Professor Yemi Osinbajo has emerged from obscurity to become a household name in Nigeria. As a runing mate to the first candidate to defeat an incumbent President in a free and fair election, he is certainly a prominent figure in a historic government.
At a lunch in Africa House in Kano last Saturday, I had my first close encounter with him. He has been on the road, going places, since he and President Muhammadu Buhari were sworn into office on May 29th. It is just as well that he came to Kano in these early days of their ascendancy to power.
Kano is not an ordinary State in the politics of Nigeria. It has the highest population of all the 36 states. In the last Presidential election, it gave the Buhari /Osinbajo tag a whooping 1.9 million votes, the highest they got in any state.
Historically, Kano was founded by Kano, a blacksmith of the Gaya tribe who in ancient times came to Dalla Hill in search of iron. It was selected as the capital of the Hausa state of Kano in (1095–1134). After the Jihad (1804–07), the city was chosen to be the capital of an emirate centred on the city. Later still when the British colonized what they called the Northern Protectorate, they enhanced the status of Kano as a center of administration by making it the capital of the protectorate until this was shifted to Kaduna.
Kano was also a vortex of international trade and received kola nuts from Ghana; salt from the Sahara; slaves from the Bauchi and Adamawa emirates; natron from Lake Chad; and sword blades, weaponry, silk, spices, perfumes, and books brought from Europe by the trans-Saharan camel caravans in return for Hausa leather work, cloth, and metal wares. British forces captured the city in 1903 opening the railway from Lagos in 1912 hence changing the direction of trade south to the Gulf of Guinea.
Even though Kano was made famous as an international trading center, it also developed a bubbling industrial base which retained its prosperity up to the 80’s. The industrial districts of Sharada, Bompaietc were churning out textiles, knit fabrics, tents, bedding, foam rubber products, clothing, and cosmetics among others while heavy industries manufactured asbestos, cement, concrete blocks, metal structural products, bicycles, automobiles, trucks and chemicals, products that could compete with those from any part of the world.
Sadly, the Kano of today is not the good old Kano I knew and enjoyed – forty, thirty years ago. Certainly it has lost the allure and the innocence that attracted young men with their dreams, ideas and skills from all over Nigeria and abroad. Frequent social upheavals – beginning from the Maitatsine uprising of 1980, have scared away alot of skilled manpower from Kano. The industrial districts now look like grave yards.
Still, apart from the huge votes it offers, Kano remains a significant town to Osinbajo. At the Lunch, speaker after speaker referred to the state as the first home of his principal, President Buhari. In his speech, Osinbajo himself said Buhari had given him some secret assignments to carry out while in Kano.
But what took the Vice President to Kano in the first instance? We shall return to that in a moment.
In 1980, the far sighted Governor of the State, Abubakar Rimi established a newspaper he called the Triumph. He appointed Rasheed Haroun Adamu as the founding Managing Director. Rasheed came to town with a rich profile from the Daily Times, the most successful newspaper in Nigeria and Africa at the time. He did a good job of his appointment by assemblying brilliant younger journalists to start the paper.
Mallam Abba Dabo his successor also came with a rich background as a former Editor from the New Nigerian and Chief Press Secretary to Shehu Shagari. He continued in the tradition Rasheed. It was Abba who brought to Triumph Kabiru Yusuf who has made history as the first Northerner to start and run a successful newspaper in a terrain littered with dead publications, including the ones started by yours sincerely. By all standards, both local and global, the Trust newspapers are a huge success. Abba brought in Ujudud Sherif who rose quickly to become a Commissioner in the Kano state cabinet at a very youthful age.
Abba dragged me to Kano from Kaduna. At the time, I was “protesting and screaming” as he frequently puts it when we meet these days. Ironically, it was in Kano I first attained the office of Editor in my turbulent and itinerant life as a reporter. Today I have fond memories of Kano; have some of my best friends from there.
The Lunch attended by Osinbajo last Saturday was put together in honour of Garba Shehu, an exceedingly brilliant journalist and public relations guru who came to Triumph while Abba presided. He took over from me as acting Editor of Sunday Triumph when I left in continuation of my itinerant professional life to work with the Gongola State government. He stayed on, becoming the Editor of Daily Triumph, Editor in Chief and finally the Managing Director of the company.
The Lunch in his honour was well attended by the invited and univited. Hosted by Dr Umar Ganduje the Governor of Kano State, it was chaired by Dr Maitama Sule, Nigeria’s former Ambassador at the United Nations. Mr Dan Agbese, the co founder of Newswatch Magazine delivered a talk on Media – Government Relations. The chairman described Garba as “a journalist, a special journalist – a dependable man of integrity and loyalty”. Osibanjo himself said he has an abiding attraction to Garba Shehu for his ability to speak the truth to power.
Ironically the event was kidnapped from friends of Garba Shehu – his Triumph old boys – who muted the idea of hosting him. Once Governor Ganduje heard of it, he hijacked it and extended an invitation to the VP who surprised all by turning up. It turned out to be a huge successful PR for Osinbajo for as revealed by Chairman Maitama Yusuf, it was him who made it possible for the Kano people to get the huge pay off from Pfizer.
Still, Garba Shehu remains a toast and pride of the Triumph old boys. There are many media icons in the group: Kabiru Yusuf, Chairman Trust Media, Baba Dantiye, former President Nigerian Guild of Editors, Sani Zorro, former President, Nigerian Union of Journalists NUJ, Garba Mohammed, immediate past President, NUJ and present Commissioner for Information Kano State. There are many more.
Sadly, Triumph itself is as good as dead. Here lies the challenge to the Triumph old boys. [myad]
