A former Kano State Commissioner for Works in Governor Abdullahi Ganduje’s administration, Muazu Magaji, talks to ALEXANDER OKERE about the factors behind the defeat of the ruling All Progressives Congress in the March 25 governorship election and his dispute with the governor
The governorship election in Kano State was one that many Nigerians found interesting, considering how significant the state is in the North-West. What’s your assessment of the outcome of that exercise?
I believe that Kano, as expected, has played its role as a nerve centre of northern Nigerian politics and the hotbed of politics. It is not surprising that (Senator Rabiu) Kwankwaso’s party, the New Nigeria Peoples Party, has a dominant lead in Kano because he (Kwankwaso) is from Kano.
Generally speaking, we are not surprised by what happened to the All Progressives Congress because it has its history. The leadership of the APC has been problematic right from 2019; returning it was an error that we pointed out to his excellency, (Abdullahi) Ganduje because most of the (APC leaders) lost their constituencies in (the) 2019 (general elections) and they were rewarded. As a project manager, I wouldn’t return a project leader that hasn’t delivered a very specific milestone in his project. So, we ended up with an APC that has been sick and people that are just there because of government patronage and at the end of the day, we significantly followed from 2015 to 2023 and the manifestation is what you saw in the 2023 election. However, Kano has always been dynamic; the candidates, their vibrancy and political ideologies also matter. So, all of that led to what you saw in Kano in the election.
In the 2019 election, the incumbent, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, and the ruling All Progressives Congress won after the poll went to a runoff. What do you think were the factors responsible for how the governorship election panned out this time round?
You rightly said that the 2019 governorship election was an episode that was contested keenly and it went to a runoff. That particular scenario led to some disaffection in the political space in Kano. Kano is a 40-40 state with the conservative having 40 per cent and the progressive having 40 per cent; the 20 per cent remaining are in the middle waiting to see who the candidates are, what the government has done, which party is in power and what its performance is; that group can change its mind at any time. The result in 2019 disenfranchised that 20 per cent. The second factor is the leadership of the APC and the third factor is the way the governor runs the state, in terms of his style of development, and allocation of opportunities. Also, his family was allowed to intrude into government affairs in a matter that was not well-coordinated. People were not happy with that style. So, all that culminated in losing that 20 per cent. That is why anytime there is an election in Kano, it’s usually a close shave – it’s either one million votes for the winner or 800,000 votes for the loser. Kano is a very sharply divided state and you need to be careful about how you approach it for you to win.
Despite serving in Governor Ganduje’s cabinet, you had a rough relationship with him, leading to your sacking as Commissioner for Works. What led to the fight between you two?
So, it wasn’t really a fight; it was our differences, in summary, I will say to you that if you look at Ganduje’s style of politics which manifested in all the problems we can see now and his style of leadership, which involves only his family and nepotism, these are not who I am. I have a relationship with Ganduje dating decades back but I haven’t been close to him politically for this reason. I decided that it was better for him to operate in his space while I operated in my space. I was more of the Aminu Kano school of thought and worked with Kwankwaso very well, though he changed his leadership style from (being) progressive to having his family in politics.We returned to the APC and it was President Muhammadu Buhari that instructed us to go back and work with Ganduje. That was before 2019. I felt Ganduje reached out and tried to reconcile with all of us who returned. He told me he wanted to make him a commissioner and I was surprised because I was his critic in the opposition yet he wanted to make me a commissioner, commissioner for works for that matter. I was very grateful. I told myself I should be humble and thankful to this man (Ganduje) for forgetting all our differences, and that I would work hard. God knows and the Kano people are my witness that I did the best I could when I was a commissioner.
The problem was his style of leadership – the way power is managed. You cannot exist in a space that fundamentally differs from your belief and that started surfacing and culminated in the (late) Abba Kyari episode which led to my removal as a commissioner. After my removal, I told him that I didn’t think it was his issue but an Abuja (presidency) issue. He wanted to placate Abuja and, therefore, he did what he did so we could all live in peace. I was okay with that. But I could go to the (Kano State) government house even after I left as a commissioner. However, he (Ganduje) called me six months later and gave me an appointment to chair the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano Natural Gas Pipeline committee and the industrialisation committee of Kano State. I gave my all but in the process, politics crept in, including the leadership of the APC that I have discussed, who will become the governor, and the way the family got involved and tried to interfere in my job. It was not something I could take, therefore, we had our differences and I was told we could not continue like that. They relieved me of my appointment, so I moved on.
