The Kano state governor,
Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has recounted how his face-off with his immediate
predecessor, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso started.
In an interview with Daily Sun,
the governor recalled that they were very closed and things went sour before
1999.
He said, “Yes, we were very, very
close. Even before 1999, we have been friends. I was Commissioner for Works and
Transport for six years during the military, and my former governor is a
politician right from the military when political parties were formed.
“I started politics right from
1978, and in 1979 during the NPN period, I even contested election and was even
part of the executive members of the party in the state. So, politics is not
something I am just starting now.
“So, we contested together for
governorship in 1999 and the result was controversial. Prince Tony Momoh was in
Kano to supervise the primaries, the result was controversial; the elders
reconciled us that he should be governor and I should be the deputy governor. I
insisted that there should be re-election, but elders pleaded and I agreed to
be the deputy governor. Tony Momoh is still alive, you can ask him.
“And since I became the deputy
governor I had to do it well. I had to be loyal, respectful and honest. So, I
worked hard to add value to the government by supporting the governor not only
by being loyal to him but working very hard to fill the gaps, promote the government
and work round the clock to ensure when he is not around there is no
difference.
“That is how we worked together.
Even when he was a minister, I was with him. I was on my own when he invited me
to come and be his adviser when he was Minister of Defence. I agreed because
after all, we have been together, and he felt we could work together.
“When we won the elections in
2011, he graciously invited me, it was not as a result of any contest between
us, but out of his own volition. I have to thank him for that because he could
have invited someone else.
“So, we worked together
peacefully. When I was nominated and after I won the elections in 2015, before
handing over, I started seeing some elements of undercuts from his body
language.
“He didn’t attend my swearing-in,
he just handed over and left for Abuja because he claimed he had something to
do. I said okay and went for the swearing-in.
“A night before he left, I went
to him and I said during my campaign, I said that my administration will be a
government of continuity. I told him that I want to retain the Secretary to the
State Government. The SSG did not know, I was the one that told him. I told him
that I want to retain the Accountant General.
“The DG Media is his friend, I
told him I want to retain him, and I later made him a Permanent Secretary. The
Press Secretary, I told him I want to retain him, so he phoned and told him.
And then the four administrative staff in the office, I asked him ‘will you
like to take some’, he said he was taking only one, the remaining three are
still in my office. So, that was a symbol of continuity.
“Then it came to the appointment
of commissioners and, of course, from his body language I had started seeing
some elements of disagreements. So, I didn’t get his opinion on the appointment
of the commissioners because I thought that was not even necessary because the
commissioners are not as strong in government as SSG and the Accountant
General.
“So, I thought it was something I
could do. Even at that, my Commissioner for Agriculture now was also his
Commissioner for Agriculture, we are still together; the Commissioner for Local
Government is a younger brother to his wife, he was chairman of local
government during his time; the Commissioner for Water Resources was an adviser
in his government; the Commissioner for Finance was also Commissioner for
Finance in his government.
“Like I said, I started seeing
some elements of undercuts from his body language, and then he started
attacking my administration. First, even before handing-over, he said he has
paid all the contractors in Kano, but the contractors went to radio stations and
said he was telling lies. You could see that he was trying to heat up the
system even before handing-over.”
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