It is evident from his periodic outbursts that Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the one-time governor of Kano State, suffers a certain paranoia. He relapses into hate displays whenever the Igbo are mentioned. He just cannot manage that ailment. He always betrays deep feelings of resentment and, sometimes, rage whenever he encounters any issue that touches on that ethnic nationality.
His recent needless outburst over what was supposed to be a friendly negotiation between two political parties can be traced to this ingrained malaise. Why did Kwankwaso fly into rage over the suggestion that he should be vice presidential candidate to Peter Obi? If his party, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Peter Obi’s Labour Party (LP) could not agree on which party should produce the presidential candidate, shouldn’t the matter have ended there? Why did Kwankwaso have to deride the Igbo on account of this? The simple explanation for this is prejudice. Kwankwaso is hooked to an unfriendly mindset about the Igbo. The failed alliance talks between LP and NNPP just provided him another opportunity to rake up muck. The incident threw up the flagellation he desperately needed to insult the Igbo. And he let out his bottled feelings freely.
To ensure that he latches on the incident to inflict maximum damage to his imagined adversaries, Kwankwaso gave a thousand reasons why he cannot be vice presidential candidate to Obi. As someone with an exaggerated sense of self, he began to roll out his credentials. In his delusions of greatness, he began to place himself over and above everyone else. He said he has been everything in politics and cannot, therefore, serve as anybody’s second-in-command.
Nobody disputed his bogus claims. Nobody joined issues with him. Yet, he was not satisfied. He did not leave the matter there. He must drive his point home with condescending superiority. Not done yet, Kwankwaso began to mock Obi and his Igbo ethnic group for aspiring to the presidency of Nigeria. Seized by a fit of bad temper, he vent his spleen freely. He queried what looked to him like audaciousness on the part of the Igbo. Why did this people think they can be President of Nigeria? He said the Igbo do not have the numbers that can win the presidency for them. He also said the Igbo are at the bottom of politics in Nigeria and, therefore, incapable of ascending the presidential throne. He told all who cared to listen that the North will not vote for Obi or any other southeastern candidate in the 2023 presidential election. According to Kwankwaso, the North will always vote for one of their own, not for an Igbo. This is naked spite on display. It is condescension of the highest order.
For Kwankwaso, the Igbo do not matter in Nigerian politics. That was why he said he was offering Obi a “golden opportunity” to be his vice. He told the Igbo that they will lose everything if Obi does not grab the “golden opportunity” with both hands. That was deluded Kwankwaso at play.
But Kwankwaso’s anti-Igbo campaign has not just begun. He has been trailing that ignoble path for decades. It should be recalled that the one-time governor flew off the handle when Festus Odimegwu, as the chairman of the National Population Commission, remarked that Nigeria had never conducted a credible census since Independence. Odimegwu said he would correct that anomaly. Odimegwu, to all intents and purposes, was desirous of doing the right thing. But his remarks about the country’s past national headcount unsettled Kwankwaso. He railed to no end over the innocuous comment. To drive home his point, he demanded that Odimegwu be removed from office, else the North would boycott any census conducted under his chairmanship. President Goodluck Jonathan, who was always ready and willing to please the North, caved in. Odimegwu was removed from office.
Since then, Kwankwaso has continued to act in ways and manners that suggest that he has an axe to grind with the Igbo. He was quick to associate Obi and the Igbo elite with the separatist agitation by the Indigenous People of Biafra because it fits into the mound of his cheap blackmail for the Igbo. Maybe someone should remind Kwankwaso that the quest for self-determination is not a crime. What could constitute a problem is the method employed in the agitation. Those who genuinely aspire to lead Nigeria and take it out of the issues that are fuelling agitation in parts of the country do not see separatist agitators as criminals. Rather, they make effort to undersutand the issues in contention with a view to dealing with them at the appropriate time. But the Kwankwasos of northern Nigeria will do none of that. It is their right to ascribe right or wrong to the actions of their fellow citizens.
But after all the irascible displays by Kwankwaso, we cannot but ask: is Kwankwaso in contention for the 2023 presidency? The truth is that he is not. He is not a factor in the 2023 calculations, yet he wants to force his way into reckoning. But that is a futile exercise. Nigerians know those who are in serious contention for the 2023 presidential seat. Kwankwaso is not one of them. But he wants to be noticed at all cost.
Kwankwaso and his cohorts are the reason Nigeria is where it is today. How can a country make progress with the level of intolerance and disdain that Kwankwaso and his likes visit on Nigerians of other ethnic stock? How, for instance, does Kwankwaso want the Igbo to feel about his crude and hateful remarks about them? Should they applaud him for telling them that there is a glass ceding, which they cannot go beyond in their own country? Kwankwaso may not care about how anybody feels in this matter. But he should know that he does not qualify, given his chauvinistic tendencies, to preside over the affairs of Nigeria.
All that he is interested in is promotion of hate and division. He does not mind pitting the South East against the North. That is why he drummed the falsehood that the North will not vote for Obi or any southeasterner into their ears. He wants Obi’s people to begin to resent the North. This is blatant incitement. Only an unpatriotic citizen who does not care about the peace and progress of his country will deliberately incite one part against the other. Ultimately, Kwankwaso spoke for himself. His position is certainly not that of the generality of the North.