Potentials of a Sanusi-El-Rufai-Kwankwaso political alignment
By Iliyasu Gadu
Perhaps one of the unintended consequences of the dethronement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as Emir of Kano by the Abdullahi Ganduje administration in Kano State is to create the conditions for a potential game changing political alliance of the deposed Emir Sanusi, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
As the North is gearing up for a distinct possibility of political uncertainty with the inevitable exit of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023, and as the ramparts of the current political order in the country are gradually coming asunder under the weight of irreconcilable contradictions, a probable Sanusi-El-Rufai-Kwankwaso political combination is guaranteed to make heavy political waves in the country.
For one, the trio share similar views about the political and socio-economic situation in the North and the country at large. For another, they all have been having run-ins with the established political and social order in the North.
They are outspoken, ambitious, resource endowed, well connected, former or present holders of powerful positions in government and cannot wait to carve their own niche in the political stakes of the country. In short, they belong to the category of “young Turks” in Nigerian politics.
The obvious cat’s paw of the trio is Nasir El-Rufai, the Kaduna State governor. It was he alone among the top political figures in the country who made the most ostentatious efforts to offer the deposed Emir a shoulder to lean on.
Before the ink had dried on the paper that the Kano State government had written the deposition order, El Rufai had given Emir Sanusi two appointments in quick succession; vice president of a Kaduna state economic agency and subsequently Chancellor of the Kaduna State University.
He also undertook a solidarity visit to the deposed Emir Sanusi to Awe in Nasarawa State where he was first banished. And after the banishment was quashed by a court order, he was on hand to accompany Emir Sanusi on his flight to Lagos where he now resides.
El Rufai’s actions are both charitable and political. On one hand he deserves commendation for his loyalty to a friend in his travails and on another, his action seeks to demonstrate a devil-may-care defiance to those in the northern political establishment who may have sought to give Emir Sanusi his comeuppance.
And quite tellingly El-Rufai in showing the middle finger to these category of people by his actions, intended to let them know that he is determined to chart his own political course regardless.
– Daily Trust
