Sir,
You recall your infamous ‘likimo’ saga which emanates from people’s outcry of why you usually sleep while attending functions. Many pictures from various events were gathered and circulated, showing you deep asleep as it looks. This prompt your response using likimo as a prelude to mitigate the very many harsh reaction of complains against your uncontrollable sleeping pattern which was unexpected of a governor. This gave rise to my thesis that ‘Likimo’ as it looks, is only a new political concept of betrayals laced with subtle maglomatic hunt for power, abandonment of partners and embracing of new bridal friends that quickly rise to scoop from the plate of our sweat. I believe here I must take you through this theory for you to fully understand the efficacy of my postulations, one of which is one of the questions raised, why must betrayal be part of the books of likimo politics ? .
Please note that my letter is not a brief, but an expression of anger housed in the dungeon of our hearts. And as victims of the barbarity of likimo politics, we believed to have possessed the equality of right to feel grieved from the wickedness of this new political concept that promotes machination as a second principle of political sagacity.
As the publicity secretary of ‘Bandirawo Amana Kwankwasiyya’ organization, the first, main and only organization that kick started and railroad the campaign for your election as the APC governorship aspirant in the primary election of 2015, this was ofcourse before you become the candidate for the governorship election. As you know, the fight for political supremacy is embedded within an ability to organise people, an ability we actively utilized at the grassroots level through our various campaign programs of which one of such activity was a house to house campaign headed by the state woman leader of this great organization and complimented by our various Zonal and local government and wards women leaders.
As an organization that have championed and worked for your selection as the governorship aspirant in the primary election and subsequently as the substantive governor of our great state, we expected too much but got nothing. Got nothing in the sense that we were later relegated to an obscure position that we felt betrayed and humiliated by your unfulfilled promises to our organization. These promises were made by you before us, this is before the primary election and the various audio and video clips which you testify to have listen to as you announced during one of our visit, especially those recorded during our round trips of setting up the organization’s structure within the 44 local government of our state.
You are a witness to our roaming the 44 local government on your behalf, knocking all doors, soliciting for people’s understanding to vote for you for the sake of continuity, we believed our act may trigger even development to our state.
Your recognition of our campaign rallies become evident when you first invited and sat with us in kano state government house. Your minding support at the time further energies and motivates our resolve to stick with the mantra. You said, “Ku dinnan da gaske kukeyi, kuci gaba tare goyon bayana”. You made many promises and part us with a token of 200,000 to fuel the cars for the remaining local governments that are yet to be visited, this was the beginning, this is were we entered into the radar of likimo’s second principle of exploitation. My car broked down and become scrapped after touring the 44 local governments setting structure.
Our consistency gave you the reason to invite us the second time, but this time around, the venue was your private residence at Miyangu road which from that day served as our office where correspondence are kept and activities planned, this was only possible by your tacit approval.
Then, the invitation before the general election, of the five major campaign organizations led by Bandirawo Amana Kwankwasiyya organization at the same residence at Miyangu road. Another appraisal of activities which you promptly attended. On that day, we gave you the vivid account of where we are coming from, where we are and where we are going pertaining the campaign for your election as governor of kano state in the general election.
To cut the story short, since this space may not be enough to give all details of our engagements, the then governor now senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, invited us and equally requested us to submit some names of our members for political appointments. This was because he understood and appreciate our activities because they calm the nerves of the majority who rejected you as an anointed candidate. Kwankwaso’s ability to pronounce you as his choice become easy with our radio and TV advocacy and he pronounced you as the next governor of kano state.
Kwankwaso as a man of his words, approved the 15 names of our members submitted for the political appointments. Fifteen of us were appointed senior special assistants (SSA) by kwankwaso and the file was promptly forwarded to SSG’s office for proper computation of each ones entitlements and benefits. Appointment letters were typed but never see the light of the day.
In our follow up, our file was lastly sighted at REPA, an office that handle all benefits and conditions of appointment of all political office holders. The Director congratulated us but informed us that since there is a new governor, that is you, the file must be forwarded for your endorsement. When we heard we were all happy, but unknown to us the worst is still yet to come.
Our file was subsequently sent to your political adviser’s office by your instructions. Abdullahi Abbas was cunningly furious with the inscription ‘Kwankwasiyya’ on our letter heading, he adviced us to remove it and demanded we do that before he will attend to us. This is the same guy whom we visited during our consultation before the primary election but rebuked us that he doesn’t want anybody to come to him talking about Ganduje since the governor has not talked yet. This is the same situation that greated us on our tour of the local governments by many of the local government chairmen at the time, only few accepted you wholeheartedly.
Our file was put in the dust bin, the work for your election which we gave our time, energy and resources is not worth doing because the prophet said even a smile can be more than an appreciation, it is a charity, which we never got.
Now we know, that, Likimonism Is a wicked and dreaded disease that eat the flesh that aids it to grow. We refused the temptation to use a knive against our stomach but you should know that when the stomach is hungry, it cries to the outside world.
The concept of politics is self serving, either as an individual or as a group, either as a community or society, politics is all about what you can get and who gets what. Here we are left with an option to decide for ourselves and that has led us to start a visit to former secretary of the state government, Suleiman Bichi, a visit our representative paid immediately after he was attacked at the emir’s palace kano.
Politics is dynamic, hence, it provides various options to the contrary, the exploitations of likimo politics is barbaric and inhumane, building on the corpses of others is an occultic practice which bring us to the third principle of Likimonism.
Now, your I dont care attitude which is the fourth principle of likimonism has generated psychological disease to some of our members and now require the attention of a psychologist to douse the madness, while some were only frustrated others are now diagnosed dejected. For me I don’t know what ailment I contacted, but I left partisan politics behind, deciding rather to work for people and humanity now.
By the meaning of likimo, you were directly answering the public that you are not sleeping but pretending to be sleeping, but why pretend ? Because, Pretention is the first principle of this concept of political betrayal that even the former governor couldn’t decode, the reason why the people rejected you in the first place.
Comrade Alhassan Haruna Dambatta.
Publicity secretary, Bandirawo
Kano state.