As former governor, Ganduje has a moral responsibility to make Kano peaceful-Bature

Director-General of Media and Publicity in the Kano State Government House, Sanusi Bature, speaks on the series of unrests in the state, alleging that the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, had been the brain behind the crisis in the state. In this interview on Arise TV’ News Day’ monitored by David Lawani, the spokesperson to Governor Abba Yusuf, also talked about some of the developmental strides of his principal
Can you share some of the Governor of Kano State’s achievements in terms of their impact on the people?
The Governor is a person who came well prepared because, before he assumed duty as Governor of Kano State, he prepared himself very well. Two years before the election, he had a team of experts that kept meeting to develop a blueprint for the state. He has a 70-page blueprint which he called my commitment to Kano, in which he spelt out the significant challenges bedevilling Kano at that time. The current administration is an offshoot of the Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso administration from 2011 to 2015. There was the initial assumption that Ganduje, who took over from Kwankwaso, would continue the giant strides of his administration. Unfortunately, eight years of Ganduje have abandoned some of the significant projects of the Kwankwaso administration. We were watching Ganduje, and we have come up with solutions that address some of the issues he failed to address. To begin with, his Excellency Alhaji Abba Yusuf’s first agenda is education. The second is education, while the third is education. Education across multiple sub-sectors, tertiary and secondary, and basic education is the main foundation of all education. He inherited a dilapidated form of education with damaged classrooms and a lack of toilets and water facilities in our primary schools. Lack of quality teachers. Some of the teachers were so poor at that time. So, the first thing he did was to declare a state of emergency on education in Kano State. The government focused more on education because education is the backbone of every society. And to get the education sector reform is what will allow Kano to achieve its dream. That is the first thing he did. In basic education, his Excellency first backs up that emergency with an action. An action of allocating 29.9 percent of the total annual budget for the 2024 physical year in the last year. In the 2025, he allocated 31 percent of the total budget of Kano State. Because there is nothing you can do without a budget, even at that budget, he looks at education because there are different approaches to it. One is the quality of the education sector. The issue of access. Because some of these communities do not have access to existing schools. The issue of a conducive learning atmosphere. He first employed 5000 additional teachers because, under Ganduje, people were retiring, and there was no replacement. So he immediately recruited 5000 people from the federal government programmes. After that, there is now a plan to employ an additional 10000 teachers who will continue serving all Kano State schools. The system’s current policy is to have teachers trained on various teaching techniques that meet global best practices in the teaching profession. Because if you have a teacher who is supposed to teach, you have a big problem. Therefore, you need to prepare him as an impactful teacher who will always be there and be able to coach the younger ones.
What are the challenges that the Kano Governor has faced while in the political swimming pool? Do you face resistance because you do not have federal support? How has it been navigating the political waters?
Well, at the Kano level, we have an overwhelming majority. His Excellency Abba Yusuf, the Governor with the highest votes in the country, won the election with over a million votes. At the same time, the Kwankwasiya movement supports Kano. We don’t have any challenges at the Kano level because, in the 2003 general election, we won two senatorial seats out of three, 18 House of Representatives out of 26, and 27 state House of Assembly out of 40 members. Therefore, the ground is well prepared for every support you need at the Kano level. However, at the national level, NNPP has only one governor, and we are in opposition. Kano State, due to its nature, is a politically volatile state. Because of the state’s contribution on behalf of Northern Nigeria. Because most of the political determination of the north was an imitation of what happened in Kano, and the position of the opposition in Kano, which actually focused more because of the population and votes, is also a big problem for us. So, the division was created by unpatriotic Kano people who thought it was because they were rejected in 2023. For you to have a political structure, say from councillor to governor, state assembly up to the presidency, APC has everything to win just because they lack popularity among the people of Kano State.
How would you access the people of Kano State in their choices?