In the process of my criticising his government, he took me up on a Facebook post that I was tagged to but hundreds of people also posted, and because he declared me wanted and took me to court for defamation of character, incitement and everything as if I was a battalion of a political movement that could upset his government. That led to the dangerous arrest that almost cost me my life and led to my imprisonment by his administration. These are things that are documented and historically known.
Did think you went too far when you made that comment about the late Abba Kyari, a former Chief of Staff to the President when he passed away in 2020 due to COVID-19 complications?
I think he (Ganduje) played to the gallery. First of all, what people said I said was not true because what I said was Abba Kyari died in a pandemic; as a Muslim, he has earned the forgiveness of God, and Nigeria now has the opportunity to fix all the problems of Abba Kyari’s office now that he is no more, which is a win for Nigeria. But they ended up saying that I was celebrating Abba Kyari’s death and that it was not right. They said the President complained about it and, therefore, I had to be relieved of my appointment to appease the President. I wrote another press release to say that I was misinterpreted, so I explained what I meant. Eventually, when the truth started coming out, Ganduje ended up ridiculing the President, not even the late Abba Kyari. But it was my eventual arrest that deteriorated our relationship and I think he went too far, in terms of his overreaction and what his family tells him. Unfortunately, he doesn’t check anything, he just acts and it has led to this sour relationship.
You later tested positive for COVID. Did that make you reflect on what you said about Kyari?
As an engineer, I believe in science. I knew the metrics and explanations that were given by medical doctors. I believe I got COVID because when we were building the COVID centre, I was the commissioner for works and the commissioners for health and environment were all there; we had visitors from Lagos to help us with the design. At that time, it was not very clear how the transmission (of the virus) happened. We had people that came in from somewhere with the virus, so it was spreading through communication and contact. We got infected in the process of building that COVID centre. It was a massive coincidence that when Abba Kyari died and I was sacked because of the comment, a few weeks later, I also got infected. I was very conscious of how that (COVID infection) happened because some people around that project were also infected. The good thing was at that time, I was not in any crisis with the governor. We were on good terms. There was a well-equipped centre that was built by Pfizer as compensation for the polio vaccine that went wrong in Kano. It was equipped with ventilators. At that time there were not many ventilators but we had them. We were rushed to the centre (when we got infected) and a lot of government officials that were infected were treated there. The governor did very well, I will say; he took care of us and God saved us. The whole scenario, for me, was like dying and coming back (to life) because I was in the intensive care unit for many days. People were dying; I could wake up and see a dead person beside me. I know God spared my life and I have committed to using that for the good of humanity for the rest of my life. Deep down, I knew what I said (about the late Kyari) was not wrong, just a reflection of what I believed politically and Islamically. I didn’t see the correlation between what I said to (the late) Abba Kyari and what happened to me. However, I read in many articles that karma caught up with me, that I celebrated Kyari’s death and had been taken to a COVID centre and might be dying as well. People even said that Abba Kyari was calling me from his grave. It was very funny but in my belief as a Muslim, I knew what I said was not wrong, and in my belief as a politician, I stood by what I said.
Are you saying that you didn’t celebrate his death?
No. Celebrating death is very wrong. It just so happened that it was Abba Kyari, who occupied a massive public space, that died. I sincerely believe that it doesn’t matter whether you are dead or alive, accountability must be on the table because of tomorrow. In Kano, Ganduje said people should forgive him and I said no; you can’t just do what you want to do anyhow and at the end of it, because we are Muslims, just come and say we should forgive you. That’s not how God operates. That’s not how accountability operates in a democracy. Democracy is not a game of forgiveness; it is a game of accountability.
Interestingly, the governor recently begged those he had wronged to forgive him. Do you see a sincere plea from the governor to right wrongs?
