As the build-up to the 2027 general elections gathers momentum with the commencement of the governorship and State House of Assembly elections electioneering campaigns kicked off last week, the battle for the positions has now been shifted to the grassroot level where the electorates who determines their preference are based.
Political campaigns for elective positions are being conducted by the gladiators in different manners and intentions for achieving either personal or public interests.
However, the public response to the approach of the 2027 electioneering campaigns may witness a departure from the previous years, in view of the apparent increasing awareness among Nigerians on their right to decide their faith in democratic governance.
It is common knowledge in the public domain that some ambitious and desperate politicaian, believed to have been opportuned to accumulated questionable wealth and properties are coming to terms with the reality that deception under any guise, will never change the People’s mind set in the present democratic dispensation.
On the other hand, candidates with a track record of integrity and verifiable record of contribution to community impactful developmental projects and self-reliance opportunities may have to slug it out with other gladiators without verifiable record of contribution to their respective communities and those undergoing investigations and prosecution for alleged accumulated questionable wealth.
In Kebbi State, for instance, apart from some contracted spoilers parading as candidates under some “unpopular” platforms, the governorship election will be a contest between
Comrade Governor Nasir Idris of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and Alhaji Abubakar Malami, a former Minister of Justice of the African Democratic Party (ADC).
Each of the two candidates has a record believed to have been nationally and internationally recognised and acknowledged that may make or mar their chances of victory at the polls.
Comrade Governor Nasir Idris and the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate has excelled in his field of human endeavour as a professionally trained teacher, and his succession from the Chairmanship of the Nigerian Union of Teachers(NUT) at the local and state governments levels to the position of the National President of the Union and eventually Deputy National President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
The internationally acknowledged unionist has also been identified among the best performing state governors by the national leadership of the APC and was known for his philanthropic gestures and humanitarian services to communities long before he ventured into partisan politics, the experiences that resulted to the achievements he recorded in infrastructure and socio-economic development believed to be unprecedented in the history of the state which clearly demonstrated his capacity and determination to change the narrative of the development of the state.
Alhaji Abubakar Malami, who served as Minister of Justice under late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and now being investigated and prosecuted by different security agencies in different courts for alleged questionable massively accumulated wealth through questionable sources, is the candidate of the African Democratic Party (ADC) in Kebbi State.
So far, the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has secured the closure of over forty accounts in different banks and forfeiture of about fifty heavily funded properties allegdedly acquired through questionable means by the former minister.
Although throughout his eight years tenure as Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami was alleged to have not made any verifiable impact on the lives of his community not to talk of the state either as an individual or through any governmental agency.
However, Nigerians, particularly the people of Kebbi State, have witnessed the establishment of investments allegedly funded with some parts of the allegded fraudulently acquired enormous wealth being investigated by the ICPC, EFCC and DSS.
Such investment scattered across the country and beyond for personal benefits included the ones located in Birnin Kebbi, namely the Azbir International Hotel, Rahman Radio station, primary, secondary, and university, in addition to a high capacity Rice Mills, among others.
However, at the maiden press conference shortly after the inauguration of the African Democratic Party (ADC) governorship campaign council,the leadership of the council allegedly handpicked and appointed to serve a purpose, in an attempt to louder the battered image of the candidate before the public, succeeded in exposing his insensitivity to the plight of the people he is aspiring to govern.
In the attempt, they became blindfolded by the desperation of the candidate and quest for mouthwatering reward for the execution of alleged assigned ditrty job and mischievously focused on a baseless claims of alleged mismanagement of Kebbi State resources by the government and deliberately ignored the internationally acknowledged and much talked about allegations records of self enrichment criminal cases against the candidate being prosecuted in different courts by the country’s security agencies namely the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Directorate of State Security Service (DSS).
The insensitivity exposed could be noticed in an apparent celebration of the ADC’S candidate accumulated alleged questionable wealth amounting billions USD, being investigated but questioning the utilisation of the state government’s revenue which they fabricated and alleged to be over N600b, in the socio-economic development of the people in all sectors of development which are unargualably unprecedented in the history of the state and undoubtedly changed the narrative of the state development.
Therefore, going by an objective and comparative analysis of the track record of integrity,selflessness, and patriotism between Comrade Governor Nasir Idris and the former Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, in addition to their individual antecedent, it can be concluded that the former Minister being prosecuted is no match to the Comrade Governor in the 2027 elections.
It should be understood that the people of Kebbi State are wiser and know the difference between a leader who built his name through services to humanity and a man whose name is now synonymous with forfeiture notices in the National Dairlies.
The ADC in Kebbi is a strange platform assembled personal ambition.
Its candidate is not a threat but a lesson in what happens when public office is mistaken for private enterprise.
Therefore, in 2027, the people of Kebbi State will choose continuity, integrity, and proven capacity.
Comrade Governor Nasir Idris Kauran Gwandu is the answer.
Zuru is Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy to Kebbi State Governor
