Again, the Kano APC congress last Saturday, has rekindled the cold war between Governor Umar Ganduje and his predecessor, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso. BASHIR MOHAMMED revisits the unending leadership tussle and the implications of the perpetual loggerheads on the party
Anyone keeping a constant tab on the political development in Kano State can attest to the cold war over political leadership of Kano, ranging between the Kwankwasiyya faction of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Gandujiya faction of the party.
Th e simmering political animosity, stemmed from an ideologically inspired war of attrition as a result of the crisis of leadership that had permeated the top echelon of the party with two rival camps claiming to be holding the ace, leading to endless mudslinging presently pushing the APC into unnecessary cul-de-sac.
Th e party, being a ruling party in the state, had started well, at the time when Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje came on board as the duly elected governor of the state, after succeeding his former boss, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and wonderfully enjoyed a cohesive terrain up till the time when serious cracks, schisms and loss of trust begun to manifest in the two competing Ideological blocs, known as Kwankwasiyya and Gandujiyya, as personifi ed by their respective trade marks.
It was however an incontrovertible fact that, the change of guard in the top echelon of the party’s leadership, was brought about by the decision by the Executive Council of the party in the state, after having realized the fact that the erstwhile Chairman, Alhaji Haruna Umar Doguwa had allegedly committed act of gross offi cial misconduct, which had eventually claimed his exalted throne.
After an extensive political rigmarole between Ganduje’s Gandujiyya camp and its rival Kwankwasiyya faction, the heated ideological war had at last turned out to be in favour of the governor’s camp looking at the fl urry of activities and pronouncements emanating from the National Headquarters of the party which served as a leverage to the man appointed to head the party, Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas, after the exit of Alhaji Haruna Umar Doguwa. Abbas was also favoured by the pronouncement made by the North-west chapter of the party after it had held meeting in Sokoto, which had greatly emboldened the resolve of the governor to believe that his faction in the party is having a discernible edge of the rival faction of the Kwankwasiyya camp which was also claiming legitimacy in the parlance of leadership. Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas, a blue-blooded scion, had undoubtedly enjoyed the considerable support of governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje which had made him to lead the Care-taker Committee steering the aff airs of the party and was also known as one who can easily spit his pugilist vocabulary at a given time or anytime he is provoked by the rival faction of the immediate past governor of the state, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. With the tenure of the Care-taker government expiring as stipulated by the party’s constitution, a new congress was held last Saturday, even though it was touted as partial one by the man who presided over the conduct of the election, Mr Nnamdi Orinze, since it were vacant positions fi lled following the dismissal of those manning the respective positions in the past after they were allegedly found to have committed various off ences.
Th e party congress had elicited a cacophony of debate and discordant tunes, following the non-participation of members of the Kwankwasiyya camp throughout the conduct of the election, and no cogent explanation or plausible reason was adduced to clear the fog surrounding the total eclipse of the Kwankwassiya camp. But it was pundits’ contention that APC as the ruling party in Kano is becoming enmeshed in destructive ideological war which could give way for political gadfl ies within the rival camps to chip in and score some political capital for their whimsical interest to hold sway. Pundits, and some chieftains of APC, who witnessed the present supposedly artifi cially induced bad blood had painted a grim picture on the possibility of striking a lasting deal between the Gandujiyya camp and its rival Kwankwasiyya faction, knowing that Kwankwaso and his acolytes are never willing to budge on the prodding of any infl uential fi gure in the party, who may be willing to intervene and douse tension. In the words of a Kano-based political analyst, Malam Aminu Idriss Fagge, Ganduje appeared to have won the leadership tussle in favour of his staunch protege, in the person of Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas, who was elected Chairman of the party with no scintilla of opposition to deprive him of the seat adding that the nod secured by the party to hold the congress was a testimony to the legitimacy given to the new leadership to forge ahead. According to him, Ganduje who calling the shots at present have no reason to be paranoid by the non-appearance of the Kwankwasiyya faction during the party, stressing that he has an ample liberty to call the bluff of anyone seeking to put a cog in the wheel to maintain his grip as leader of the APC in Kano state.
He pointed out that with the presence of party offi cials from the national headquarters, one was also convinced that the party was on the side of the governor, having allowed the congress to hold without rancour affi rming that the leadership tussle between the two camps had almost been put to rest. Sounding a completely diff erent tone, a staunch member of the Kwankwasiyya camp, Malam Shehu Yuguda Gwanmaja, pointed accusing fi ngers at those fueling the raging ideological war, forgetting that they were doing a great disservice to the unity and cohesion of the party ahead of the 2019 gubernatorial election in the state, expressing fear that with the battle assuming new dimension the chances of the party in retaining power could be torpedoed easily.
He said the two factions of the party was creating good advantage to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to use the animosity as a subtle bargaining chip and a ploy to manipulate things to their advantage in 2019 adding that employing a simple diplomatic fi nesse to solve the problem would be the only way out of the Ideological war.
He said” we all belong to the same party and are willing to achieve a common objective. all we want is to retain our seat in 2019. We have no reason to engage in destructive war it is only when we agree to sheathe our swords that our great party can move forward”.
“Th ose fueling the crisis and infl aming passion are only doing it for pecuniary consideration. It would be totally unwise for us to remain in perpetual loggerheads. Th e crisis would consume all of us if the present standoff is not surmounted” he added”. But, the overriding contention among notable opinion leaders and pundits in the state is the fact that the Gandujiyya camp is presently having an appreciable edge over the Kwankwasiyya camp, since the last Saturday congress was blessed by offi cials sent from the national headquarters to monitor the conduct of the election, thus according the elected leadership the wherewithal to wax stronger.