I wouldn’t know whether he is sincere or not but what I know is that he is wrong in asking us to forgive him because that is not how forgiveness is done. As Muslims, we can say God instructed us to forgive people who wronged us but God’s accountability mechanism doesn’t just wipe out people’s rights. What I felt he should have said was that he had done his best, he has limitations as a human being, might have done wrong in places and then seek God’s forgiveness and the people’s forgiveness. We have highlighted several things he did wrong and he never corrected them. Now, at the end of his stay in power, he is asking for forgiveness. I think it is a wrong approach, it is very dangerous for people to believe that if they rule and do as they wish, whether it is right or wrong, they can come to people and ask for forgiveness and one day, their sins are forgiven.
You said you would never forget how he plotted to “eliminate” you “from the surface of the earth on a number of occasions.” Why did you say so?
What I said was I would forgive him as God’s instruction, but I would never forget what he did in the process of trying to contain and humiliate me because he is a governor and because he has power. What he charged me to court for was on the Facebook page of hundreds of thousands of people. It was just a picture I did not take. It was sent to me and told those who sent it to stop sending rubbish to me because it was unethical. He (the governor) captured it as I had propagated the picture. He sued me. I was in Turkey and was declared wanted. When I returned to Nigeria, I wrote that I would go to Knao and it was acknowledged but a few days later, a set of criminals in mufti chased me and I ran. They hit my car from the side and crashed into a median. I sustained some injuries and almost died.
Do you have evidence to back such a weighty allegation?
My evidence is simple. We have the car that followed me. A veteran journalist witnessed what happened. When we were taken to the police station, the man (driver) disappeared but we took pictures. I kept my affected car as evidence. People calmed me down; I would have sued the governor and asked for damages.
The governor said he had forgiven all his traducers, irrespective of the weight of the offence. As one of those having a running battle with him, what do you make of that?
He has his attributes and many people have issues with that.
Like some others, the governor fell out with his predecessor, Kwankwaso. You also served in Kwankwaso’s administration. What exactly led to their disagreement? Was the former governor overbearing or was it about a struggle for resources and juicy appointments?
I think it’s a power-sharing issue. Kwankwaso has a domineering way of doing things. He believes that this movement (Kwankwasiya) is his, therefore, whoever comes in is an appendage of his political group and must do what he thinks should be done. These two individuals have benefitted from the politics of Kano but because they had their desires, they clashed over supremacy; we all know their history in 1999 and that has not been resolved. Kwankwaso knew this in 2015 when he made the mistake of giving Ganduje that gift (making him his successor). In trying to correct that mistake in 2019, he (Kwankwaso) decided to go to his family members to get a candidate, another mistake. I pray to God that we don’t witness another conflict between him and his inlaw (Abba Yusuf) because you cannot control a person in power.
Do you think the governor-elect will be in charge of the government when he is sworn in?
Part of the reason we objected to Abba in 2019 was the fact that the attributes that connect him and Kwankwaso are very personal. They are not ideological or political. Abba was a personal assistant to Kwankwaso and there is no way a PA will go against the instruction of his boss. Abba is also an inlaw to Kwankwaso. We felt this is a conflict of interest in terms of the way the state will run. But I believe any individual in that seat (as a governor) cannot be controlled.
One of the major highlights of the Ganduje administration is the deposition of a former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, as the Emir of Kano. What are your thoughts on that?
I believe that when Sanusi was about to be made an emir, there was massive resistance in Kano because the family of the late Ado Bayero was well-rooted in the emirate system; it had goodwill. There was an uproar in the way Sanusi became an emir but I will tell you that I, then as an aide to Kwankwaso, and Ganduje as the deputy governor were in support of Sanusi becoming the emir and that Sanusi, as an erudite Islamic scholar and accomplished professional in his field would lead Kano to prosperity. He believed that it was Sanusi’s time and he became the emir. When he became the Sanusi, it took almost two weeks to stabilise Kano for him to properly manage the emirate council. He started ruling from the government house for many days. Sanusi knew that the government of Kano State stood to ensure that he became the emir, irrespective of the massive support the Ado Bayero family had from the Federal Government against him.
When Ganduje became the governor, he became an ardent opponent of Sanusi and I thought that was wrong. He should have been obedient and the governor’s partner but he became an opponent. I think that was wrong and at that point, I switched my position against Sanusi. If you want to be emir, preserve the dignity and respect of that office and let politicians play their politics. So, Ganduje took his time, one year after his election and called an emergency council (meeting) and removed him (Sanusi).
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