Like Lagos, Kano remains a significant bloc  in any political permutation in the Country. With population estimated at over 10 million according to the 2006 census, and 44 Local Government Areas, any political earthquake in the State reverberates  across  beyond its borders.

In this light, the  rise and rise of Gandujiyya Akidda ideology at the expense of crumbling Kwankwasiyya Amana  is bound to have domino effect. Political observers believe that Kano former governor, Senator Rabi’u Kwankwaso by taking on his political associate of over sixteen years who now wields power, miscalculated.  ‘Power is no respecter of persons’ they submit.

Could  it be power intoxication that  pushed  Sen. Kwankwaso  to dare   his successor, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje ?. Maybe, power intoxicates.  And it appears Nigeria’s political elite loses their bearing after a sip. Indeed, they hunger to remain perpetually in power, by proxy or otherwise.

Else what would a man who has exhausted the constitutional limit of eight years as governor still be seeking in the governorship seat?

Of course, Sen. Kwankwaso would not be the first former governor or the last who dreams that his place as godfather is assured if he ‘installs’ his successor.

Former governors, Orji Uzor Kalu and Ali Modu Sheriff respectively of Abia and Borno States learnt the hard way. After ‘installing’ their puppets in office, the governors, Theodore Orji, formerly of Abia and Kashim Shettima of Borno resisted playing puppets and fought their so-called godfathers to a standstill. They returned for  second term  and sent their godfathers into political wilderness.

Predictably, Kwankwaso would lose out in the tussle for supremacy between him and Gov. Ganduje.  A little introspection on his part  would have  shown  that he would gain more by remaining in the good books of Gov. Ganduje, than tussling  with him.

Come 2019, Gov. Ganduje would have consolidated his power base and may easily return for a second term, all things being equal. As Chief Executive of the State, and leader of the party in the State, the only way he could lose out would be by non-performance.

Kwankwaso on the other hand has had his day in the sun. No matter his influence, he would be facing a big fight in 2019 especially if his presidential aspiration remains alive. He would be fighting on so many fronts

The Ganduje versus Kwankwaso tussle began almost immediately the former was sworn in as governor. Accusations and counter accusations were traded. The two principal actors initially denied anything was amiss, but soon it became a macabre dance in the marketplace.

Absurdity and sycophancy crept in when   a former Special Assistant to Sen. Kwankwaso on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Sharu  Gwammaja  dared   Gov. Ganduje to  remove his red cap.

Gwammaja boastfully offered to buy the governor’s red cap at the cost of N1million, saying “if Governor Ganduje can remove his red cap today, I will buy it for N1million.”

The red cap symbolises  Kwankwasiyya,  the political mass  movement founded by Sen. Kwankwaso  to aid  his governorship re-election in 2011. The cap was formerly adopted on May 29, 2011 during the swearing in of Kwankwaso for a second term. Worn with white garment and black shoes, it soon became the dress code for his loyalists, virtually replacing the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP flag.

While Gov. Ganduje and followers ignored Gwammaja who spoke in April this year, Kwankwaso’s loyalists persisted. Recently, Gwammaja, now chairman of Hannun Karba, Hannun Rikewa, a wing of the movement made actual threats.

While addressing a press conference at the NUJ Press Centre in Kano, in commemoration of the 60th birthday of Kwankwaso and 6th anniversary of the movement, he said: “Earlier, we have offered the governor the sum of N1m to remove his cap and he failed to do so. Now, we are giving him 48 hours to either remove the red cap which is a symbol of Kwankwasiyya or we will drag him to court. He has deviated from the ideology of Kwankwasiyya and it is high time he stops wearing our symbol”

Does the Kwankwasiyya movement own the copyright to the red cap?  Certainly not. Only hypocrisy and sycophantic posturing could have driven Gwammaja so far.

From Gov. Ganduje’s camp  came swift reaction: The Kano State Commissioner for Information, Youths, Sports and Culture, Alhaji Mohammed Garba dismissed  the  threat of legal action against the governor as  most ‘’laughable, pathetic and a clear indication of the ignorance of the members of the movement of law and history of political struggle in Kano”.

‘’The red cap” says  Alh. Garba, was introduced by late Malam Aminu Kano and popularized by him, his followers and disciples  and Ganduje was among them.

“Ganduje was at the forefront of its re-introduction during the second tenure of Kwankwaso in 2011. Who then could better claim the red cap doctrine?” he queried.

‘’’Gov, Ganduje’s decision  to continue wearing the red cap was nothing but a personal choice and manifestation of his high sense of decency, decorum, responsibility, modesty and political astuteness.

“…..The statement and empty threat should have been backed by citing the exact provisions of the constitution, any statute, law or rules and regulations that were breached by the governor for his action, for it to hold any water, particularly in a court of law,” he challenged them.

So far, 34  out of the 38 members of the Kano State House of Assembly led by the Speaker, Hon Kabiru Alhassan Rurum,  several  local government area chairmen, and other party officials in the State have stopped wearing the symbolic red cap in solidarity with the governor. A blue cap  has since been introduced to replace the red one.

Are the days numbered for Kwankwasiyya Amana ideology in Kano? Yes, says the Special Adviser to Gov. Ganduje on Print Media, Alh. Bala Salihu Kudu.

‘’Plans had been concluded to do away with anything connected with the Kwansiyya ideology. As far as we are concerned, we are definitely going to dump it because it has no political benefit. We are now talking about the Gandujiyya Akida ideology, which we are entrenching’’.

Kudu explains that Gandujiyya  Akidda means: “ Unshakable belief in certain issues that will be beneficial to the common man and the people of Kano State.

