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Kano Governorship Race Without Malam The beginning of lunacy, a Hausa adage observes, is irregular spitting. Needless to say, His Excellency Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, the executive governor of Kano State, has become a funny bloke, and a poor wretch who, in order to show his anger, spits venom and tirade in high dudgeon. He is now a shadow of his former composed and ebullient self. His overblown composure has eluded him as he behaves like a clown and acts like a court jester – in his own court. He regales Kano people with what I term “gubernatorial circus show” in the government house. His difficult situation could only be likened to the way the mangled body of a criminal being rained with a volley of bullets by the firing squad succumbs invariably to death. The time has now come for Governor Shekarau’s criminally mangled political life to succumb to the political death, to be best remembered – politically – in looting memory.
Shekarau is one of the few politicians that perfectly hit the weak point of the masses – religion. He is a kind of person whose verbose oratory injects some dose of opium into veins of his gullible audience. He has always laced his political speeches with religious words. Nemesis has caught up with these crafty politicians that use religion in political grandstanding, and may this be the end using religion to score awoop political points, Ameen.
But the governor faces avalanche of
crises. A shower of allegations cannot give Malam respite, and his heart
might have jerked every minute. The sight of his estranged godmother,
Hajiya Naja’atu Mohammed, in the investigative panel contorts his
be-marked mug. The thought of an impending white paper gives him
sleepless night. A forgery case in court jolts his troubled mind. The
grief-stricken governor is, like garment, inside out, and like pendulum,
oscillates from Kano to Abuja every minute – missing the otherwise
softness of his gubernatorial chair that has now felt like a bag stuffed
with a bale of prickles. I am told reliably that my governor rarely
sleeps these days as he battles with acute insomnia.
In his own misshapen assumption, the
governor feels, like Tom/Jerry – never-dying, and like Nick Carter –
always the victor and like pope – the holiest man on earth. Shekarau is
our own Richard Nixon, the disgraced American president in the 70s who,
despite the general belief that he was corrupt, words hadn’t failed him
as he had often said, tongue in cheek, “I am not a crook.”
Shekarau wants all that care to listen to
believe that he is as self-sacrificial as a candle – for its only candle
that burns and melts its fine-looking self just to give others light. He
has shot his lieutenants from abject penury to majestic affluence but
wants us to believe that he does not want all that and does not condone
corruption. His aides build castles, ride posch automobiles, but he
claims that he does not own even a thatch-roofed adobe cottage! Yet, I
would argue, this is a contradiction of what he says in an interview
granted to Daily Sun of Friday, September 22, 2006. “I
want to be rich,” Shekarau says, “I love money like any other person, I
want to leave money for my children…”
If Governor Shekarau had any foreknowledge
of what was to befall him, he should have accepted the EFCC list in good
faith, as many other like minds were wont to do, without forging a
letter of clearance purportedly signed by the Chief of Staff of the EFCC
just to elicit sympathy from the masses. Brandishing the “clearance”
letter, which reads inter alia, “no misappropriation of one
kobo,” (I doubt if the tone sounds official) the governor poured his
lethal accusations against his benefactors who he now labels detractors.
He calls them names, and like a court of law or tribunal, indicted them
for corruption. One of his “corrupt” benefactors is Democratic Peoples
Party (DPP) governorship candidate and has served the country in
different capacities but his name did not appear in the EFCC list but
surprisingly, however, the name of the most “transparent” governor in
Nigeria makes the list!
Like President Obasanjo, Governor Shekarau
thinks he can step on so many toes, bites the fingers that fed him and
go scot-free. You may not believe with me, my dear governor, but what I
would say here is that politics, the world over, is a business of “give
and take.” And like a game, people engage in it for fame or earthly
gains but not for a divine reward – rather, it is a venture that may
attract divine retribution. The way Governor Shekarau quotes verses from
the Holy Qur’an and Hadith, Allah would have rewarded him better if he
had chosen to be, say, imam or simply a mosque cleaner! And in
the same way, those that have invested in him financially or whatever to
become governor knew that there were countless mosques in the state that
lack mats, kettles, etc. They did also know that there is a multitude of
impoverished masses whose emancipation from the chains of poverty would
attract better reward from Allah than investing in politics. You may
perceive my warped logic absurd, but like it or not, it is the naked
truth.
I am sure Shekarau is a poor student of
politics whose report sheet is equally nil as his governance scorecard.
Astute politicians, Shekarau should know, do not promise not to run for
reelection, they keep mute. Teddy Roosevelt, who became the US president
after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901, was one of those
that similar goof dealt a mortal blow on their political career. When
Roosevelt succeeded the presidency and later contested and won in 1904,
he forsook his third term ambition but later recanted when he became
angry at his successor, William Howard Taft. When, in 1912, he ran
again, the nemesis of doublespeak caught up with him. While campaigning
in Milwaukee, he was shot in the chest by a fanatic but soon recovered.
And when the election came, the Republican power brokers fought against
him – he lost to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
If Shekarau had redeemed his pledge, his
opponents would have let him be, and also allow him to finish his tenure
with no much turbulence. I am so sure that even if EFCC gives him a
clean bill of health, the same people that planted him (with some
“military touch”) would certainly ensure that he is plucked at the
polls. But by breaching his promise he ends up ruining in the EFCC’s net
instead of running for reelection.
Jaafar resides at No. 319 Warshu
Hospital Road Kawaji, Kano.
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