Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has identified his resistance of Rabiu Kwankwaso’s control from outside as the reason behind his recent fued with the former governor.
Governor Ganduje, also known as Gandujiyya, noted that there was no way his political history would be complete without mention of Kwankwaso and vice versa. He added that they were friends until ‘things apart when the center could no longer hold.’
Bothmen were political allies with Ganduje serving as deputy to Kwankwaso. A political feud between them, however, seems unresolvable, despite the efforts of the party and President Muhammadu Buhari.
The duo took their rivalry to the next level in January when they fixed rallies for the same area on the same day. President Buhari had to prevail on the former governor of the state also known as Kwankwasiyya, to call off his rally at the last minute.
Speaking to State House Correspondents on the sidelines of Round Table Dialogue on Ethical Values and National Security held at the State House Conference Center, Abuja, Governor Ganduje, when asked to speak on their relationship said, “Well, as you know we were very good friends.
“In fact my political history cannot be complete without Kwankwaso and the history of Kwankwaso politics cannot be complete without me. But somewhere somehow things went wrong. But we believe in politics you will get to a point you cannot rule and manage a state and then you are being controlled from outside, you know that one is very very difficult to happen if you look at the psychology of leaders.”
Asked to react to disturbing images of under aged voters emerging from Kano State after Saturday’s elections, he said, “That was propaganda. You can ask the national observers who went there, they held a press conference, all those pictures were children from school assembly. It is not true, it is part of the propaganda. Let them go back to the states and ask the people did they queue up and vote in the election?
“So, we don’t even need to respond to such falsehood. Ask those who are credible and who witnessed the election, I think that is the most important thing rather than rely on the social media where things are crafted, and take pictures that were prearranged. We don’t rely on that.”
On the insecurity in the state, Ganduje said, “Well, we conducted local government elections precisely on saturday 10th February and it was very peaceful. Independent observers were there, the result was 100 percent APC. The election was free and fair. So you can see that the insecurity was publicized outside Kano. People believe here that there is insecurity but in Kano, there is peace and stability.
“A month a go we had inter-faith dialogue between the Christians and Muslims and the Ulamas and the clergymen were all there. We had a resolution pertaining to the Peace and stability in the state. And since I came into office, there has not been any outbreak of instability in the state, nobody has been killed, nobody has been injured as a result of political activities.
“So you can see that the propaganda outside the state is that there is security in the state, practically we have been showing that it is false.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had allayed public worries over the credibility of Nigeria’s future elections after pictures of underage voters emerged from last Saturday’s local polls in Kano State. Observers, including the Centre for Information Technology And Development, CITAD, and Action Aid International Nigeria, said they witnessed voting by underage citizens during the elections.
In a related development, Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, has assured that state governors would not abuse the use of State Police.
According to Governor Abubakar, “I do not think so, there will always be fears but we should not think in terms of individuals in Nigeria, that is our bane, we should think in terms of developing institutions. When we develop institutions and the plain truth, they take care of the indiscretions of individuals.”
Speaking on the dialogue, he said, “We came for a dialogue on ethics and integrity of service and the launching of a compendium on the life and times of Mr. President and the service he has rendered to the nation, from the time he joined the army to date.”
Asked if it was a a build up to 2019 elections, he said, “Well, this compendium was conceived well before the consideration for 2019 elections. It is a factual compendium not politics. The dialogue is the first thing in addressing the problems of the nation, the need for us to forge unity, to consider the challenges affecting the nation without unnecessarily overheating the nation.”