BASHIR MOHAMMED examines the intrigues, power politics and as well as remote causes of the recent defection of former Kano state governor and one time education minister, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)
Shekarau’s difficult entry into politics At the time he took the gauntlet and ventured into partisan politics, those calling the shots in the corridors of political power, were mocking him with disdain, laughing at him, knowing that without having stupendous amount of money, clinching the gubernatorial seat he had contested for, was like imagining a camel could ever pass through the eyes of a middle.
Knowing that politics is a game of luck and no human destiny could ever be changed, he exuded considerable amount of courage, resilience and courage in facing the awesome might of the man he succeeded in 2003, Dr.
Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso who considered himself as a political Lord of the Manor, who no Jupiter on the political landscape of Kano State could have the gut to challenge his supremacy.
He was frustrated out of office as a super Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office under the leadership of Dr.
Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso on account of the impression that he was holding a political meeting to unseat him, demoted to a classroom teacher, on a simple logic that he had ventured into the political race to wrest power from the man who had frustrated him out of office.
Without money to buy voters, Shekarau saw the compelling need to scout for the support and goodwill of those who had become dogged and committed to changing the status quo.
However, he had ventured into partisan politics with no a golden spoon in his hands, yet he won the gubernatorial election in landslide, demystified pundits prognosis that for him to win such an election, was like one to have imagined that a camel could easily pass through the eyes of the needle at its will.
With the political landscape of Kano completely altered at the expense of Kwankwaso who was widely seen and regarded as invincible, stamping his imprimatur on anyone who dared to challenge his authority, exploiting the terrain dominated by Kwankwaso had appointed those to serve as members of his personality cult, nodding their heads anytime he spoke, was no mean task.
Shekarau’s gradual empire Following his stunning ascendency to power in the year 2003 after sending Kwankwaso and his cohorts out of the political spotlight, Kwankwaso quickly swung into action by taking steps to do away with his predecessor’s totalitarian posture knowing that no human society could ever be free with those calling the shots at the top echelon of power ruling with considerable fiat.
For the sake of consolidating his absolute grip on the political scene in Kano, Shekarau had noticeably striven to accommodate all shades of political opinion and portrayed himself as one amenable and magnanimous to everyone and even extending such an olive branch to those he knew were not backing him politically.
Broke 2nd term jinx After successfully completing his four-year term in office as a governor, Shekarau again took the bull by the horns by recontesting for the gubernatorial slot despite the deep-seated notion being propounded by pundits in Kano that no governor in contemporary in Kano’s political history had even broken the jinx of ruling the state on two consecutive terms.
Courtesy of his adroit political calculation and the art of employing simple diplomatic finesse to achieve his avowed mission in politics, the quintessential politician surprised the doubting Thomases that he had what it would take to break the jinx of second term, making those who cast aspersion on his ability to deliver to bury their heads in shame In the year 2007 he miraculously won the election, defeating Alhaji Ahamed Garba Bichi who vehemently challenged the outcome at an election petition tribunal presided over by Justice Adamu Jauro, who took eight gruelling hours, reading his verdict sitting side by side with other legal luminaries supporting him, concluding that it was Shekarau that had won the race.
Kwankwaso had been noticeably sent into political oblivion at the time he realized the fact that he had lost his grip on the politics of Kano which emboldened his resolve to open a new version of intense ideological war with Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, a result of which the former defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) after losing the mantle of leadership to his archrival.
His latest defection With the fierce animosity taking an exceptional twist as a result of the prevailing condition then, Shekarau also took the decision to decamp from the All Progressives Congress, a party which he had been part and parcel of from its creation to the Peoples Democratic Party, knowing pretty well that with him and Kwankwaso in the same fold, the political terrain would be dicey and nothing concrete would be achieved.
However the eleventh hour defection of Malam Ibrahim Shekarau to the All Progressives Congress was greeted with considerable euphoria, pomp and pageantry following the courtesy visit paid to his residence in Kano by the top echelon of the APC leadership led by Comrade Adams Oshimhole.
Oshimhole used the courtesy visit to described the eleventh hour defection of the immediate past governor of Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, from the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to the All Progressives Congress(APC) as a great historical epoch-making event ever to happen since the party came into being in the present democratic dispensation.
Addressing a mammoth crowd of notable stakeholders and party supporters who converged on the residence of the former education minister to receive him, Oshimhole said the archaic days of politics of rigidity and extreme conservatism is over.
According to him, with such an outdated ideological permutation put behind the people, Shekarau, who by his pedigree and political antecedents, is widely known for his progressive ideals and precepts, has destroyed extreme conservatism politics.
According to him, the All Progressives Congress stands to promote such progressive ideals and precepts at the time the modern political trend is being enmeshed in the spirit of good governance and service to humanity.
He regretted that archaic conservative order had held the hand of the clock backward while the cronies of those blindly propounding such an ideological concept had a field day.
The APC national chairman, who was accompanied to the residence of the former Minister of Education by Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje a long with a retinue of top party functionaries, however stated that the APC being the ruling party in the country considered the defection of political dinosaurs like Ibrahim Shekarau as a great treasure.
Oshiomhole posited that with people like him nothing would stand as a cog in the wheel of the party’s stride and that the APC would to rein the PDP in any contest in Kano State and beyond.
Shekarau as a warrior Speaking in the same vein, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje said the defection of the former governor to the All Progressive Congress had confirmed his prediction that the future of the PDP was on the precipice waiting for its final requiem.
He stated that he considered the return of the former governor to the party as a reunion given the spectacular role he had played in the formation of the party.
“I want this gathering to take note of the fact that we are from the same constituency.
You are a bureaucrat and I am also a bureaucrat.
I am conversant with the trauma and tribulations you were subjected to when you were a Permanent Secretary under the leadership of Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
You took everything in good faith and God eventually actualized your dream as governor.
“You have defeated the man who meted out all sorts of humiliation to you and continue to progress up to your present political status.
You are returning to the house you built, nurtured and consolidated and we are all happy for this great accomplishments and landmark giant stride”, he added.
Skilled in statecraft In his response, the former education Minister said with his mastery of politics and the knowledge of statecraft he had been able to discern all forms of conspiracy theories in attaining his enviable goals in the present political journey affirming that the history of the APC would never be complete without taking his laudable contributions to the party into cognizance.
The furore generated by the fog surrounding the defection saga, was last Saturday laid to rest by Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, who stood on the rostrum telling his followers that he had formally returned to the APC being the party which he was one of its founding fathers.
What remains to be seen in the few days to come, is how the newly found relationship would be maintained to the satisfaction of all the parties involved as posited by pundits, only that political gadflies and spin doctors would exploit the advantage of the defection issue to gain some pecuniary benefits out of it this is the crux of the matter.