President Tinubu’s recent visit to Katsina State has reignited the political intrigues that defined the 2023 presidential poll in the North West geopolitical zone as well as moves to avoid a repeat, LEO SOBECHI writes.
Katsina and Kebbi States are not next door neighbours. They are just fellow members of the Kadashian states, where President Bola Ahmed Tinubu knows that former President Muhammadu Buhari usually harvests his legendry 12 million vote bank.
Apart from Kaduna State, which seems to be in safe custody for the President through the early homework of Governor Uba Sani, President Tinubu has been devising various tactics to ensure that he performs better or as well as he did in the 2023 polls. As such, the President and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are not leaving anything to chance in the search of majority vote holding in the four Kadashian states.
In addition to Kaduna, Kano and Katsina are the three states the President garnered part of his winning ballots in the 2023 general election, even though only two out of the three states, returned APC governors.
But President Tinubu’s recent visit to Katsina State did much to showcase his strength in the state and also spark debates and discussions about the president’s political standing in Kebbi State.
Presidential Endorsement
President Tinubu did not waste time or spare energy in commending Governor Dikko Umaru Radda for both the wonderful works the governor was doing in the state and the loyal support to his Presidency.
By describing the construction of the legendary Ajiwa-Ruwan Godiya Road as a testament of Radda’s effective governance style, Tinubu underscored the fact that it took the Katsina State government just one year and six months to accomplish that feat.
Although the president’s two-day working visit to the Home of Hospitality was to commission some legacy projects of the Radda administration, the profusion of praises on the governor had the flavour of presidential endorsement. While inaugurating the Katsina Agricultural Mechanisation Centre, the president described Radda as “a governor of honesty, integrity and commitment,” stressing that his administration’s focus on agriculture shows that he feels the pulse of Katsina people.
Assuring the people of Katsina of stout presidential support, President Tinubu had declared: “Your governor is not walking alone; the Federal Government is standing with him, side by side.”
The president noted that although hunger and poverty are the most persistent threats to peace in the country, the nation’s economy is on a precise track, adding that the Federal Government “have been collaborating with him for the good of the state and the country. ”
He, therefore, enjoined other state governors to embrace agricultural reforms as a path to prosperity, remarking that Radda has “introduced a great, progressive movement in Katsina State by just tilling the land and putting the land to use.”
Basking in the euphoria of presidential commendation, Radda informed President Tinubu of the state’s Sustainable Urban and Rural Water and Sanitation and Health (NG-SURWASH) programme. He said that through the small-town and semi-urban water improvement project, the administration hopes to bring clean water to over one million people across the state.
The governor assured the president that his visit has cemented the understanding between Katsina and the Presidency, saying: “Your presence has strengthened the ties that bind us as a people and as a nation. The solidarity shown by leaders across political divides reflects our shared commitment to Nigeria’s progress.”
On the turnout of the people, the governor noted that their “enthusiasm and support have sent a clear message about Katsina’s readiness to partner with the Federal Government for accelerated growth and development.”
Picking Holes
While the governor, members of his cabinet and leaders of APC in Katsina State exulted in President Tinubu’s kind words, members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were busy picking holes in the outing.
The party dismissed Radda’s “blind praise of President Tinubu as a hot slap on the faces of suffering people of Katsina State,” stressing that the presidential visit did not hide the fact that the state remains unsafe.
In a statement circulated to journalists, a member of the PDP Media Office, Malam Salihu Bamle, explained that people that turned out were hired to come out and welcome the president.
Part of the statement read: “The Katsina State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), under Hon. Nura Amadi Kurfi, views with deep alarm and disbelief the statements made by Governor Dikko Umar Radda, in which he declared that “Katsina is Tinubu’s state” and pledged full support to a Presidency whose policies have brought untold hardship, insecurity and economic collapse to our people.
