Inspite of his ever-growing political popularity in Kano, Senator Barau I. Jibrin of his own volition honourably chose to sacrifice his gubernatorial ambition just to pave for the incumbent Governor of Kano State Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf a.k.a Abba Gida-Gida who is currently serving his first tenure of office.
His decision to withdraw from the tussle/race has been generating mélange of reactions and counter-reactions from members of the public at their various stomping grounds/hangouts as to why Senator Barau Jibrin has taken that ill-advised decision without going from one ward to another to consult and console the masses who have been madly calling on him to join the race for Kano governorship in 2027.
We, the electorates in Kano hereby call on distinguished Senator Barau Jibrin to accept any of the incessant clandestine calls by the opposition parties in Kano such as PDP and ADC to run for Kano governorship under the aegis of anyone of two because we are certain that he is the only person among all the Kano-born politicians who truly has the people of Kano at heart and is willing to save Kano from free-falling into the abyss of socio-economic quagmire.
We see no reason why Senator Barau Jibrin is trying to tamper with the lives of the people of Kano State by sacrificing his gubernatorial ambition in favour of the incumbent Governor of Kano State Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf whom he can beat to pulp in the blink of an eye on the voting day.
Asunder from late Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu who relinquished his presidential candidature/ticket under the aegis of the defunct APP for the sake of unity no Nigerian politician has done what Senator Barau Jibrin did recently by willingly giving up his longstanding ambition to allow Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf govern Kano for another term of four years that is from 2027-2031.
To cap it all, if Senator Barau Jibrin who enjoys unalloyed support from eighty-five (85) percent of the eligible voters in Kano isn’t a true democrat and a die-hard supporter cum political godson of President H.E Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is extraordinarily committed to the victory of APC and Mr. President he would have accepted the offer from the national headquarters of both PDP and ADC to contest for Kano governorship under the umbrella of anyone of the two political parties mentioned above and being a shoo-in for election into any political office, the more he accepts the offer to run for Kano governorship under either ADC or PDP the easier he wins! But I am sure Senator Barau Jibrin will never accept any of those offers because he may consider it an act of betrayal against his godfather President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
His withdrawal from the contest to allow Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf complete his constitutionally approved two terms of four years each at a stretch is ill-timed because it is at this exigent time that Kano is direly in need of people of his calibre though they are very thin on earth to come and pull it out of its current economic, social political turmoil.
We, the voters in Kano have no iota of doubt that Senator Barau Jibrin loves Kano State with all his heart and is poised to put in the last drop of his blood to stand for Kano State.
For Senator Barau Jibrin has more than any politician in Kano committed billions of naira from his personal purse/pocket to educate youths from across the three senatorial districts in Kano State both within and outside Nigeria and extended billions of naira to the aspiring and small scale businessmen and women to boost their local businesses through his genuine empowerment scheme. To buttress the the fact that
Senator Barau Jibrin is a pro education public figure he has made sure that Federal University Dutsin-Ma has a study centre in each of the thirteen Local Governments in his constituency with the aim of bringing education to the door steps of his constituents and by implication to the threshold of the entire people of Kano State who have a very strong predilection for knowledge.
With his enviable political pedigree and records of touching the lives of the underprivileged ones directly, I say it with aplomb that no single politician Kano State can shoulder high above him on all fronts.
If any politician from Kano bar none dares to slug it out with Senator Barau Jibrin in the race to occupy Kano Government House in 2027 that person will be beaten to pulp by the good people of Kano State on the voting day.
Shu’ayb Mustapha is a Kano-based freelance writer and political observer who can be reached via his email address i.e shuaybmustapha@gmail.com.
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