Ganduje’s debt burden and Politics of Vendetta 

By Balarabe Usman 

I’m a close observer of Kano State politics since the inception of this republic that started in 1999. 

No doubt Kano state as the commercial nerve center of northern Nigeria and the hotbed of Nigerian politics should be of interest to every political scientist. 

Democracy in Nigeria which was celebrated last Monday across 27 states ushered in a change of baton in political leadership in Abuja, the federal capital territory, and affected states capital. This historic transmission of power afforded Nigerians the opportunity to profile their choice of leadership after they were duly sworn in from inaugural speeches.

While some of these new executives have hit the ground running, some are yet to take off, most especially in Kano state where the new executive governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf has crashed land, and at the moment requires emergency aid to rescue himself from self-destruction. 

Mr. Kabir Yusuf shot himself in the foot and exposed his intellectual deficiencies on the challenging job ahead when shortly after the former SSG, Alhaji Usman Alhaji gave him comprehensive handover documents of Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s administration. 

Ordinarily, the expectation from seasoned administrators who are in tune with global best practices is for the governor to study the documents, and underscore the nitty gritty to enable him to make an informed pronouncement. 

Interestingly, Yusuf’s hatred, and deep-seated contempt for his predecessor in office, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje reared its head as he chose to lie with figures. In a minute, Yusuf exposed his publicly known agenda for vendetta and chooses to hit below the belt by going personal “I ask Allah to reward Ganduje according to what he did”.

According to him “Dr. Umar Abdullahi Ganduje left a whopping sum of N241.3 billion liabilities, and N75.6 billion for the new administration in a handing over documents he transmitted”

No doubt, the figures rolled by Mr. Yusuf were indeed contentious, if the available statistics are anything to go by, more so against the backdrop that government is a continuum. 

It is expedient to mention here that before Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s administration, we have the likes of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso 1999 – 2003, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau administration 2003 – 2011, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso again 2011 – 2015. These successful administrations in Kano state all acquired debt and liability under the last 23 years of participatory democracy. 

It is on record that Official data from DMO revealed that between 2011 and 2015, during Kwankwaso’s second term in office, domestic debt in Kano increased by 1008 percent

In the year 2011 when he was re-elected, there was an existing domestic debt of  N5.87 billion. In 2015, when he left office, the state debt had increased to N65 billion, a 1008 percent increase.

Interestingly,  Kabiru Yusuf is an offshoot of Kwankwaso’s administration, for now, has nothing original, but a mere carbon copy of an administration that plundered the state-to-state abyss. 

In 2015, the former Deputy Governor,  Professor Hafiz Abubakar who was head of, the Transition Committee set up by Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje in its final report said the former Governor of Kano state, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso left behind N379billion liability and an empty treasury. 

Not done yet, Hafiz, who chaired the 93 Man Transition committee,  and Deputy Governor-elect, who read the abridged copy of its final report stated that ‘hard times await Kano and it might take the patient to get along’.

The Professor of Food Nutrition in the breakdown of liability incurred by Kwankwaso’s administration revealed that the total capital receipt to the state between May 2011 to May 2015 stood at N 419. 75 billion,  adding that N418. 6 billion was spent. 

Hafiz Abubakar further said total capital receipt to the 44 local government areas of the state within the period under review stood at N346. 591 billion, pointing out that the money was expended on joint projects.

Mr. Abubakar who served Kwankwaso as Commissioner of Finance in 1999-2003 had explained that Senator Kwankwaso’s administration initiated over 4,000 projects,  adding that over N140 billion was paid to contractors with an outstanding of N4.5 billion.

The former Deputy Vice-Chancellor,  Academic,  further disclosed that over N300 billion was paid for 2,715 ongoing projects, stressing that N105 billion was still outstanding.

Abubakar further revealed that N117 billion was still outstanding from the joint venture between the state Government and local government areas,  maintaining that ‘unremitting N20billion unpaid vouchers was hanging at the state Treasury Department’.

Hafiz Abubakar lamented that the huge liability was coming on the heel of dwindling finances and a drop in our Internally Generated Revenue. 

The Transition Committee Reports that was read before a quality crowd of the Kano elite provoked outrage before the elected Governor,  Ganduje obtained a microphone and cool frayed nerve. 

The former governor in his response said that ‘the report would serve as an indicator on how the speed would be’.

Dr Ganduje, a seasoned administrator came heavily in defence of the system which he understood clearly was a continuum in tandem with global practices. 

He noted on that auspicious day that “In any case, living behind liabilities from one government to another is a normal thing. Those who are today shouting will do the same or even worst by the time they assumed office. 

He had said in that moment of tension “I don’t think Kwankwaso has committed any crime for living behind these huge liabilities because whatever happened was planned, coordinated, and executed in the general interest of Kano  people, we need to move on.”

“I knew everything, the expectations were high and we thought that things, according to oil money, will continue to be smooth. Suddenly, there was that disgracing drop,” Ganduje was quoted to have said in a 2015 report.

For a man who prides himself as Abba Gida-Gida, Kano expects him to study the terrain, the characters that rule the state before him for lessons in humility, because what goes around, certainly comes around. A word is enough for the wise.

*Balarabe Usman is a public commentator based in Kaduna State.