Niger State’s Search for an Effective Governor in 2023 -By Gimba Kakanda

Instead of assessing our governorship candidates based on their public antecedents and professional track records to establish the fact of their capability to overturn the fortunes of the state, we are fixated on the places in which the candidates reside just to favour those who own a house, or have lived in, the state. This isn’t the quality of thinking that should underline a state with no capability to generate enough internal revenues to pay its civil workers.

Unless you are a civil servant, government appointee, retiree or there’s a thriving industry for your line of trade in Niger State, any professional who chooses to live in Niger state permanently isn’t a serious person. You can’t languish in your comfort zone, and at the bottom of your professional table, and promote yourself as the best of the political pack.

Niger State may not be a home of industrialists, but it’s been producing fine and outstanding technocrats even before it was carved out of the defunct Northwestern State. The task is for our people to scout for the best of them and BEG them to return and participate in salvaging what’s left of the State. But embarking on the toxic and divisive politics of parroting who’s more “fit” based on their residency history spells out a certain doom.

For instance, Mohammed Idris, who’s popularly known as Malagi, doesn’t live in Niger State, but he’s easily one of the best options for the state based on his industrial accomplishment as a media entrepreneur and cosmopolitan leaning. And I like that he has the financial muscle to market himself much more than some of the local champions promoting these toxic narratives of electing home-bred politicians.

Even though a state as economically disadvantaged as Niger State shouldn’t ask for a big-spending politician (for they are DEFINITELY going to recoup their finances), we must endure the misfortune that “money” is the only manifesto that appeals to the people. But this shouldn’t make us overlook their professional track records.

As previously shared, I have a soft spot for the former Minister of Sports, Barr. Abdulrahman Hassan Gimba, for his uncompromising standings and brutal honesty in his private and public dealings, which is what Niger State needs, but if he doesn’t get the PDP ticket, my next options are Malagi and Isah Kawu (whose current party I don’t know). The latter is one of the most upstanding politicians in Niger State, and his days as a firebrand at the state’s House of Assembly, where, as the Speaker, he saved the state from undue executive interferences, are enough testimonies.

We may have our misunderstandings and clashes of perspectives, but we must forego this dangerous attempt to de-market politicians who aren’t based in the State or have never lived there. Even without such a dichotomy, we don’t have many decent options, and Niger State can’t afford to keep on electing ineffective political seat-fillers and expect meaningful progress in their affairs.