Obi, Kwankwaso, 2023 Elections and Challenge of History

Chido Nwangwu compares the candidature of Rabiu Kwankwaso with that of Peter Obi ahead of the 2023 presidential poll

Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, technocrat, former elected Governor of Kano state of Nigeria (1999 to 2003 and 2011 to 2015), leader and presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has pushed himself into a political ditch.

He said a few days ago that presidential candidates in the SouthEast zone where the IPOB activists and other groups have ignited the fires of insecurity should not be voted for in the February 2023 election!

The titan of Kano politics can alter the dangerous dynamics, dysfunctional politics and wanton abuse of the development resources of Nigeria.

The catastrophic failures and serial problems of insecurity, relgious amd ethnic killings in the key northern Nigeria cities and communities do not fit his chest-thumping dance and awkward self-congratulations against former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi.

Kwankwaso’s base, Kano State, has the highest number of local governments and votes of any State in Nigeria’s political arithmetic. But you cannot win Nigeria’s presidential election with only Kano and Jigawa.  Otherwise, Kwankwaso may be remembered in history as a tactical distraction for the emerging nationwide movement which I’ll simply characterize as being channeled through the prudent but stingy Peter Obi.

I’ve met Mr. Obi, directly, only four times. We attended the same University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He graduated three years ahead of me.

On the other hand, I have met only two former Governors of Kano State; the first being the late firebrand Abubakar Rimi  of the PRP — when I was a member of the Nigerian Television Authority’s ENG (Electronic News Gathering) unit….

The second being its brilliant two-term ex-Governor Ibrahim Shekarau — who later became Nigeria’s Minister of Education. I interviewed him.

I have not met Kano’s former Governor Kwankwaso.

At this point, it’s factually relevant to remind Mr. Kwankwaso that he served as the  Defense Minister of Nigeria (2003 to 2006). This was a period Boko Haram was expanding their onslaught against both Christians and Muslims in the north especially in the Borno, Yobe and Bauchi States.

On July 5, 2022, USAfricaonline.com reported the double breaking news with these captions: “In direct challenge to Nigeria’s Buhari, gunmen attack his advance convoy near his home town; Kuje Prison bombarded”

Beyond the two terrible events, the Funtua-Katsina axis, Zamfara-Niger States insecurities are growing. Kaduna State under Buhari’s APC Governor Nasir el-Rufai has almost been lost to terrorists, herdsmen, bandits and all manner of jihadists.  And, he’s being seriously promoted in the media as the best VP/running mate for Bola Ahmed Tinubu,

Borno and Yobe indigenes have never had life so hard and dangerous!

Who should, seriously, be asked to account for (mis)managing the battle against terrorism in Nigeria? Especially in the north?

Is it those who constitute almost 82% of the highest command structure and senior levels of ALL the armed forces of Nigeria?

Or those who do not have any significant influence and clout? 

Who will answer questions to the peoples of the northern Nigeria (both Christians and Muslims) for the bloody imposition of terror, unleashing of brigandage, of banditry and insecurity by Boko Haram, the AK-47 “herdsmen”, ISWA (Islamic State of West Africa), other affiliate jihadists and criminal groups?

Investigations and reviews of some of the more authoritative and insightful reports show an extremely dangerous descent of Nigeria to a failing/failed State!

In my forthcoming 2022 book, MLK, Mandela & Achebe: Power, Leadership and Identity, Nigerians and Africans continue to bear the brunt of what I classify as “ancient fanaticisms and religio-political hatreds driven by foot-soldiers of violence should not determine the existential circumstances of life and death of Nigerians! No!

Under President Muhammadu Buhari and before him, the familiar clique of power players, the same list of familiar names and almost the same  circle of retired Generals, senior Police officers, intelligence operatives, moneybags and dedicated civilians northern Nigerian strategists and geniuses have handled  Nigeria’s government and  resources with little to show as results. 

On the issue of Obi and Kwankwaso working together, it’s been difficult for their representatives to negotiate an agreeable synergy or merger into the 2023 presidential election.

I think it is an understandable part of the challenge and beauty of diversity in a pluralistic society, multiethnic and multi religious country such as Nigeria.

I note— without sentiments as a political scientist — that while Peter Obi’s candidacy has blossomed into a popular movement across Nigeria’s and its diaspora, the critical issue is: how much of his escalating popularity will be collected and bagged as actual votes cast for the Labour Party in February 2023?

-Dr Nwangwu is Founder & Publisher of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston. Follow him @Chido247