on October 06, 2014 at 1:54 am

By Ochereome Nnanna

About a fortnight ago, I received a text message inviting me to visit Kano. It was sent by Alhaji Halilu Baba Dantiye, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Kano State, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.

Dantiye, a former President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors is a professional colleague and acquaintance of 23 years standing. I first met him on the night of August 27, 1991 at the offices ofTriumphNewspapers, Kano. Dantiye was a line editor while Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s media chief, Alhaji Garba Shehu, was the paper’s editor.

I had come in from Jos, Plateau State, and my mission was to be one of the first journalists to visit Jigawa State, one of the new states created by General Ibrahim Babangida on that day in a national broadcast. It was Dantiye and Shehu who gave me the information lowdown that I needed to make sense out of Dutse, the capital of the new state; a withered, desolate village with only tarred road running through it towards Potiskum and Maiduguri.

This was the village which, by the grace and fiat of a military ruler, was now a state capital! Looking at what Governor Sule Lamido has made of Dutse, you will not fail to marvel at what visionary leadership can do in developing human society. It will also tell you what dumb leaders, like the regimes before Lamido’s, could do in under-developing society; which is why people are always clamouring for competent and God-fearing leaders.

One of the attractions of this trip, for me, was to see up close what Gov Kwankwaso, one of the people warming up to contest for the office of president of Nigeria, was all about. After initially denying he had presidential ambition when he the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) rebel governors to pull out and join the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kwankwaso is poised to tussle for the APC ticket, along with other aspirants such as Gen Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and (who knows?) Hon Tambuwal.

On arrival in Kano on Saturday along with Steve Osuji, a member of the Editorial Board and Columnist ofThe NationNewspapers, I was surprised to find myself in a 28-seater Coaster bus full of other top journalists mainly from Abuja, such as Ali Mohammed Ali, former Political editor ofThisday, Abuja university don, Dr Kabir Mato, Ademola Adegbamigbe ofThe NewsMagazine, Alhaji Ishaq Modibbo Kawu, who writes for Vanguard and other papers, among a host of others. A Special Assistant of Gov Kwankwaso was in the bus to narrate our visitation as we went along. Dantiye was with his principal in Abuja. They were to attend the turbaning of the Speaker of the House of Reps, Hon Aminu Tambuwal, by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, before joining us in Kano later that night.

We visited many project sites around Kano, the nation’s second most populous city, including the Sports Institute, housing estates and the many road projects. One thing that Kano is now famous for is the existence of well-constructed wide roads, usually dual carriage express roads, complete with drainage and street lights. Another noticeable attribute of Kano is the springing up of flyover bridges, all of them started by Kwankwaso. One of the flyovers is said to be two kilometres long and still very much under construction.

It is amazing that Kano, which is one of the oldest cities in the country with a genuine ancient history, can afford such wide roads. It is obvious that Kwankwaso wants to open the city for rapid movement of goods and human traffic; a city with a great past and prospects for an even greater future. Kano will never, in the foreseeable future, be tied down by slow traffic if the structures being put up are taken to full actualisation.

As a journalist, whenever you go on a guided tour of a government project, they usually show you the good side for you to go away with a positive impression. During the night of Friday before the tour, I needed to buy some red wine to relax with colleagues. I went to the Ado Bayero Mall and patronised Shoprite. I knew that Kano was a Sharia city, where alcohol is not allowed to be openly displayed. But I felt that Shoprite, being what it is, should stock red wine. When I got there and asked for red wine, a lanky young male attendant asked me to follow him. He took me to a shelf full of red wines, but when I got closer, I found all of them were non-alcoholic!

“We are not allowed to sell alcoholic drinks here”, the attendant told me, “they say it is against their religion”.

I was directed to Sabon Gari, the settlement for non-indigenes, where my colleagues and I were able to get what we were looking for. There is night life there, but the infrastructure is a total eyesore. Sabon Gari does not look like a part of Kano city. The roads are decrepit and there is trash everywhere. The drains are broken down. People living in Sabon Gari are marginalised in the distribution of amenities in Kano. When I asked the governor why he and preceding political leaders chose to sideline the quarter populated by non-indigenes, he denied the area is being neglected. He told me that the longest, two-kilometre flyover bridge project cuts through Sabon Gari and mentioned some of the roads he said he was doing there. These explanations did not obviate the fact on ground viz: that Sabon Gari in Kano is just like places chiefly populated in Lagos by non-locals, such as Ajegunle, Amuwo Odofin, Ojo and others.

I have always been of the strong view that when it comes to the choice people have make in electing a leader, competence is very important. Kwankwaso is a very competent leader. He is also a very strong personality, intellectually solid, with a wealth of experience as former Minister and governor, among other things. But in his own Kano city, the part populated by non-indigenes is not put on the same developmental stride as the rest of the city. This man wants to be my president. If he gets to be president, he will bring his competence, intelligence and vision to the job. But to whose benefit?

Competence and intelligence

General Muhammadu Buhari also demonstrated, through his Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) odyssey, that he is competent. But he favoured the North with PTF’s projects while giving only a token to other parts in the South, especially South East. Buhari gave most of the PTF contracts to Fulani young professionals and businessmen and enriched them. He practised favouritism. When there is favouritism, one side gains at the expense of others.

