The topic I am going to write about is not going to go well with some people in Kano state. But I think that I am going to speak the ‘minds’ of many others in the state. The state has an enduring Hausa nickname of ‘Kano Tumbin Giwa. Malam koda me kazo an fika. Roughly translated, it means ‘Kano is so huge that whatever one is good at, he will meet someone who is better’.

I was recently discussing with a Kano friend that the state (Kano) was too big for Engineer Governor Abba Yusuf Kabir, alias Abba Gida Gida, to be its number one citizen. Or anyone made of the same innocent, inexperienced and non combative mould, as him. Some people might argue that governance is not about one person, which may be true in some countries, but not Nigeria.

On our shores, we operate the kind of Democracy where the leader, be it the president or the governor, is always right, and must always be obeyed, failure of which is tantamount to getting the boot from office. My reason, as well as those others, for seeing the simplicity of the governor is simple.

Our reason is electricity or the lack of it, not who becomes the emir of Kano or weather the Kano Emirate should remain one or be divided into many kingdoms, and such ‘immaterial’ issues that seem to engage the attention of the Kano State government under Governor Abba Gida Gida.

Electricity is EVERYTHING in today’s world, because it powers the engines that make a nation grow into greatness. Who is emir or what becomes of an emirate does not make a nation grow  in to a developed country. The emir might help, just, if he has the needed connection, knowledge and charisma to go with the job.

But in Kano today, some places may remain in darkness for days without power for no fault of the people living there, whereas the situation is said to have ‘improved’ in some major metropolitans with ‘Band A’ service, who, by the admission of their electricity suppliers, do get between 23 to 24 hours of electricity every day.

The Kano electricity situation has led to the closure of many industries and small holding companies who rely on the stuff for their survival, because it could hardly be profitable to operate on generators. And Kano is supposed to be the commercial and industrial centre of the northern part of the country.

The abjectness of the situation was recently dramatised by the famous Kano comedian who goes by the moniker of ‘Dan Bello’. In the said drama or to be more appropriate, comedy, ‘Dan Bello’, a one man cast, played the role of a classroom teacher who was shown asking four of his pupils to name the music that made the sweetest sound in their ears.

The four pupils, played by Dan Bello, are one each from Arabia, England, India and a Nigeria, in that order. The Arab, the English and the Indian all sang the song that was most pleasing to their ears. When it came the turn of the Nigerian to speak, there was an increase in the brightness in the ‘classroom’, and both pupil and teacher shouted ‘NEPA’, the joyous shout made by children whenever the ‘almost all the time absent’ electricity makes a sudden and unexpected appearance in their houses. Funnily enough, the exact scenario played out as I was writing this article.

The situation is indeed a pity, because of the fact that the electricity supplier in the area is the Kano Electricity Distribution Company, better known with its acronym of KEDCO, which is said to be majorly owned by Kano people, and its headquarters is cited in the city.

Not only that, but also the fact that two of the richest people in the country are the  ‘proud’ sons of Kano. These are Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who is the most wealthiest black person on earth by the estimation of the London Economist Magazine and the Forbes of the US, and Alhaji AbdusSamadu Rabi’u of the BUA fame. The two are dollar billionaires, even as it may seem needless to say.

They might claim to be doing somethings of great importance to the state. And others too. That may be true, but whatever those things may be, they cannot be more important than power in this age of computer science (CS) and information technology (IT).

The question begging for an answer is; is the present number one citizen in the state capable of ‘confronting’ the duo or the owners of KEDCO and complain about the lack of power in Kano state and ‘demand’ to know what they are doing for the non power situation in the state, even if with some elements of tact?

I dare to answer in the negative, because in my own and many others’ view, Governor Abba Yusuf Kabir, alias Gida Gida is simply too innocent, inexperienced and non combative to be able to do so. Nor does anyone around him either.

Governor Abba does not have the roughness and no nonsense attitude of former Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso or the suave experience and age of his immediate predecessor, AbdulLahi Umar Ganduje.

One thing many people come to unfortunately associate with the company is the untrustworthiness of some of the people associated with it. These sorts of people go about to the customers of the company under one guise or another and extort (read steal) some money from them.

Governor Abba’s next door counterpart, whose state has become one of the targets of bandits, has taken a couple of ‘positive’ steps aimed at curtailing the menace. One of such steps involved the Kano state governor himself, when the Forum of the Northern States Governors, under its Chairman and Governor of Katsina State, Dr. Dikko Umar Radda, PhD, CON, visited the US for a meeting with the security experts of the host country.

The bandits menace is of more concern to the governor of Katsina state given the serious threat on life and property of the people of the state it poses. It is far ahead of the threat posed by the lack of power in the state, because only the living do have the luxury of ‘enjoying’ electricity. And the bandits kill people and cart away stored food items wherever they attack.

The banditry ravaging parts of the north west is the reason for the current war of words between the Katsina state governor and the Military High Command. The governor had accused the military of complicity in the banditry, an allegation that has not gone down well with the Headquarters of the Nigerian Military, which challenged him to prove its veracity.

Meanwhile, one of the two ‘contestants’ to the throne of Kano is said to have voluntarily agreed not to hold the traditional Sallah durbar in the state capital. Before now, both the two remained adamant that they would each hold a durbar, an unheard of phenomenon. Another long unheard phenomenon is a Kano without the traditional Sallah durbar.

The ‘conflict’ of who is the emir of Kano between Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II and his great cousin, Emir Aminu Ado Bayero, has also rubbished the institution of justice in the state. The conflicting orders given by the Federal High Court, Kano and the Kano State High Court has forced the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, to invite the two Judges of the courts to Abuja.

It also  ‘nearly’ made a mess of the security agencies in the state, for allegedly taking sides. Fortunately for them, they remained united in their collective responsibility, which is to protect and prevent Kano state from falling into the hands of hoodlums.

May the hoodlums and anyone who wants to cause mayhem in Kano state or any part of the nation never succeed in their evil machinations.

Malam Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.