A look into Ganduje’s appointments

Also published in Daily Trust

(Note: the last two paragraphs were edited out from the version published in the newspaper. Below is the full version.)

     

While President Muhammadu Buhari continues to adopt cost-cutting measures in his reform policies including the pattern of his appointments, it increasingly appears that not many states of the federation are actually committed to follow suit after all. This is even though they are particularly affected by the persistent financial crisis resulting from the falling crude oil prices in international markets, being almost entirely dependent on their monthly statutory allocations from the federation account.

In Kano state for instance, the several religion related appointments and reappointments recently made by the state governor; Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje cast doubt on his administration’s commitment to cut cost. These appointments reveal how tasks that are basically of the same nature hence are supposed to be handled by a single government body were however split up into different units each unit being handled by a probably already overstaffed substantive commission or board headed and/or overseen by two or more top government officials, which ironically isn’t the case even in the state’s ministries that oversee several major government agencies and departments.

Though Kano state Shari’a Commission is supposed be the only body responsible for handling religion-related government functions e.g. Hisbah, Zakkah, Hubsi, Shura affairs etc, actually each of these units functions as a substantive commission or board.

Starting with the Shari’a Commission itself for instance, it has Bashir Tijjani Usman Zangon Barebari as Chairman, Imam Abubakar Umar Kandahar as Permanent Commissioner I and AbdulGafar Nasiru Labaran as Permanent Commissioner II. Obviously, with no justifiable functions to perform, since the units it supposed to oversee equally function as substantive commissions, it’s clear that these appointments are absolutely unnecessary.

Also, Zakkah/Hubsi Commission has Sheikh Usman Makwarari as Chairman, Mukhtar Abubakar Dangoggo as Permanent Commissioner I, Muhammad Nazifi Inuwa as Permanent Commissioner II and Safiyanu I. Abubakar as Director-General.

Moreover, Hisba Board has Shehi Shehi Maihula as Chairman, Malam Aminu Daurawa as Commander-General, Dr. Maigida Kachako as Deputy Commander-General, Barrister Nabahani Usman as Deputy Commander-General (Special services), Zahra’u M. Yusuf as Deputy Commander-General and Malam Abba Yusuf Sufi as Director General.

I really wonder what exactly warranted or even just justified the creation of a substantive commission for Zakkah and Hubsi, and indeed the appointment of chairman, two permanent commissioners and director-general to purportedly handle and/or oversee its operations, even though its operations depend entirely on the amount of Zakkah, Hubsi and other charitable donations it expects to receive from individuals in order to distribute it to the needy in the society. Besides, only a few people among the few who can afford to give out Zakat in the society do actually take their Zakats to the commission, as most of them prefer to give it out directly.

Similarly, even though Hisbah Board is relatively the most active and effective among all the Shari’a-related government bodies despite the fact that its mission has unfortunately been considerably bastardized, which resulted in practically turning its members into gloried vigilantes and traffic officers, the number of top government officials appointed to handle and oversee its operations is simply disproportionate.

In the same vein, Kano State Film Censorship Board is chaired by Sheikh Bazallahi Nasiru Kabara while his elder brother, Sheikh Karibullah Nasiru Kabara serves as Chairman, Shura Council, which is an advisory council of many equally government-appointed individuals from among the elite in the state. By the way, considering the functions of the State Assembly and the other relevant institutions in the state, one wonders what the Shura Council is expected to achieve that justifies its creation in the first place.

Anyway, obviously like his predecessors who have pursued and indeed immensely benefitted from politically motivated manipulation of religion, governor Ganduje, who, barring any unforeseen circumstances, will almost certainly seek reelection in 2019, is probably following suit. After all, ever since the political annihilation of the main opposition party in the state i.e. the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), during the general election earlier this year in which he emerged as governor, the political terrain was cleared for him to govern the state practically unopposed.

Nevertheless, he apparently realizes the fact that, given the indomitable influence of religion in Kano politics, and in the absence of any formidable opposition from the PDP in the state, the only possible source of worry for him is the possible manipulation of religion for political purposes, which his political opponents could resort to, especially in view of the vast experience of the main opposition leader in the state and former Kano state governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, in this regard, and indeed his unrivaled skills in playing religious politics.

This probably explains his (i.e. governor Ganduje’s) deliberate strategy to preempt this potential political threat by, among other things, directly or indirectly engaging and accommodating as many influential clerics as possible, while his political promoters never fail to flaunt his antecedents in religious works and, of course, his Khadimul-Islam title. It also explains the pattern of such appointments in which he clearly seeks to secure and maintain the support of both the Sufi and the Sunni/Salafi clerics in the state.

In any case, though this strategy isn’t uncommon in politics despite being morally unjustified, governor Ganduje should convert these bodies into departments within the Shari’a Commission, retain the minimum number of officials to handle it and exclude the commission, its operations and appointments from his political calculations.