The face-off between the Presidency and the Kano State government over the installation of the former Central Bank Governor,  Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the Emir of Kano is far from over as 50 policemen withdrawn from the Government House in the wake of the crisis, are yet to be returned to the governor.

Kwankwaso was alleged to have favoured Sanusi at the expense of the son of the late Ado Bayero who appeared the people’s choice. The protests in Kano shortly after Sanusi was announced was seen as a pointer to the claim that late emir’s son was preferred by the people.



But Sanusi who had battles with the Presidency over his allegations of missing oil money was installed and the Presidency was said to have frowned at the Kano State Governor. It was at the time that 75 policemen were withdrawn from the state out of which only 25 returned. The governor has said that the action would not help policing the state well in these times of insecurity. In his opinion, withdrawing the policemen amounted to  victimisation.

Speaking on his government, Kwankwaso also said that he abolished the Office of the First Lady as well as the operation of Security Vote in the state to reduce the cost of governance.

Kwankwaso had cried out over threat to his life when the policemen were withdrawn and asked Nigerians to hold the Presidency responsible if anything happened to him and his family.

Kwankwaso lamented in an interview with Saturday Vanguard that even after the avoidable crisis over the installation of Sanusi had waned, the Federal Government was yet to return the policemen taken away from the Government House. The governor said he was shocked that the central government was still holding onto the 50 policemen who were posted to protect lives and property of the people of the state at a time when insecurity was assuming a frightening dimension in the North.

His words, “But we have moved on as a people. However, since that incident, out of the 75 policemen we had, they have only returned 25 to us. These are some of the issues that made me to change my mind and support state police.’’

On why there was no ‘’Office of  the First Lady,’’ in Kano to enable his wife to perform some roles, Kwankwaso said the office was a duplication of the work of the Women Affairs Ministry and therefore not needed in his state.

According to him, the abolition of that office in his state had enabled him to save huge amount of money for the development of other sectors in the area.

“We know that   a lot of money is being spent in that office elsewhere but we in Kano believe strongly that whatever the first lady should do is what the Ministry of Women Affairs is doing and there is therefore no need to duplicate such functions.

“We just need a good commissioner to do the job and manage her home well. That is what we are doing here and everybody is happy.

“Our families do not go to ministries or go to bother any commissioner. And I do not encourage any member of our family to go visiting commissioners and other government officials so that we do not run into crisis.

“By the time your wife begins to benefit from a particular commissioner- whether good or bad- that commissioner  will appear the best in the government.

By the time your wife tells you 100 times at the right time about the commissioner, you will be forced to believe her. So such things are better avoided.”

Kwankwaso also stressed that he had abolished security vote in the state to ensure transparency and accountability in the management of public funds as according to him, ‘’Security Vote is money that governors and other public figures collect without accounting for,’’ which encourages corruption; hence we abolished the practice, when we discovered that it was a conduit pipe for siphoning funds.

The governor said: “That is also why we don’t operate security vote in Kano State. Whatever we want to buy, we write it in black and white to show clearly where it is going and what it is used for.

“Otherwise we have seen a situation here where in four years certain persons collected over N10 billion under the name of Reciprocal Arrangement http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/10/sanusis-emirship-kwankwaso-accuses-presidency-victimisation/

Agreed

On why there was no ‘’Office of  the First Lady,’’ in Kano to enable his wife to perform some roles, Kwankwaso said the office was a duplication of the work of the Women Affairs Ministry and therefore not needed in his state.

According to him, the abolition of that office in his state had enabled him to save huge amount of money for the development of other sectors in the area.

“We know that   a lot of money is being spent in that office elsewhere but we in Kano believe strongly that whatever the first lady should do is what the Ministry of Women Affairs is doing and there is therefore no need to duplicate such functions

God bless Mallam Kwankwaso, the Best Governor in this dispensation and one of the Best Administrator in Nigeri's history. You Sir, shall play important role in the new APC government in 2015.

barcanista:
God bless Mallam Kwankwaso, the Best Governor in this dispensation and one of the Best Administrator in Nigeri's history. You Sir, shall play important role in the new APC government in 2015.

jargon

On one Hand I respect him for his Fiscal Discipline(low cost of governance) and his courage in challenging the Ruling Party! However does he need 75 Policemen to Protect Him? I expected him to have even dismissed 20 outta the 25 left and make do with 5 Policemen and the DSS Guyz!
It would have slapped the FG Further and been a Wake -Up call to other Governors!