In what appears to be a desperate attempt by former governor of Kano state, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau to remain the leading light in the new and promising APC in Kano state, there are indications of a showdown in the ancient city. Apparently disturbed by the dangers posed to his political career alongside his alpha status in APC by the possibility of Governor Rabi'u Kwankwaso's return to the fold of the APC, Shekarau is in desperate mode.
Ordinarily a politician of Shekarau's status should know where his influence starts and where it ends. Without this ability, hardly could a politician knows when to swim or float in the turbulent waters of politics. Not even a novice should exhibit such political illiteracy especially when faced with threats of extinction. Mallam need not be an "Albert Einstein" to see the hollowness of his threat.
One may like to know the source of Mallam Shekarau's authority as to who or who should not be accommodated by the APC. Was it political desperation or a more serious case of poor self worth evaluation process that sent the former governor into "attack mode" simply to preempt and avert the looming tragedy posed to his exhausted political career by the sudden turn of political events in Nigeria.
Incidentally, if people should be denied their constitutionally guaranteed right to belong to any political party of their choice based on real or concocted history of past political misbehavior, Mallam Shekarau will be nowhere near the APC for the role he played in narrowing the chances of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in winning the 2011 presidential elections by further polarising and splitting the votes of "Arewa" with his "arranged" presidential ambition.
I don't believe Mallam Shekarau is still under the impression that Nigerians couldn't see through the intricate game of deceits he played with his funny ambition since exposed as a plan to give an edge to President Jonathan by weakening the strongest base of Gen. Buhari. Unless our collective intelligence means nothing to Mallam, he should accord us minimum level intellectual capacity to know that Buhari and Kwankwaso are only joining forces to clear the mess Shekarau and his partners created in Nigeria by their covert and overt activities to install President Jonathan against the wishes of majority Nigerians - a plan that succeeded and which we are all paying for.
Funny enough, Mallam Shekarau, good a teacher and orator as he is, he could not offer good reasons for which Kwankwaso should be denied entry into APC. The uncoordinated verbal assault on which he rested his argument shouldn't have come from a "roadside politician". He alleged that "Kwankwaso is a man of violence and did not live in peace with Abubakar Rimi, he had a running battle with Aminu Wali and failed to live in peace with a party that brought him to power." So what!
First let me ask, how does late Abubakar Rimi (may he rest in peace) and Aminu Wali became "Nigeria" that past issues between them and other Nigerians could be used as a measure to determine who is good for Nigeria and who is not? Rimi had a running battle with Mallam Aminu Kano yet, he died still being respected in Kano and even beyond. Beside, if it was such a political blasphemy to have feuds with respected and accepted leaders, where would Shekarau be after what he did to Gen. Muhammad Buhari from whom he benefited more than Kwankwaso benefited (assuming he did) from Abubakar Rimi? Even an elementary level politician should know that such feuds are part of any democratic process.
I don't want to dabble into Shekarau's allegation of violence against Kwankwaso but, one thing I'm certain, Kano is now a lot more peaceful and secure than Mallam Shekarau left it few years ago. This he may confirm from the army of "kauraye" he left behind, particularly those Kwankwaso re-oriented, rehabilitated and re-integrate into the mainstream society. The only "violence" noticeable in Kano today is from the ferocious growls of heavy plants and machineries giving Kano a new face lift having suffered unnecessarily for long from leaders with skewed intentions and ambitions. Mallam Shekarau should have attempted tackling Kwankwaso from the angle of productivityand service to the public for him to know how low his political worth has sunk. Perhaps, he wouldn't have attempted riding his "holier than thou" horse of political desperation.
It was funny to accuse Kwankwaso (or anybody at that) for refusing to live in peace with PDP when it was evidently clear PDP lack the capacity to live in peace with itself. I challenge Shekarau to mention one person in the PDP fold (including secret operatives like him) of Kwankwaso's social and political standing living in peace with PDP unless they subscribe to the idea of "Jonathan, only Jonathan and nothing but Jonathan." In any case, is it not delusional for Shekarau to even imagine he have the clout to prevent an idea that is ripe from becoming a reality? Perhaps he didn't notice, but it was Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Bisi Akande, Tinubu leading all the APC juggernauts down to Kano to invite Kwankwaso to APC. Even late Umar Ta'ambo couldn't have failed to see the value attached to Kwankwaso by APC for anybody to imagine he could easily be harassed in or out of any political congregation.
Interestingly, nobody can attest to the humane disposition of Governor Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso better than Mallam Shekarau. Conceding defeat to Mallam Shekarau when he lost the 2003 gubernatorial elections, was a clear indication that Kwankwaso intended to support the new regime in moving Kano forward. He could have done it the usual PDP way. However, Shekarau chose to see it as a weakness to be exploited and send Kwankwaso into political irrelevance and wilderness. Consumed by his new found power and surrounded by people desperate to have a taste of the pudding, Shekarau misjudged the Buhari goowill he enjoyed to became governor for his real political worth.
To consolidate this imaginary "worth" Shekarau embarked on a massive campaign to smear Kwankwaso. His first term was spent instituting numerous probe panels manned by certified haters of Kwankwaso for the purpose of nailing him using spurious allegations backed by doctored documents. The only white paper they could manage to get from the kangaroo panels on Kwankwaso was thrown into the garbage bin by a competent court of law. Should Kwakwaso decide to be as vindictive, Shekarau may be enjoying the same kind of retirement with his former collegue, James Ibori.
No matter how desperate Mallam Shekarau may be, he should know, Nigerians are equally desperate and more enlightened than they were in 2003. The political hooliganism of characters like Shekarau within the corresponding has cured Nigerians of their "acute docility syndrome" which they exploited to their selfish advantage while using religion and ethnicity as a mask. The task of pulling Nigeria out of the current political and economic mess is a non negotiable responsibility of patriotic Nigerians that cannot be compromised by moles of whatever social or political status. The earlier this sink in the better.
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