ACTIVIST TO KWANKWASO: DON’T BE AN AGENT OF DISUNITY
Is there any problem with frontline politician Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso?
This is the question many Nigerians have been asking after ThisDay Newspaper published a rather disturbing and hard-to-believe story attributed to Alhaji Kwankwaso, titled “Kwankwaso: Lagos Meddling in Kano’s Affairs, She’s Overstepping Her Boundaries” on Wednesday, 20th November 2024.
The story appeared as an absurd, comical and pedestrian attribution to the National Leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. It alleged undue interference in the internal affairs of Kano State by Lagos, claiming connivance with the Federal Government to hijack Kano’s taxes and appoint its Emir.
When did the appointment of an Emir, a local government matter, become another state’s duty?
How can anyone imagine that an elder statesman like Alhaji Kwankwaso would claim that Lagos State is attempting to dominate other regions in the country, particularly Kano, because of the support it allegedly received from the central government?
Even at the time the now opposition party ruled Nigeria, Lagos maintained its position as the Numero Uno in economy, trade, industry, and security, with empirical data to support its status. In fact, the upward spiral of Lagos in the League of Nigeria's States was enhanced when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was at the helm of affairs in the Centre of Excellence.
Therefore, it is sheer mischief and ignorance for anyone to claim that Lagos is trying to dominate other States in the country when the current President pivoted its lead role in the growth of the country’s finances since the return to democracy in 1999. Successive administrations have been building on the Tinubu foundation.
The reasonable assumption is that such spurious and dubious claims couldn’t have been made by a bright mind like Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Lagos has no business with discrimination, marginalisation, or disdain for any Nigerian citizen. Successive administrations have always accommodated all tribes and tongues due to the cosmopolitan nature of the State. That is why Lagos is home to all Nigerians, despite the huge migration and pressure on infrastructure in the face of limited resources.
Dr. Kwankwaso has built a reputation in politics to make him resist charlatans and hypocrites from making him lose focus of the need to remain patriotic and committed to acknowledging the great feats achieved by the Lagos State Government and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. (GCFR)
Lagos is a land of milk and honey. It remains a bastion of hope for thousands of people, especially youths, who aspire to fulfill their aspirations and ambitions.
Dr. Kwankwaso and other patriots in politics should concentrate their energy on consolidating our rather fragile national unity. They should not become agents of disunity and anarchy.
Notwithstanding the hoax cry by Dr. Kwankwanso, we advise Lagos and her friends to remain focused on maintaining its status as Nigeria’s business and financial headquarters as well as home to all irrespective of political, religious or economic leanings, and not allow politicians drag them into any imagined dirty competition over taxes and traditional matters of Kano State.
There is no need for that.
Signed:
Nelson Ekujumi,
Executive Director,
Centre for Social and Economic Rights (CSER).
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