From a former governor to senators, agency heads and technocrats, there is a handful of qualified contenders for Kaduna’s seat of power, Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, come 2023.
Less than 14 months to Nigeria’s general elections, and with Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s tenure coming to an end on May 29, 2023, contenders within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are not leaving anything to chance. Those who have eyes on El-Rufai’s seat are already making strategic moves, some overtly, and others, covertly.
Within the APC, all eyes are set on El-Rufai, who is expected to endorse a successor. However, the governor, who has not shown any inclination to any candidate yet, has made it clear that for now, his attention rests on delivering the dividends of democracy to the people of Kaduna State. However, recently, the governor called on the people to rally round any candidate he would anoint, an indication that any contender within the APC who gets his nod would likely become the party’s flag-bearer.
Although he is yet to endorse anyone, about four names from the APC have been making the rounds in the political circle. They are: Senator Uba Sani; commissioner for planning and budget in the state, Mohammed Sani Abdullahi (Dattijo); the director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Bashir Jamoh; and business mogul, Idris Othman.
Within the PDP, a former governor of the state, Ramalan Yero, has indicated that he is a likely contender. A former member of the House of Representatives, Muhammad Isa Ashiru, is equally not backing out. Below are some of the top contenders likely to succeed Governor Nasir el-Rufai in 2023:
Senator Uba Sani
Senator Sani, a former senior special assistant to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, is presently the senator representing Kaduna Central. He also served as a special adviser on political affairs and inter-governmental relations to El-Rufai during his first tenure. He is the chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions.
He is said to have sponsored at least 10 bills in the Red Chamber, and like most of El-Rufai’s associates, Sani is brilliant. He is seen as one who has to rely on El-Rufai’s endorsement, even though he seems to be shedding off his political dependence on the governor. He showed this trend recently when he tried to ‘plant’ his men in strategic positions during the APC ward, local government and state congresses in Kaduna.
Whether he has succeeded or not is yet to be seen, but the lawmaker has not hidden his aspiration; and his supporters are constantly promoting his qualities and philanthropic activities on the social media.
Bashir Yusuf Jamoh
Bashir Jamoh is the present director-general of the NIMASA. He is the first maritime professional to head the agency with about 32 years of professional experience in the transportation, especially maritime sector.
Jamoh holds a master’s degree in Management from the Maritime and Ocean University in South Korea, and a PhD in Logistics and Transport Management from the University of Port Harcourt.
He worked with the Kaduna State Government before transferring his services to the then National Maritime Authority (NMA) in 1994.
The 56-year-old man is an astute administrator with an intimidating curriculum vitae. He has attended a lot of leadership and management courses at Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge universities, as well as the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Turin, Italy, among others.
In 2017, his daughter married the nephew and personal assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, Sabiu Tunde Yusuf.
Pundits say that Jamoh, who is from Zaria, has the support of the presidency and is one contender to watch out for. A technocrat with a robust qualification and decades of experience in administration and leadership, Jamoh is seen as the kind of person El-Rufai would want to hand over Kaduna State to.
Mohammed Sani Abdullahi (Dattijo)
Mohammed Sani Abdullahi, popularly called Dattijo, is the son of a former House of Representatives member and onetime senior special assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Millennium Development Goals.
The 42-year-old man first came to political light when El-Rufai appointed him as the commissioner for planning and budget in 2015. In 2019, he was appointed as chief of staff to the governor. He served until October 2021 when the governor reshuffled his cabinet and moved him back to the Ministry of Planning and Budget. His critics saw this move as an attempt by Governor El-Rufai to ‘clip his wings’ after he addressed the deposed Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, as ‘former emir.’ The governor has, however, refuted the claim, saying that Dattijo was deployed to the ministry to solve the budget challenges in the state.
Prior to his engagement with the Kaduna State Government, Dattijo served as a policy adviser at the then office of the United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki Moon, and was a member of the team that designed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Although pundits say he lacks a political structure and largely depends on El-Rufai’s endorsement, Dattijo is another man to watch out for. Many say the young technocrat fits the bill of Governor El-Rufai’s quest to leave Kaduna State in the hands of a smart young technocrat who understands his vision for the state.
Idris Othman
Idris Othman is considered a dark horse in the political equation of the state. Not much is known about the business mogul, but his name is often whispered in political circles as a likely contender for the seat of power.
He is the elder brother of Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, who has made several unsuccessful attempts to become the governor of the state. Sources close to Sir Kashim Ibrahim House say that Othman, who is a close ally of Governor El-Rufai, has not made his intention known, but there are possibilities that his name is on the governor’s list of likely contenders. Analysts, however, say that past rumours that the businessman had turned down calls to contest elections could mean that he is not interested.
Mukhtar Ramalan Yero
Yero is a former governor of Kaduna State whose dream of a second term was quashed by Governor El-Rufai in 2015. Yero, who hails from Zaria, is a certified public accountant and has a master’s degree in Business Administration.
He had worked in the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, the Nigerian Universal Bank Limited, and a private firm, Nalado Nigeria Limited, where he rose to become a director of finance and administration.
He was appointed a commissioner for finance in 2007 during the tenure of Alhaji Namadi Sambo as governor. In 2010, Yero was selected by the then Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa to fill the vacant seat of his deputy after Sambo was elevated as vice president.
In December 2012, he became the governor of the state on the platform of the PDP following the death of Yakowa in a helicopter crash. However, his dream to return to office did not materialise as El-Rufai of the APC defeated him at the polls.
In an interview with Daily Trust early in the year, Yero said he was now more mature and experienced to return as governor.
Muhammad Isa Ashiru
Ashiru is a civil servant turned politician. He bagged a Higher National Diploma (HND) from The Polytechnic Kaduna and later a master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration from Bayero University, Kano.
Between 1999 and 2007, he represented Kudan constituency in the State House of Assembly. He was later elected into the House of Representatives, where he represented Makarfi/Kudan constituency.
Originally a member of the PDP, Ashiru moved to the APC in 2014, where he sought the party’s governorship ticket but lost to El-Rufai. He later returned to the PDP and clinched the party’s governorship ticket in 2019 after defeating other contenders, such as former Governor Yero, in the primary election. He, however, lost to El-Rufai of the APC in the general elections.
Pundits see Ashiru, 59, as a grassroots politician and mobiliser. He lost to El-Rufai in 2019 by a small margin. There are indications that he would once again slug it out for the PDP ticket with Yero and others.
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