In December 1949, when Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje was born in Dawakin Tofa, present day Kano state, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe had emerged as one of the leaders in the Nigerian independence campaign.
The 45-year-old Azikiwe and other Nigerian nationalists took that campaign to the heart of the capital of the British Empire, Trafalgar Square in London where on December 4, 1949, he delivered a call for independence before a political rally sponsored by the West African Students Union of Great Britain and Ireland to protest the shooting of 21 striking Nigerian coal miners in Enugu by colonial police on November 18, 1949.
That historical background could explain why Ganduje, who recently turned 74 years old, deployed his democratic credentials earned as far back as his days in the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) to team up with scores of democrats led by the G34 to bring to an end 16 years of military rule in Nigeria.
Despite losing out to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso during the primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998 due to the interference of the Second Republic governor of old Kano state, late Abubakar Rimi, he tagged along in his typical dovish nature in order not to rock the boat.
This probably explains why Ganduje, who is not known to be quick to anger, was able to work with Kwankwaso, the eventual winner of the governorship polls in 1999 and 2011 as his deputy and local council commissioner for their two terms in office, in spite the antics of his traducers.
Before then, he had made an unsuccessful bid for the seat of the House of Representatives in 1979 under the NPN just as between 1984 and 1994, he held various government positions in the Federal Capital Development Authority, aside serving as the Kano State Commissioner of Ministry of Works, Housing, and Transport.
Notwithstanding his urbane and liberal dispositions, there are notions that he is an extremist in view of the yeoman role that he played on the implementation of the sharia legal code in Kano state when Kwankwaso held sway in Kano state.
Referred to as the Khadimul Islam by his admirers, Ganduje is known to have led the sharia implementing outfit referred to as Hisba to destroy hundreds of cartons of alcoholic beverages and sychotrophic drugs in Kano.
Variously accused of forcefully converting Christians to the Islamic Faith, Ganduje have been able to use every opportunity available to him to convey the impression that he is not only accommodating but also a tolerant leader when he held sway in Kano state.
When he came under fire from the Christian Rights Agenda (CRA), led by its interim director of publicity, Tom Chiamen over the mass conversion of indigenous Hausa Christians using inducement and coercion, since he assumed office in 2015, he stood his grounds that it was well intended.
Ganduje, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media, Salihu Yakasai, explained that the converts were pagans and not Christians.
“Ganduje as Governor of Kano State never embarked on any mission to convert people to Islam. So those insinuating that Ganduje is using public fund to convert people to Islam should have a rethink,” he said.
“Yes, there are girls converted to Islam and this is not the first time that is happening in Kano. There is a foundation owned by Ganduje several years before coming to government. The foundation engages in humanitarian services and propagation of Islam just like the Christian missionaries penetrate local communities in Sumaila, Kura and few parts of Kano.”
Nevertheless, the people of Kano state would never forget in a hurry the milestones Ganduje recorded in the infrastructural development of the state. He initiated and completed several infrastructural projects, including the construction of roads, inter-change bridges, and flyovers, the construction of 400 bedded ultra -modern hospitals in Bichi, Rano, Karaye, and Gaya Emirates which have had a direct impact on the well-being and welfare of the people of Kano State.
Ganduje, among others, concentrated on boosting the commercial production of rice and wheat, disbursing over N4 billion as assistance to local seed producers and training farmers and extension agents on safe agricultural practices.
Credited with keeping Kano State away from any sort of crisis and violence, promoting peace and unity among the diverse ethnic and religious groups in the state, he created five Emirates in Kano, with the aim of taking development to the hinterlands and ensuring the even spread of socio-infrastructural development across the state.
Apart from earning his doctorate degree in Public Administration from the prestigious University of Ibadan, he remained glued to the terrain after giving out his beloved daughter, Hajia Fatima to Idris, the son of the former governor of Oyo state, Abiola Ajimobi to the applause of well meaning Nigerians.
An advocate of the removal of the indigeneship clause from the constitution, he is it the view that the controversy surrounding the issue of settlers and indigeneship was uncalled for in a heterogeneous country like Nigeria.
At the Second Kano Interfaith and Community Relations Conference for Peace and Sustainable Development held in Kano on the 14th of January 2018, he insisted that every resident of Kano is an indigene of Kano as long as the person pays tax in his domain.
“Because you contribute to the socio-economic development of that place, you contribute to the peace of that place. So, according to our own memo to the National Assembly, the issue of indigeneship should be removed from the constitution so that those who are staying in various places and contributing to the socio-economic development of those areas should be regarded as indigenes of those areas,” he argued.
“Not only that, even to the communities in Kano, various ethnic nationalities in Kano, whether Muslims or Christians, we want to live in peace. We appreciate you all because you contribute to the socio-economic development of Kano State.
“We are all creatures of God; we are all created by God. If Allah wanted all of us to be Muslims in the degree of faith, all of us would be Muslims; if God wanted all of us to be Christians, all of us would be Christians.
“So, God created all of us, different tribes, different races, different nationalities, men and women. And that is the work of God. Some are tall, some are short, some are fat and some are slim, some are healthy, some are ill; that is the work of God. So, if it is God, the Almighty, who said we must stay together, we must co-exist. So, why are we deviating from the word of God?’’
Ganduje’s dogged determination towards ensuring equity and justice must have propelled him to rally round the life-long aspiration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu even when the cabals in the presidential villa were bent on truncating the aspiration. An advocate of rotational presidency, he believed that the measure was required to promote national integration and unity among Nigerians.
Reminding Nigerians that the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, supported northerners on different occasions to clinch the presidency, the he argued that Tinubu was instrumental in the emergence of the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of Action Congress (AC), in addition to providing another platform for Nuhu Ribadu to contest for the presidency under the platform of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
In the build-up to the 2023 presidential poll, he assured that Kano state would repeat the 1993 presidential election feat when it supported the late Chief Moshood Abiola, the widely acclaimed winner
He said, “That showed the political maturity and dexterity of Kano citizens. We voted for Chief MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and rejected Bashir Othman Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). This is because we all believed in national integration and competence.
“Asiwaju Tinubu worked very hard to maintain the equation. Hence, his support for northern presidential candidates in the past. One good thing deserves another. We have no other option now, than to support his candidature.”
Once touted as President Tinubu’s nominee for the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, his emergence in controversial circumstances as the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) took party stalwarts by surprise.
Known for his political deftness, Ganduje have been described by President Tinubu as a reliable, committed, and faithful friend worth reposing his trust and confidence in.
Since taking the mantle of leadership of the APC, Ganduje has practically breathed life back to the party as the national secretariat is now a mecca as party stalwarts in dire need of one form of intervention to the other troop In on daily basis to achieve their objectives.
Ganduje whose inputs ensured victory for the APC in the recently held governorship poll in Kogi and Imo states has promised to implement several reforms within the party in the days ahead.
Expressing optimism that the APC would reclaim Kano from the opposition New Nigeria Peoples party (NNPP), he assured that under his watch, internal democracy will be strictly adhered to just as he pledged that there would be a deliberate policy to engage in wider consultations with party stakeholders and ensure the party operates transparently.
