By Adnan Mukhtar Adam TudunWada
It was around 12:32am that my phone started ringing, it was an incoming call from my good friend but I chose not to answer the call, it was midnight and I really wanted to sleep. I decided to give him a call in the morning and that was the first thing I did early morning.
When I called him today’s morning, I asked him, is it well with you? I saw your call in the midnight and first thing he said was; I wanted to break a news, ok what is it all about? He said:
Governor Ganduje has sacked the Secretary to the state government and replaces him with Alhaji Usman Alhaji. Also,the most powerful official at the kano state government house was relieved of his appointment from principal private secretary to permanent secretary ministry for health while the Director General media and communication Malam Baba Halilu Dantiye has been elevated to the position of permanent secretary and deployed to ministry of commerce, as a result, a new Director General media and communication has been appointed in person of Salihu Tanko Yakasai, a popular blogger and writer, I laugh and said “this is not a suprise”
The new appointments did not come to me as a surprise. Let’s look at that of the new secretary to the state government Alhaji Usman Alhaji. He was a one time commssioner for education during Kwankwaso’s first tenure, he contested for kano south senatorial seat in 2007 but was defeated by Arch Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya, he contested for governorship in 2015 but he withdrew his aspiration to support Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje at the venue of the primary election so also Kawu Sumaila.
According to some reliable sources, he withdrew from contesting after an agreement of rewarding him with a position of the Secretary to kano state government while Kawu Sumaila was promised to be rewarded with the position of a deputy governor. Can we trust that of Usman Alhaji now? Hmmmm!
Immediately after his swearing in, the governor approved the reappointment of Rabiu Sulaiman Bichi who was the former SSG to continue in that position, some sources revealed that it was an agreement between the governor and his predecessor, he did that to uphold it though that’s not what he wanted. After 11 months 29 days of the appointment, the governor move and sacked the SSG who is a close confidant of Senator Kwankwaso. He was the pioneer chairman of the kwankwasiyya movement. Can we call his sack a betrayal in politics? Whatever, it is normal in politics, you always expect this from people you have been kind to, I wish Bichi the very best.
Those people that were affected are Usman Bala Mohammad, he is the most influencing and powerful close confidant of the governor, he worked as a permanent secretary admin and general services deputy governor’s office at a time Ganduje was serving as deputy to Senator Kwankwaso, it was there they build a strong relationship and even get him worth to be appointed as his principal private secretary on the 29th of may 2015. Since then Usman Bala PPS as he was called became the most closest official to the governor, if you want anything in government, consult Usman Bala he will get it done for you, many special assistants and senior special assistants were brought by the said PPS, if you want promotion in the civil service contact Usman Bala. His power become more absolute to the extent, he is even seen as powerful as the governor and of course an albatross to Gov Ganduje.
His influence become out of control, no doubt it is this absolute power in him the governor see’s the need of relieving him of his appointment and get him back to the civil service as permanent secretary ministry of health to work under a 40 or above year old commissioner, someone that must join the queue before seeing Usman Bala. Is this not a lesson for politicians that use power absolutely? Anyway, I wish Bala the best.
The person appointed to replace Usman Bala was a retired permanent secretary Malam Ibrahim Kankarofi, he was very smart in the civil service and one of the brains behind Shekarau’s administration, until his appointment, he was the special adviser to the governor on inter governmental affairs.
The appointment of Usman Alhaji and Ibrahim Kankarofi May be a good one but a wrong political calculation by the governor, the two were both governorship aspirants in 2011 and 2015, they can both use this opportunity to fight against the governor come 2019 considering their political capacity, one may ask it is in the first tenure? Yes, they may use the governor’s political indolenceness to do so, he is not firm and strong in politics like the former governor.
It was a promotion to Malam Baba Dantiye, from Director General media and communication to the ministry of commerce as permanent secretary, he was replaced by social media activist, blogger and writer Malam Salihu Tanko Yakasai.
I will use this medium to advice the new spokesman of the government to be more diligent and focused in enlightening the people on government policies not even on local media but on the new media. It was unfortunate that the senior special assistant to the governor on social media is not good at his job, instead of bringing out governmental policies he chooses to be more of a good photographer, he is only good in posting pictures not bringing the policies of the administration into discussion on the new media, i urge the new DG to do so, he is an image maker of the governor, let him act professionally in protecting the image of his boss, his professional conduct will help in bringing the good image of Ganduje administration to the people of kano and beyond.
For kwankwasiyya and Gandujiyya, the new appointments and reshufflement begins a fresh political crises and battle, the sack of the SSG who is a kwankwasiyya die hard is a proof to that, it shows that the governor is not ready for reconciliation, the both will also struggle hard to oust one another but going by the current happenings, I believe it will not yield good for the gandujiyya, the governor is still not accepted by the people of kano, if you doubt me just go round the commercial center and make an analysis. The political structure of the former governor is strong thus make the founder of kwankwasiyya movement the strong man of kano politics.
I advice the governor to do whatever in settling the grievances with his former boss, it will help him to focus in building kano not concentrating on this political matters always.
Adnan Mukhtar Adam Tudunwada is a public affairs commentator based in kano