“It is a political ideology that has direct bearing on the people, their needs and aspirations as far as governance and distribution of democratic dividends are concerned”

The rapidly rising profile of Gandujiyya indicates that Gov. Ganduje is not fazed by the brickbats flying to and fro.“We will play politics when that time comes. His Excellency, Gov Ganduje is working now.

“Gov Ganduje remains focussed on delivering democracy dividends to Kano people. From less than N800 million internally generated revenue, he has since boosted Kano’s IGR to N3 billion. He has not only kept faith to his promise  of continuing the projects and policies of his predecessor, he is now moving on to conceptualisation and consolidation of his own projects and policies’’ says Garba.

Icheku is an Abuja-based journalist and public affairs commentator. He can be reached at toni.icheku@gmail.com. [myad]

The other room is the most important room in the home and in any woman’s life. Every woman knows that. So, don’t mind those who are pretending to be holier than the sacred sanctuary. It’s okay to have powers in and over the other rooms, but a woman who does not know how to wield the influence derivable and derived from the other room is indeed a powerless woman.
Yes, the powers of the boardroom is plenty power. But what is the power of the boardroom without the power of the bedroom? At best, the power of the boardroom is transient. It is power that can be wrested from your hands in one board meeting. It is power you can be suspended or retired from. Without your entitlements too! But the real influence of the other room is sweet, and long-lasting. Even when a woman gets promoted to the position of a first wife, she only shares that power with the new entrant, she does not have to relinquish it altogether. There would still be things the new wife will not happen on or know just because she knows how to apply her make-up. A woman who has lived with her man for 20 straight years most certainly know where all the buttons are on that body and how to insert the right keys to open the right doors. A new wife, yes, knows how to manipulate current ring-back tunes and his caller tunes because the man was sneaking in at weekends to chop-and-clean-mouth, it is the licensed owner of the other room who knows how to wake the giant up from the deepest slumber. But let’s not wait too long at that bus stop.
Moving on, every woman must know and use the power of the other room. It is the power you hold tightly, girls. You sit tight on it. It is not democratic power. It is monarchical. You hold on to it until death do you part. Oh yes.
A friend once told me how she used to do extra duty on her husband any time he announced he was going to be working late or going for a management retreat out of town. She would do an all-nighter in the other room. She would coax him up and ensure he gave a good account of himself the night before. Then she would ice the cake with a long-drawn-out dawn work-out in the morning and then let him leave the other room, spent and thoroughly used. She knew ‘bros’ was a strong man but when a man has been thoroughly dealt with at night and in the morning, the ‘conference materials’ will have to do more than struggle to wake the giant up. Right. If you ask me, every wife of every busy man should give their men a good work-out in the other room to ensure the guys have less wild oats to sow. Get some of the juice for yourself. How smart can you claim to be if you clean a gun for hours, load it with bullets, cock it and then you let him go shoot it somewhere else? Babe, you are all the shooting range he needs. Let him practice all he wants in the other room.
Talking about shooting range, too many women voluntarily retire from the other room and still expect to continue to wield influence over ‘oga’. It does not make sense. You are either in the other room or you are outside it. No woman can stay outside that powerful room and remain powerful. That is why I said that this matter is not a democracy. You have no term or tenure. Play your politics right and stay put. Do whatever you need to do. It is a war and all is fair in war. Play fair only when it suits you. When you need to go the extra mile to keep your place and ‘oga’ in the other room, plaster a designer smile on your face and do what you need to do. Just remind yourself of your wedding vows and what the holy books say…
But is the other room the only room of influence? Some say the kitchen is also important. They underscore that with one suspicious saying: the best way to a man’s heart is through the stomach. Seriously? I do not buy that line. Fine, they told us all kinds of things when we were getting married but the things we have all learnt on the job are unquantifiable.  Who drew the map that linked the stomach of a man to his heart? Let us be sincere, that kind of road network is suspect. What kind of geography is that? And if you still doubt that kitchen theory, ask why wives, women employ cooks and house-helps for the kitchen and no woman wants to be helped in the other room. Ah ah, my point exactly. The superior room is the other room. Everybody is welcome in the kitchen. The other room? No.
A lot of work, of course, goes into keeping your space in the other room. Plenty of sweat and long nights. No woman should let all that go to waste, after all, the bible said that we shall eat the fruit of our labour. Whatever cannot be fixed in the other rooms must find solution in the other room. Whatever a babe can’t fix through her man’s stomach, she must fix behind closed doors. Whatever argument a woman can’t win with long logic in the living room, she must take to the other room for final adjudication. You see, it is in that room, only in the other room, that a woman gets to play judge and jury. It is one place where a woman can baptize her husband, pray for him and God watches you both and clap and smile and say, well done, my daughter. See how divinely appointed the other room is!
From the choice of which schools a woman wants the children to attend to where she wants him to acquire property and when and holiday destinations, a little extra work in the other room can lessen the hours spent on arguments. Being extra nice to your man in the other room, if you get my meaning, will make his cantankerous sister less influential. Paying more attention to his sensitive buttons will make him less antagonistic to your Christmas budget. New tricks, new techniques may work better when you want more house keeping allowance than the logic of falling naira and rising dollars.
But I must warn that the other room is a room of strategy that must be used strategically. It is a room you can enjoy every day but the powers therein must be deployed strategically and with tons of wisdom otherwise the advantage will be lost. If the power in this room is not handled smartly and intelligently, it may be misinterpreted as blackmail.  A man must not be deprived of what he paid for, even if he paid in installments. You cannot withhold from him his entitlements. Just rev it up, keep it warm and some times, serve it so hot he begins to speak a foreign language.
Whatever you do, never ever forget that the other room is the most superior room and that only smart women know how to deploy the power therein. [myad]