The drama which played out in Kano on Sunday was a masterpiece. Everything was planned out like a choreographic enterprise. Every sequence designed in detail before the curtain was raised. But what actually happened?
As soon as Ado Bayero died, the four kingmakers honored his wish. They shortlisted his sons and one other. The list excluded Lamido Sanusi of CBN history. The entire city of Kano knew that the Lamido noise had rested. On Mallam Nasir El-Rufai’s twitter handle, a congratulatory message had gone to Sanusi Bayero. Rufai, would turn round to talk as if that never happened, but everybody knows Nasir loves playing the field.
Sanusi was already going to prepare for turbanning, because there was no contest in the shortlist. A distress call went to the APC head-cutters. The deep pockets took off from their sinecures. Rotimi Amaechi from Rivers, Ahmed Tinubu from Lagos. The not-so-deep pockets too were in tow, because they were the ‘sons’ of the soil. Things would truly get soiled in a moment. Danjuma Goje, Abubakar Baraje and Shaaba Lafiagi.
Amaechi claimed they only came on condolence visit to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. How would governor Amaechi convince anyone it was a condolence visit? A condolence visit which was not extended to the palace where the monarch passed on. Kwankwaso himself did not attend the burial. Who was condoling with who? They were still persuading Kwankwaso that the list had to be represented, when the Jagaban Borgu’s entrance was announced. He had actually camped in Kano to secure a controlling influence on the process.
When he arrived at Kwankwaso’s office, things took a rapid turn. Tinubu told Kwankwaso that he held the life and death of APC in the North in his hands at that moment. If Lamido Sanusi missed the throne, the political consequences were better imagined. Kwankwaso expressed reservations about the plot, reminding the Lagos Overlord that Kano politics was a different ball game. He thought there would be a price to pay.
Tinubu, who loves his voice at important moments told Kwankwaso to man-up; he recalled how he foisted Oba Akiolu on Lagos despite the fact that Akiolu was a non-indigene. Yes, there would be some protests, but that would fizzle out after a while. It could be managed. What could not be managed was a loss of the throne. They spoke of it as a super chip.
Kwankwaso steeled up and did as he was told. The four traditional kingmakers collected twenty million Naira each from the southern dispensers and represented a new list which now included Lamido Sanusi’s name. While the issue went on, General Muhammadu Buhari also waded in on phone. What he told Kwankwaso was not clear to NP, but it did not appear to be in deviation from the general APC resolve.
When the second announcement came towards the evening and protest broke out, the Southern spenders were a little jittery over their safety and wanted badly to be out of Kano. They knew what they had sown so brazenly. They also knew what they could reap if they were caught fiddling with the system from such a distance. When the Airport Authorities banned flights apparently for security reasons, their trepidation escalated.
What they did not know was that the APC riot-arm had already infiltrated the ranks of genuine protesters on the instructions of the governor. It was fait accompli. For now.
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