Kano people are entirely at home with the governor. He is leading them as well as he should. They do not regret having him as their governor. Only the greedy and wicked politicians are not happy with him. The genuine people of Kano are entirely at home with him- the same politicians who migrated to Abuja as political refugees. They stay in Abuja to create chaos and problems for Kano so that the governor cannot do what he should. The Governor has been determined and focused. He has been achieving many giant strides across the education sector, Agriculture, women empowerment, and stability for the state.
What is happening within the Emirate?
Ganduje was the first recent governor to dethrone an Emir. He dethroned Emir Sanusi. Emir Sanusi decided not to go to court or protest. He silently moved out of Kano. He was victimised to go into isolation in a very rural community in Nasarawa State. He never protested, whether in court or physically. No one took a placard in Kano to say we didn’t want Sanusi to be dethrone then. Because he wanted to allow Ganduje to do his tenure freely. At the same time, the current Governor, Abba Yusuf, decided to restore Kano’s lost glory. He decided to restore the image of the traditional institution of Kano State. With that, the state Assembly enacted a law that he assented to, which allowed him to reinstate Emir Sanusi to the throne in Kano. And this was done in a very legal manner. Everybody accepted that until today, the governor reserves the exclusive right to dethrone, reinstate, or appoint an Emir within the geography of Kano State within the 44 local government councils. It was done within the confines of the law. Unfortunately, those people have been agitating about using the former Emir Aminu to create chaos and political tension in Kano for no reason. The appeal court has just settled that because it is very clear that the federal high court doesn’t have jurisdiction to attend to issues relating to chieftaincy affairs, and we believe that the judiciary has been fair to us. I am sure the Supreme Court will give us justice in that direction. Kano has been peaceful. Emir Sanusi never responded to what they had been saying. They want the government to respond so that there will be tension and crisis in Kano. Kano has been peaceful. The state is the most peaceful among the northwest states. So they think in disguise, they wanted to distract the governor. And the governor has refused to be distracted because Kano State is so important. A state with over 20 million people has a budget of less than 1 trillion naira. So, you need a governor who is extra careful in coordinating the affairs of the state.
How would you also assess the conflict between Ganduje and Governor Yusuf, as some people believe it has slowed down the state’s development?
The politics of Kano are so different, and it is unfortunate that Ganduje, at about 80 years old, will continue to participate in a very hostile part of the politics. As a former governor, he has the social responsibility to allow Kano to remain in peace. To allow the prosperity of Kano. But unfortunately, Ganduje has been fighting Kwankwaso since he assumed office as governor of Kano State in 2015. In 2019, Abba Yusuf was the PDP candidate. He won the election with a clear margin of over 100,000. There was manipulation, which dovetails to inconclusiveness, which returned Ganduje, and from that time, he began to fight the governor Abba Yusuf, not even Kwankwaso. Now that Abba Yusuf has refused to be distracted, he has been doing all he can to distract him. Ganduje is not fighting Abba Yusuf or Kwankwaso. He is now fighting me, Sanusi Bature, because we are from the same constituency- the same local government council and village as Ganduje. I am sure you must have read in some newspaper how Ganduje wanted me arrested. So, what I am trying to say is that if Ganduje can descend so low to fight with me just as an ordinary person, an aide of the governor, being a former Governor, an acting national chairman of a ruling party, I think it is something that calls for advice for him to focus on what he is supposed to do. You know the fight between two giant politicians, Ganduje- Kwankwaso and Shekarau on the other side. The three of them are considered the leading politicians, but probably because of the lack of a coordinator, everybody is trying to pitch his side. What have you? And the fight might take Kano back a bit. When we are happy and the governor is not distracted, this is not the time for politics. This is the time for action. For action to deliver on his mandate given by the good people of Kano State. This is to make sure that he fulfil all his campaign promises. Today, if you check his 70-page blueprints, you will give him a pass mark because he has achieved most of the campaign promises at this time and in the most critical sector of the economy in Kano State.