By Sam Omatseye
The terrible thing about Rabiu Kwakwanso is that he wants to be Aminu Kano.
But he does not think like him, talk like him, organize like him and, more importantly, perform like him. He is an imitation, even self-mockery of the Talakawa hero.
He likes to believe he is a man of the people. But he is like Chinua Achebe’s M.A. Nanga in A Man of The People. Just as we have false prophets and fake products, we also have false inheritors. So, his Kwakwansiya movement is not a movement of ideas but of sentiment.
The people want an Aminu Kano rebirth, a new ferment like of old, so we have impostors trying to exploit it.
Now he wants to fight Lagos with his platform. He said Lagos wants to colonise Kano. He is not ashamed to say so. He is attacking the new tax proposals and the emir as the permutations to overthrow Kano. Pity for him. Let him analyse the tax proposal and tell where it colonises Kano. Kano is supposed to be the commerce hub of the north. It has fallen out of that orbit.
He never helped it in his over 16 years in government. If he is fighting the tax policy, it is because he wants to reap where he did not sow. His rant is a confession of failure more than a complaint, fearmongering more than love of his people. Recently, the young rioted and was emboldened by his Governor Abba Yusuf.
It backfired as they almost overturned the Government House. Rather than rant over tax, let him pay attention to his neighbour in Kaduna who is installing economic infrastructure for the future. Governor Uba Sani said the north should not lie to itself and its people but do something about it. Kwakwanso is blaming others. His governor Yusuf wants to make the north an enemy of the president because the president wants justice for Talakawa, not vampire elites like Kwakwanso.
Kwakwanso seeks a feudal tax system.
The Arewa Consultative Forum’s chairman was suspended because of the move to try a coalition against the president. He wanted to make it North versus South, and that shows that they brought their cards too early. Who is behind the ACF chair’s error? Why can’t Rabiu and Yusuf reverse the suspension? Enough of Kwakwanso being a Nigerian first. He is not even a Talakawa man. He is their cynical exploiter.
Culled from The Nation
