By Aliyu Isa Aliyu, Ph.D
When you talk with typical APC members in Kano, many still believe that even if His Excellency Governor Abba K Yusuf wins the 2027 election, they will โrig him out,โ forgetting that only the Almighty determines outcomes, not any human being. Many of them in Kano are living in a dilemma.
You see, election rigging is only possible when the margin is small. I can tell you confidently that 2027 will not be like previous elections. The margin will be far bigger than they can ever imagine. The people who will stand with His Excellency Governor Abba are genuine voters who will protect their votes and ensure that their votes count.
Every single day, His Excellency is gaining more support and admiration from the good people of Kano because of the gigantic human-capital development projects he is rolling out across the state. The people of Kano are tired of the previous leadership. They spent eight years destroying the stateโneglecting education, neglecting health, ignoring pension reforms, and much more.
It can be recalled that His Excellency Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso established 26 entrepreneurship institutes in Kano to train youths across various sectors to become self-reliant. Unfortunately, the APC administration under His Excellency Ganduje closed down all the institutes, allowed them to dilapidate, and abandoned the vision. Today, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has revitalized them. In the last one year alone, these institutes have trained over 2,000 beneficiaries, with many more currently undergoing training and receiving post-training empowerment packages to become self-reliant. As I write this, an additional 1,000 women across the 44 LGAs are receiving training in the various institutes.
One major harm done by the last administration was abandoning the 5 km road projects across each of the 44 LGAs initiated by the Kwankwaso administration. Now, Governor Abba is championing their completion, and some have already been commissioned. Another serious mistake was the politicization of the state civil service. Apart from failing to pay workersโ salaries on time, the administration was notorious for fraudulent deductions that left civil servants unsure of their actual monthly payโthey simply accepted whatever they saw.
Recall how they vandalized the entire IGR system, which they handled terribly. Kano generated an average of โฆ43.5 billion IGR in 2022 before Ganduje left. But the current administration under Governor Abba has been able to increase the IGR to about โฆ74.77 billion in 2024โan increase of nearly 57%. We can boldly say that today is better than yesterday.
In the coming weeks, His Excellency will take a giant step toward strategically neutralizing the opposition across all 44 LGAsโnot through confrontation, but through a well-planned approach that will be revealed at the right time.
May Allah continue to guide His Excellency.