Feb. 13, 2014
by Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim
The political atmosphere of Nigeria, or particularly of my state, Kano, is by each tick of a second getting more tensed and intense. Although I presently reside outside the shore of the state, one cannot help seeing and hearing this and that on air and online. I am not a politician, nor into the politics; I had though been a very passive partisan, but even that was a long time ago. I am thankful to Allah that I have successfully quitted, and wish to reserve any public commentary. Nonetheless, for being things as they are, I couldn’t resist the temptation to break my earlier ‘promise’ not to comment. I believe my motive was well-generated. For, we need a relative sanity in the polity, peace in our state and mutual respect among the populace, which are all the current state of things sets out to disperse and replace with impurity, impudicity and perfidy.
The incumbent governor of Kano state, Engr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso and his predecessor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau have been at the fore of Kano politics for almost a decade and a half, that’s since the return to democracy in Nigeria in 1999. For any citizen or resident of Kano between the ages of 30 to 35, no politician has had greater impact and effect onto his life than these two gentlemen. However, the sway varies widely and wieldy. While for some, it’s positive, it’s negative for many others. Loyalty or otherwise to these pilots of Kano politics has turned multitude foes to friends, friends to foes; brothers to enemies, enemies to brothers; etc. Why? Where is the wisdom, the education, the maturity and all that Kano people are known for?
Politics, as the saying goes, is a dirty game. I often add that it is also a murky water in Nigeria, which entering and passing through unsoiled and unspoiled is a near to impossible task. But people do not get any option, they will have to. It’s very evident that leaders could not elect themselves and mount the mantle of power just like that. They have to be elected by the electorates; hence the people must be there. Another challenge, the bigger one, is: there is always an array of the candidates to be chosen from. This presents a far greater test to the voting public, for, in this context, there always are eatable, uneatable and thorny fruits to pick from. It’s often the case that the good aspirant is deserted and the bad and the ugly ones are elected, sometimes at even a landslide, due to the latter’s ‘failure’ to spray money, or to tell people the usual inventory of sugar-coated promises. In a nut shell, the involvement of people, innocent or otherwise, is inescapable in politics both as contestants and voters.
It is my humble opinion that both Kwankwaso and Shekarau, irrespective of the party each one of them belongs to, now or later, deserve commendation by an average Kano resident. You may argue that one has done better for the state, but you cannot argue against the fact that even the other has done something for the state, and neither performed to a T, for they are human beings. Let’s not demonize one, and beatify the other. To my own perception, loving both is nothing incompatible. I however respect all views, for; after all, it is in our psyche to be subjective. Again, politics is all a matter of opinion, choice and preference. That is why politics is the one particular practice where fair mindedness and judgment are hardly called to action. Selfish-interest, self-aggrandizement, beclouded-thought and blind-love are what in most cases lead.
Therefore, my call to my dear, fellow Kano people is to try and bury the hatred, sheathe the sword and call (back) our God given sophistication to action. I know neither of them would be happy at the way things are unfolding. I have recently read somebody on Facebook claiming that he was severely assaulted by his neighbour because of his support for one of them. There are more other cases of clashes, abuses and other form of unwanted and unwelcomed moves that happens every now and then in Kano in the name of defending or supporting one of them. This was unsurprising to me, for it almost happened to me years ago. A very close friend of mine shunned me away for a number of days, but later, following my unilateral decision to confront him, we reached a truce. My crime as I learnt from our conversion was simply criticizing his dearest political mentor.
I am not professing purest neutrality, but at least we should not let the egos, aspirations and achievements or failures of some leaders dictate our undertakings, control our minds and later destroy our collective thinking and life. We had better learn to respect our natural individual differences. I don’t know of the existence of any monolithic society, therefore each and every one of us would not, for he could not, support one politician and leave the camp of the other just because that’s what suits his friend, brother or neighbour. No matter being saint, or devilish of a politician; he must have followers, sometimes staunch ones, and you cannot stop that. Some millions others practice different religion from yours. What do you do to them? You cannot stop the sun from rising tomorrow, so you cannot, no matter how hard you try, stop everyone from adhering to what he believes in. It will be abominably unjust to judge people by their choice. To each his own.
Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim
Department of English and Literary Studies, Bayero University, Kano #Email: muhsin2008@gmail.com
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