Kano governor’s 30 days in office and many controversies

From his first address after taking the oath of office as the new Kano State governor, the first 30 days in office for Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf have seen him dominate the news media across the country with the many controversial decisions and actions he has taken, Daily Trust Saturday on Sunday reports.

Unseating the hitherto ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, many had predicted that Governor Yusuf of New Nigeria Peoples’ Party (NNPP) would not hold back in undoing some of the perceived excesses of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, his predecessor, but the swiftness with which the governor kick-started the undoing process had dazed even some of his ardent supporters (the Kwankwasiyya Movement) and left his opponents with no doubt as to what to expect, analysts have said.

The swiftness of his actions, analysts believed, could not be unconnected with the belief expressed several times by the governor during the campaign period that Ganduje’s last four years as governor was a “stolen mandate” based on the circumstances that played out during the 2019 gubernatorial election which both of them fiercely contested.

Demolition exercises

On May 29 during his inauguration speech, Governor Yusuf did not mince words on the path his government would take as it relates to the past eight years of his predecessor when he said “Today marks the beginning of the continuation of the Kwankwasiyya administration in our dear state – we shall continue from where we stopped in 2015. We will, by the special grace of Allah (SWT) redress all the injustices perpetrated in the last eight years.

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“We shall recover and reclaim all public properties and assets misappropriated, hidden or stolen and return them to the custody of the government.”

Thus, it did not surprise most people when six days after this speech, bulldozers under his supervision tore down structures erected on Kano Race Course (Filin Sukuwa), before moving to the Hajj Camp area where commercial buildings erected on the Kano State Pilgrims Camp were also demolished.

Also pulled down by the bulldozers was a multi-billion Naira project on the old Daula Hotel site, which the developer said was a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement that has gulped over N10 billion. But the government dismissed the claims by the developer, insisting that the PPP arrangement was a farce.

While the hitherto demolished structures were considered to have affected only a few personalities, it was when the government’s bulldozers tore down the multi-storey business plazas partly built on the state’s Eid ground that ordinary business owners joined in the lamentation, with many of them lamenting that their life savings were lost because of the demolition. This lamentation would take up a new dimension when the government marked for demolition several residential buildings in Salanta area and commercial buildings along the old BUK Road. The structures in Salanta area were said to have been built inside the Kano State Polytechnic while those on old BUK Road were said to have encroached on the old city wall (Badala).

But it was the demolition of the roundabout located near the state government house (a monument popularly known as Tumbin Giwa) that brought the government the most backlash with even many known supporters of the administration describing it as a “thoughtless decision”.

Stoppage of salaries of 10,800 workers employed by Ganduje

Staying true to his words during the transition period, the governor also ordered the stoppage of salaries of 10,800 workers employed by his predecessor pending an investigation to ascertain the authenticity of their engagement.

During the transition period, the new administration had accused Ganduje’s government of illegally employing over 10,000 workers when it was about to leave office.

Probe of Ganduje admin, re-opening of Doguwa’s ‘murder case’

In the early hours of his administration, Governor Yusuf vowed to probe the N241bn inherited from his predecessor.

He had also vowed to reopen the case of murder against the lawmaker representing Doguwa/Tudunwada federal constituency, Alhassan Ado Doguwa. Recall that the immediate past Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice of the state few days before the end of the Ganduje administration announced that the state government had resolved to drop all charges bothering on murder and arson earlier preferred against the lawmaker.

Outside the perceived controversial decisions and actions, the governor has also hit the ground running in several areas, including the payment of NECO school fees for over 60,000 students, the reopening of the portal for foreign and local postgraduate scholarship scheme for First Class graduates, as well as the fixing of several street lights and traffic lights in the state metropolis while the clearing of waste from Kano streets have continued.

Residents’ view of first 30 days

Meanwhile, the views of most of the residents of the state on the governor’s first 30 days in office have been divided along political party leanings. While supporters of the governor, who are mostly members of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, have continued to drum up support for the governor, describing him as an “Action Governor”, his critics, mostly supporters of the main opposition – the APC, continue to describe the governor’s act as that of vendetta.

Aminu Idris, a resident, said he believes the governor has gone on a demolition spree because “the past administration didn’t do the right thing.”

Another resident, Jamilu Nasir, said the past administration “did a lot of things that are questionable. That is why the new government doesn’t trust whatever they did.”

However, Abdul Fagge, the legal adviser for APC in Kano, said as far as they are concerned, the demolition spree of the incumbent governor was nothing more than an act of vendetta.

He said most of the demolished properties were owned by individuals or firms, and many of them were done on a private-public-partnership (PPP) arrangement, while the former governor was exercising his power and right under the constitution and Land Use Act to allocate any land under the jurisdiction of the state.

But the governor in countering the allegation of vendetta said all the actions taken thus far were in fulfillment of his campaign promises.

Speaking earlier to Daily Trust on Sunday, the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Sanusi Bature, said “During the campaigns, the governor promised that Kano would be restored to its lost glory, part of which is the issue of land grabbing, which has been devastating the state. The second layer of this is that we have included this issue of land grabbing in our blueprint. It was made public and people understood that we were going to demolish any illegal structure placed in public property.

“Thirdly, during the transition period, we issued an advisory that anybody building on a public space should stop, but a lot of people refused. At that time, we didn’t have the executive power to stop anybody; hence we advised. Now that the governor has the executive power to act, he has decided to swing into action immediately. And this will continue so as to ensure that all public places are reclaimed and safe for public services.

“We said we were going to do this and Kano people were very happy. They were aware that we were going to do this; and they voted for us based on our campaign promises. So, if we don’t do this, we are not fulfilling our promises.”

But a renowned political analyst, Professor Kamilu Sani Fage, told Daily Trust on Sunday that while the decisions and actions of the government might not necessarily be that of vendetta and anger but most could be considered rash, as far as those affected do not feel they were given a fair hearing.