“At a time when Katsina bleeds under the weight of banditry, poverty and social disintegration, it is both shameful and insensitive for Governor Radda to stand beside the architect of the nation’s current misery and offer unconditional praise. This is not leadership; it is dangerous sycophancy, a betrayal of trust and a direct insult to the struggling masses of our state.
“Governor Radda must be reminded that Katsina is not safe. Several communities in the state have been displaced by terrorists who move freely while citizens live in fear. Rural farmers cannot access their lands. Children sleep to the sound of gunfire. Women are abducted. Men are slaughtered.”
The party pooh-poohed the economic policies of Radda and APC, stressing that the economic reforms the governor was praising “are the same policies that have doubled the price of food, tripled transport fares and emptied our markets.”
“The abrupt removal of fuel subsidy, the chaotic currency devaluation and the failure to implement meaningful palliatives have sent millions into poverty. The naira is in free fall. Inflation is at record highs. Small businesses are shutting down. Graduates are hawking on the streets. And our youths, once hopeful, are now hopeless,” PDP added.
The opposition also wrote off the Agricultural Mechanisation Centre and 24-kilometre bypass built by the Radda administration, saying that they are “meaningless to the mother who cannot feed her child or to the father who cannot transport his harvest to the market due to insecurity and rising costs.”
While reminding President Tinubu that Radda does not speak the minds of Katsina people, the party disclosed that the governor “speaks for a small elite circle of political cronies who benefit from the Presidency’s grip on power.”
“The masses he claims to represent are in tears. They are tired of platitudes. They want relief. They want security. They want leadership not allegiance to Abuja,” PDP stated, adding that the party stands firm with the people.
Finger-pointing in Kebbi
Amid the inter-party verbal wrangling elicited by President Tinubu’s working visit to Katsina, some APC stakeholders in Kebbi State pointed accusing fingers over the seeming lack of cohesion in the state chapter.
President Tinubu and APC lost to PDP and Atiku Abubakar by 51, 179 to 62, 869 votes in the 2023 presidential election. But APC went on to win the governorship by returning Dr Nasir Ibrahim Idris with 409, 225 votes to Aminu Bande’s 30, 940 ballots .
Recall that in the lead up to the general election, intra-party recriminations hit both the APC and PDP, leading to cross defections among the political big names.
Some aggrieved APC stalwarts like Adamu Aliero and Yahaya Abdullahi crossed over to the PDP, following the fallout of the Kebbi Central Senatorial District, which pitted Aliero against Atiku Bagudu.
During the governorship, Idris, a former President of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), who promised to revamp education and improve agriculture in the state beat Bande of PDP, whose focus was on curbing insecurity and banditry as a former military man.
But ever since the governorship election was won and lost, some chieftains of the APC have continued to accuse Governor Idris of having worked for Atiku against Tinubu in the presidential election.
That allegation echoed once again as Katsina prepared to receive President Tinubu. A close ally of the immediate past Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), one Mukhtar Dan Baturiya, raised a post on Facebook alleging that Idris was working with the Atiku coalition and planning to defect from APC.
Recall that the former AGF had planned to participate in the 2023 governorship but was prevailed upon by former president Muhammadu Buhari to jettison the idea and serve out his second term with him.
A 2015 governorship candidate of the party, Mallan Salisu Isa Nataro, reacted to the post, saying that if the news of Governor Idris’ departure from APC to another party turns out to be true, Kebbi State APC could only wish him well.
Nataro stated: “I am ready to move the party forward with or without the governor. And I will only urge him not to forget to publish Kebbi State financial statements and those who benefitted from the contracts awarded by his government so that when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) begins to look into the book nobody will call it a political witch hunt.”
However, as the news of Governor Idris’ planned defection made the rounds in the state, the governor, who was outside the country by then, was said to have reported the matter to security agencies.
The security agencies apprehended and detained Baturiya, a staunch supporter of the former AGF to interrogate him over the social media post about Idris’ purported plans and possible defection alongside five other northern governors in readiness for the 2027 general election.
