, among others, where godfathers and their supposedly political godsons wrangle over the contest for total control of the state’s political structure.
Katsina has a trajectory of power brokers whose blessings are very necessary before any major election if victory for a candidate must be secured. The 2023 governorship election was not free from the machinations of these strong men in the state.
Aware of the politics of Katsina and how it is played in the past, the state Governor-elect, Dr Dikko Radda, resolved within himself that he would not want to be a pawn in the hands of any these so called strong men of the state politics. The thinking is that as a true servant he intends to be to the people of Katsina, the electorate must be the main decider of who gets the mandate to govern the state.
Dr Radda, who was elected governor in the March 18 polls on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was never given the chance by this category of persons in the state. Push and pull, he however polled 859,892 votes to defeat Yakubu Lado of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who got 486,620 votes.
Before Radda clinched the ticket of the APC in Katsina state on 26 May, 2023, he was never considered one of the front runners in the build up to the all primaries that would produce a likely successor to the outgoing Governor Aminu Bello Masari.
The brigade of stakeholders within his party, the APC, had described him as a joker coming from Abuja into the murky waters of Katsina politics which already had aspirants with intimidating political profile. Some political analysts then saw his closeness and loyalty to Governor Masari as an impediment to his ambition. They even went further to describe him as an unserious contender as far as the race for the APC governorship was concerned.
Some reasons advanced by these school of thoughts was that Dr Radda’s statement on several occasions that he would respect any decision made by Governor Masari concerning his aspiration cast doubt in the minds of people as to whether he is serious or not in the contest.
Dr Radda had to square it up with other heavy party compatriot such as Dr Mustapha Muhammad Inuwa, a former secretary to the state government of Katsina State and a former commissioner for Education in the state, who has been in government for several decades; Architect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, a consummate and resilient architect and distinguished real estate, infrastructure development expert; Senator Sadiq Abubakar Yar’adua, a former Lawmaker and strong gubernatorial aspirant in 2015; Mannir Yakubu, the number two citizen of the state and the commissioner for Agriculture, and Abdullahi Umar Tsauri, a retired civil servant who shot to limelight in 2014 in the run up to the 2015 general elections.
The outcome of the governorship primaries turned out to be a huge disappointment for the godfathers, as a presumably underdog eventually clinched the ticket of the APC in Katsina, prompting political pundits to beam a searchlight on who the man Dr Dikko Radda was.
While the godfathers were trying to make sense of the political Tsunami that just hit them, Dr Radda was already many steps ahead in his quest to winning the State governorship election not minding the mischievous hands of the perceived demigods.
To perfect his strategy, Dr Radda didn’t mince words when he vowed no to bow before any Katsina godfather. Rather, he remained focused on the goal and his unalloyed loyalty to his former boss and mentor, Governor Masari, whom he served as chief of staff before his appointment as the director general of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).
Dr Radda has been a politician, entrepreneur, teacher and banker with wide administrative experiences at the local, state and federal government levels over the years.
Even at the risk of losing the election to the main opposition party,
the PDP in the March 18 elections if he does not bow to godfathers and
take instructions from them, Dr Radda stuck to his guns of “the people
first” because he believed strongly in the principles of democracy
where power lies in the hands of the people not some individuals.
He even declined donations from some of these power brokers to his
campaign fund, insisting that his campaign will not be hijacked as it
has been the tradition in the state.
Rather he funded his campaign by organising fundraising events where
friends, associates, party faithful came together to raise the needed
funds to power the campaign to victory.
It is interesting to note that Dr Radda, true to his humanitarian
spirit, understands the needs of the people of Katsina state. Through
his Gwagware Foundation, Dr Radda contributed immensely to the
betterment of lives of the people of Katsina state through provision
of scholarships, job opportunities, empowerment, entrepreneurship
schemes and other forms of moral and financial support and
encouragement.
The foundation helps people from rural communities in improving their
living conditions through the provision of basic social amenities. He
supports them with foodstuff, medical care, water supply, and
employment opportunities.
As part of humanitarian support to internally displaced persons,
Gwagware Foundation has donated relief materials to the Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) in six frontline local government areas of
Katsina State, amounting to millions of naira.
Gwagware Foundation also provided support to several indigent persons
in 12 local government areas of the state. Hundreds of women got
either a bag of soya beans or groundnut each. Also, hundreds of men
received various sums to add to their businesses. People with
disabilities were also included and dozens of them were trained and
empowered with cash assistance and food items by the foundation.
Also several Katsina State youths were successfully trained by
Gwagware Foundation on computer skills and tailoring. The training had
youths and women drawn from Daura, Funtua and Katsina zones. The
youths and women also received start-up packs after the training to
enhance their entrepreneurial skills so that they could contribute
their quota to the growth and development of the state.
As part of the foundation’s mandate, four months extra lesson classes
on core subjects (Mathematics & English) for many graduating secondary
school students was fully sponsored by the foundation. Each of the
students was given reading and writing materials free of charge and
also a free registration card.
Digital and computer literacy and 21st century skills play a crucial
role in modern life in general. The foundation flagged-off a massive
computer training programme to youths in Katsina Central Senatorial
District with the aim to make youths computer literate.
The same gesture was extended to Katsina North Senatorial District
(Daura Zone) for the computer training. And, on 22 August 2020,
Katsina South Senatorial District (Funtua Zone) benefited from the
training exercise. The beneficiaries cut across all the 34 local
government areas of Katsina State.
Gwagware Foundation donated thousands of books on different subjects to
Junior and Senior Secondary Schools in Batagarawa local government
area of Katsina State.
Dr Radda and his campaign train visited the 34 local government areas
of the state and all the political wards even in areas faced with
challenges of insecurity to deliver his campaign messages to the
electorates.
Many have wondered how Dr Radda shook down the hitherto political
kingmakers in Katsina State to be elected governor. Even the
godfathers are still in shock over the wide margin the governor-elect
had over his rivals in the elections. They remained dazed till this
day.
In his acceptance speech, the governor-elect echoed his covenant with
the Almighty when he said, “We asked Allah to grant us victory if we
are the best people to govern Katsina State, and as winners in the
2023 gubernatorial election, we believe it is now time to give nothing
less than our best as a government. As your governor, I will be humble
in my dispensation, diligent in my execution, and sincere in my
actions.
True to his foresight for humility and dedication to good governance without distraction, the Katsina State Governor-Elect has taken an
unusual kind of political style where he declared that “I don’t like
the word Excellency because one can only be called an Excellency after the administration has ended. At that time people will determine
whether I am Excellent or not….”
Mohammed writes from Abuja
