Politics

Kano:The Knock On Head Of Nigeria’s Kingmaker

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<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"xtDx5fXL" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>By Bala Ibrahim&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"FEJr0XLR" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Historically&comma; Kano was created in 1967 from the former northern region&period; Geographically&comma; it is located between Katsina state to the northwest&comma; Jigawa state to the northeast&comma; Bauchi state to the southeast&comma; and Kaduna state to the southwest&period; According to all the national censuses&comma; Kano State is the largest state by population in Nigeria&period; Also&comma; according to the voter register presented by the Independent National Electoral Commission&comma; INEC&comma; Kano has the second largest number of registered voters&comma; with close to 6 million people on the roll&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>And precisely that is the crucial crux of this article- the political position of Kano in Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In other words&comma; is Kano a kingmaker by virtue of its population strength&quest; If yes&comma; is it exploiting that political strength&comma; or simply surrendering to the position of a knock on the head&quest;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"iD5v0KRK" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nigeriantracker&period;com&sol;2022&sol;05&sol;08&sol;despite-anointing-gawunainuwa-waya-to-contest-apc-primaries&sol;">Despite Anointing Gawuna&comma;Inuwa Waya To Contest APC Primaries<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>History has shown that Kano has never produced a democratically elected President&period; It has never gotten the position of an elected Vice President&comma; or a Senate President&period; The highest position held by any son of the soil of Kano is that of the Speaker&comma; House of Representative&period; Yet&comma; it is Nigeria’s reservoir of votes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Pursuant to the ongoing scramble to grab the access key to the highest seat of power in Nigeria&comma; and my deliberate silence on the issue&comma; a friend sent a message to me&comma; and I quote&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Salam Sir&comma; have been eagerly waiting to read your take on the endless list of APC presidential aspirants&comma; despite the huge prices of N100m&period; Perhaps with your views on the permutations and the chances of each candidate&comma; plus clues to decoding Buhari&&num;8217&semi;s kept to chest preferred successor&excl;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Initially&comma; my intention was to stay mute&comma; until things get to a particular turning point&comma; or a decisive time when the need would necessary arise for the search of a wild card&period; That is the time when any change in situation&comma; especially the change that would bring big beneficial results to the horse that is coasting to victory comes&period; At that time&comma; all attention would shift to Kano&comma; the state that always settles the contest&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Yes&comma; with close to 6 million registered voters&comma; and a high level of political consciousness&comma; Kano is simply Nigeria’s political goal-getter&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Consistently&comma; and continuously&comma; Kano has been the decider on who emerges the political President of Nigeria&period; And it does so despite the fact that the system has never given any of its sons or daughters the chance to stand as a candidate in any of the big parties&comma; since 1999&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The closest Kano got on the road to the Villa in Abuja was in 1993&comma; when late Bashir Tofa was made the National Republican Convention&comma; NRC&comma; candidate&comma; in the annulled June 12 presidential election that was organised by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>President Muhammadu Buhari&comma; who said he would not disclose his preferred successor for fear of the successor being killed&comma; received nearly 90 percent of Kano state’s vote in 2015&comma; when he got a 1&period;7 million vote edge that accounted for more than half of his final margin of victory over the then incumbent president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Again in 2019&comma; PMB won his re-election bid by defeating his closest rival Atiku Abubakar&comma; the former Nigeria’s Vice President that was bitten by over 3 million votes&comma; courtesy of the 1&period;4 million votes given to him by the combined contributions of the 44 local government areas of Kano State&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While my friend’s concern centres on the endless list of APC presidential aspirants&comma; despite the huge prices placed on the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms&comma; my worry is on why no son of Kano is amongst those on the long list&comma; despite the population strength of the state&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Is the kingmaker surrendering to the position of a knock on the head&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Reports have it that the ruling APC has raked in the sum of N1&period;23 billion from the sale of Expression of Interest and Nomination forms to 17 Presidential aspirants&period; As of last week&comma; it was gathered that 17 Presidential aspirants had already paid N100 million each for the forms&period; This is good&comma; even though EFCC is threatening to investigate the sources of such humongous nest egg&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>From reports&comma; the list of the presidential aspirants that have picked their forms include&comma; the Minister of State for Education&comma; Emeka Nwajiuba&comma; Jigawa state Governor&comma; Abubakar Badaru&comma; Ebonyi State Governor&comma; Dave Umahi&semi; his Kogi State counterpart&comma; Yahaya Bello&semi; the National Leader of the party&comma; Senator Bola Tinubu and Senator Rochas Okorocha&period; No single name from Kano&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The question begging for answer is&comma; is the kingmaker surrendering to the position of a knock on the head&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Economic scientists may see population density as a problem that could put pressure on the economy&comma; especially as it influences land allocation&comma; food&comma; infrastructure&comma; and health&sol;human services&period; But political scientists may have a reversed view&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To them&comma; population density is an advantage&comma; because in democracies&comma; office holders emerge through voting&comma; where the winner is determined by the highest votes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Every serious aspirant is scrambling to gain the attention and approval of the Kano voters&period; But while Badaru from neighbouring Kano is keen to go into the contest&comma; no one from amongst the nearly 20 million people in Kano state&comma; of which close to 6 million are registered voters&comma; has shown interest in leading Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Is the kingmaker surrendering to the position of a knock on the head&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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