Although the questionable post was pulled down, Baturiya claimed that he culled the post from another platform. But the narrative had already gained traction, especially given Malami’s recent position on CPC’s planned defection en masse from APC.
Baturiya followed up his post with a retraction, explaining that it was a mistake that would not repeat itself, even as some stakeholders claim that his arrest and detention was mere political persecution to deflect attention.
Nonetheless, as the social post reignited the political disagreements between Idris and Malami, it was gathered that Nataro was already making inroads to the Presidency as a credible alternative to the other two warring APC chieftains.
Sources disclosed to The Guardian that Nataro has been everywhere in the media defending President Tinubu and proffering solutions to some government policies and mediation in the last Labour unrest over wage increase.
Perhaps it was based on the possibility of presidential understanding that Nataro addressed the press immediately after President Tinubu visited Katsina, noting that the president’s reforms forced some corrupt officials of past administrations to invest heavily at home rather than lodging Nigeria’s looted funds abroad.
“All that form part of the salient economic benefits of the president’s Renewed Hope Agenda. The president’s assurances in Katsina have made us very happy. President Tinubu has inspired confidence in his ability to turn the economy around,” Nataro declared.
Strategic Surgery
However, while supporters of Governor Idris, Malami and Nataro agonised over the way forward for APC in Kebbi State, President Tinubu’s influence brought back former heavyweights of the party.
The three musketeers – Senators Adamu Aliero, Sabi Abdullahi and Graba Maidoki – after visiting the president at the Villa alongside Governor Idris and APC National chairman, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, renounced their continued membership of PDP and embraced APC.
Although the former governor, Aliero; and former Senate leader, Abdullahi, attributed their defection to the confused state of things in PDP, it was obvious that their union with APC is to ensure collective support for President Tinubu in 2027.
APC must have seen how the loss of cohesion in their ranks led to the loss of the state to PDP in 2023, thereby removing every shred of blame on Governor Idris for Tinubu’s second rate vote tally.
The former Senate Leader alluded to the crisis that broke out in Kebbi APC, which culminated in his exit. While announcing his return to the ruling party during the Senate plenary, Abdullahi stated: “Recall, on June 14, 2022, I withdrew my membership of the APC and resigned my position as the leader of the ninth Senate following political disagreements in my state.
“I am happy to note that those disagreements have been effectively resolved by the incumbent governor. I, therefore, have no reason whatsoever not to go back to APC, particularly, since I am one of the major architects of its formation and successes. For me, going back to the APC is a home-coming event.”
On his part, Senator Maidoki, who made much fuss about the Tinubu-led Federal Government’s inability to boost security and economic growth, noted that “the ideals of APC better align with my political aspirations.”
In his letter of defection, Maidoki had stated: “This will enable me to participate fully in the renewed hope for the benefit of my senatorial district and Nigeria at large.
“When I was sworn in as a senator in June 2023, more than 100 villages in my senatorial district were occupied by bandits and in constant fear of kidnappings, rape and cattle rustling.
“To the glory of God, the deployment of troops in part of my constituency has played significant roles in proactive security of the area and my people have almost all returned back and are farming peacefully.”
Aliero was more telling about the political imperatives of his latest move: “Today, I made this move in response to a simple question that every responsible leader must ask himself or herself: What is best for the people I serve?
“Over the past month, that has become increasingly, I mean firstly, clear to me, that PDP, as it currently stands, has become disconnected from the aspirations of the very Nigerians it seeks to lead…
“Nigeria must move forward and today, I move forward with the people for the people and in the interest of our shared future.” As the reports of the President’s Katsina visit continue to swirl in the North West, how far the APC will go to remedy its loss in the February 25, 2023, presidential poll will depend on how it navigates the tricky path around the three protagonists.
Even if Malami makes his own move to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as is being anticipated, APC now boasts a solid team for the rematch in the 2027 gubernatorial contest. But this time around, the Presidency must have a say in who becomes the navigator.
