Re: Kwankwaso: Sagacious political bride in the North, by Prof MK Othman

Deep Thoughts with Othman

My piece with the above caption generated multiple comments; several commendations with few condemnations. This is normal considering the personality of Kwankwaso who executes his political agenda with passion. He is among the few refined politicians with principle and discipline but may not be blameless in the Nigerian project. Only two edited reactions are presented.

Happy reading.

Thank you, Prof, for your well-articulated article on the above subject. Presently, Nigeria, a country of over 200 million citizens has been battling with incompetent leaders in positions of authority. Of the so-called political leaders, some were in the military, some were in civil service, and some were in the private sector but they turn out to be dictators in the gown of democracy. They have demonstrated their inability in leadership, which is the major setback in developing Nigeria, a country that was generally regarded as the giant of Africa. In the recent democratic dispensation, Nigeria was led by Obasanjo who was a military general, and now Buhari, another military general, governed the country for 16 years with nothing to show for it except a quest for power. Among the civilians, we had the late Umaru Musa who was believed to have goodwill, but of poor health, he could not deliver the country. Then, Goodluck Ebele came but lack the competency, experience, and firmness and left the country that was so consumed by corruption and tribalism. Here comes another season to elect who will govern the nation for the next four years. This is the time for Nigerians to emancipate themselves out of the ditch or get drowned, as the current situation is becoming unbearable. What the country needs is a leader who is advantaged by age, health, vision, well-educated, and experienced in the business of governance. Kwankwaso is the right man for the job.

READ ALSO: Kwankwaso: Sagacious political bride in the north, by Prof MK Othman

Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso a former deputy speaker of Nigeria’s national assembly, a former senator, a governor for eight years, and a former defence minister has all the experienced required in managing a nation, like Nigeria. Many articles have discussed his infrastructural and educational transformation as a governor of Kano state. Some qualities that were rarely reported are grassroots Ness, global view, foresight, and firmness.

As a governor, Kwankwaso believed so much in grassroots policies. He did not just copy and paste, but even if copied, he edited, customized, and personalized it before he rightly pasted it. He kept good contact and consulted with local citizens, at least 5 persons from each of the 44 local governments of Kano state, whom he used to call from time to time and demanded the views of the citizens about government policies and the needs of people. On this note, I can refer to how he was able to address child begging (Almajiri) in Kano, an old-age tradition in the north. He established 44 Schools of Islamic Studies (SIS), and one was established in each of the local government areas. The objective was to educate each child on Islamic Studies alongside Western Education in a more formal and dignified manner devoid of child abuse and dehumanization. Thus, Parents who did not believe in the so-called western education were provided with a better alternative. The SIS was established as a boarding school, free of tuition fees. Children were enrolled, with free feeding and formal classes, where Qur’an and other educational books were used in teaching arithmetic, English, and entrepreneurship skills. Thereafter, a law was passed by the State Assembly banning Almajiranci.

Kwankwaso believes in meticulous planning, so much so that I heard him a few years back in an interview discussing the need for a comprehensive and accurate national database, as the main instrument for good planning and making provision for the hospital, roads, public transport systems, water, educational infrastructure and manage security. As governor, Kwankwaso was accountable and prudent to the extent, every expenditure in the excess of N200,000 had to be approved at weekly State Executive Council meetings. He made policies foreseeing the future population of Kano and its economic growth. He partook in the supervision of several projects executed by his government in rural areas or cities at several stages of project execution. He was often physically present at project sites for quality assessments of the projects. He supervised hospitals, schools, and important government establishments unscheduled with no prior notice. With Kwankwaso, as governor, there was never a policy that was not welcomed by the Kano people. His regime was characterized by the highest level of discipline, trust, and obedience in recent history. Today, Kwankwaso’s massive investment in education speaks for itself. A visit to higher institutions of learning in northern Nigeria will reveal a significant number of academic personnel to be of Kano origin who benefited from Kwankwaso’s benevolent investment and are contributing to the development of quality manpower while making a good living. Even at the peak of Boko Haram attacks, with a prayer from citizens, he was able to manage and flush out the terrorists out of Kano. What we need in Nigeria is Kwankwaso as the next occupant of Aso Rock as he is competent, educated, experienced, honest, intelligent, firm, and patriotic.

Dr. Tukur Daiyabu, Zaria

Salam Prof, I read your piece on Kwankwaso and his politics. I can tell, you wrote as a partisan supporter of him and his politics and somehow you did not balance the support/praise with his negatives which I am not sure you are conversant with. I don’t know how much you know of him through direct association or experience. I said this because I noticed you reported some of his performance in the way his supporters and propaganda machine used to narrate even though some information is totally incorrect or only half correct. Some of the sources are promotional and hardly show the other side of the coin. I will excuse you given that you are not from Kano and probably never associate with him closely like some of us. I certainly respect your right to your opinion but how I wish you balanced up the narration for none partisan and objective readers. Nevertheless, well-done as always in your quest to educate and inform the public.

Anonymous

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