So, competence apart, what is the person willing to do? Will he treat everybody equally? Will he be fair? President Shehu Shagari was fair, especially to the Igbos who came out of the civil war with the rest of the country just nine years before he was elected president.

The late President Umaru Yar’ Adua was fair, even to the Igbos.
The taste of the pudding is in the eating. Kwankwaso’s outing in Kano city shows him as a capable leader, but not a fair one, as far as the situation in the non-indigenes’ quarters – Sabon Gari Kano – is concerned.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/10/kwankwaso-two-kanos/

whitecat1:
Is Jonathan not doing worse?

Take a look at the little projects Jonathan has commissioned or planned, they are either in SS or SE. Nothing new anymore but, I know Hausa-Fulani are not the most tribalistic in Nigeria, ibos are, followed by ijaws.

By Ochereome Nnanna

It is amazing that Kano, which is one of the oldest cities in the country with a genuine ancient history, can afford such wide roads. It is obvious that Kwankwaso wants to open the city for rapid movement of goods and human traffic; a city with a great past and prospects for an even greater future. Kano will never, in the foreseeable future, be tied down by slow traffic if the structures being put up are taken to full actualisation.

As a journalist, whenever you go on a guided tour of a government project, they usually show you the good side for you to go away with a positive impression.

I have always been of the strong view that when it comes to the choice people have make in electing a leader, competence is very important. Kwankwaso is a very competent leader. He is also a very strong personality, intellectually solid, with a wealth of experience as former Minister and governor, among other things

But in his own Kano city, the part populated by non-indigenes is not put on the same developmental stride as the rest of the city. This man wants to be my president. If he gets to be president, he will bring his competence, intelligence and vision to the job. But to whose benefit?

General Muhammadu Buhari also demonstrated, through his Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) odyssey, that he is competent. But he favoured the North with PTF’s projects while giving only a token to other parts in the South, especially South East.

vedaxcool:
Accursed jonathan spreading ethnic chauvinusm sincr 2010. God would surely judge u.

Sibabasibaba1:
I visited Kano last in 2006 on my way Damaturu, lodging in Tahir Guest House, Nasarawa GRA. I took out time then to visit the famous Sabon Gari. From the popular Bata junction, I went to France Road. I noticed that Sabon Gari was brimming with business activities but was clearly marginalized. I have heard that Kwakwanso has been improving the aesthetics of Kano now. But it is unfortunate that a place as important as Sabon Gari is not part of his Kano.


On Buhari, I have been saying it that his PTF did next to nothing in the South East-apart from buying cheap drugs for few hospitals. Buhari clearly marginalised the South East-and even the South-South. At least, I know his PTF executed little or no project in Akwa Ibom. Interestingly, the money PTF was 'flexing' with was got from these areas. How else can we describe unfairness?

One guy up here said GEJ has also been unfair as he has been siting all his projects in the SE and SS. I think the pro-APC online forces should be consistent in their arguments. In one of the Igbo-bashing threads that have been increasing by the day, you guys wondered why Igbos should support GEJ despite his failure to reciprocate with projects in Igbo land. Now, you guys are saying the exact opposite.

Which one we go take now?

naijaking1:
Very nice article.
The days of Sarduana of Sokoto when you make a name for yourself by emphasizing your hatred for Igbos or any other tribe in this country is gone, because politics in a true democracy remains a game of numbers.
Kwankwaso represents abject hatred, threat, and bias against Igbos and possibly everybody of southern origin.
His so-called Kano miracle comes from excessive allocation of federal funds thanks to the 44 LGA given Kano by Abacha(or IBB), a number based on falsified census and that surpasses those of the whole SE put together.
He treats Sabon Gari, where the highest internally generated revenue is obtained in Kano with disdain, because his main cash flow comes from Abuja. That's why he is able to build the so-called French schools in other countries, while Kano ranks last in standardized national exams like WEAC and JAMB.
God save us from the Kwankwasos of this World!

deeptechcool:
Sabon gari is a no man's land so anybody can develop it. The governor is trying his best for those he is receiving allocation on behalf.

barcanista:
First the name of the writer rings a bell.

Secondly, the writer acknowledges the GIANT stride of Kwankwaso but tactically try to play it down by looking at the emboldened carefully. Instead of saying Kwankwaso is OPENING or has opened Kano state, heused the word "Wants to" to give it a futuristic message. that is for now it it isn't opened but there are plans to do it.

Thirdly, from this statement, it is clear that the writer already has a motive of looking for a way to discredit the government of Kano led by Rabiu Kwankawso


Fourthly, the writer acknowledges again the competennce of Kwankwaso


but he is a tribalist, rather than talk more of it, he diverted to TRIBAL Journalism



He again acknowledges his bigotry...


All being said, the writer is a BIGOTED scumbag that needs to be sanctioned by National Judicial Council and the Vanguard Newspaper.

talktimi:
because he spoke the truth abi ?

whitecat1:
Is Jonathan not doing worse?

Take a look at the little projects Jonathan has commissioned or planned, they are either in SS or SE. Nothing new anymore but, I know Hausa-Fulani are not the most tribalistic in Nigeria, ibos are, followed by ijaws.

barcanista:
What truth? there is no truth in his writeup. His criticism is unfounded and is driven by hate, bigotry and bitterness. We all know the children and offsprings of anger and hatred