President Jonathan Moves against Governor Kwankwaso‏

www.twitter.com/platform9ja

With the recent Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission [EFCC] visit to the Kano State
legislators against what many political observers
believe was a politically motivated witch hunt, the
presidency has begun its readjustments towards
its approach to the political imbroglio unfolding at
the Kano political theater. Information obtained
through sources close to the activities at the Abuja
power corridors indicate that the presidency has
opted to go after the political upheaval in Kano in
a different manner.
As gathered, the presidency has decided to go
after the personal business interests of the
governor of Kano, Malam Kwankwaso.
Available information reveals that the recent
sweep of the Kano lawmakers did not yield
expected political dividends – particularly with the
political backlash that followed the surprise
arrests. The arrest of the Kano legislators a source
was targeted to achieve a pre-determined
objective.
The objective was for the lawmakers to begin
impeachment moves against the governor. But
the lawmakers were said to not be as easily
forthcoming or cooperative with the EFCC’s move
to harass them into accepting a move against
Kwankwaso.
The governor of Kano State is reported to own a
healthy amount of landed properties inside the
federal capital territory dating from his days before
he became the federal minister of defense during
the Obasanjo regime. He is said to have amassed
impressive eye-popping real estate in Abuja and in
many parts of northern Nigeria. And the associates
of the President are said to be aware of the landed
properties – and has decided to go after them. Our
source indicates that the president’s men who
had publicly acknowledged being aware that some
of the properties may have been acquired
legitimately – remain steel-faced at revoking the
ownership of the said properties. “He can go to
court”, said the source who continued to add that
the minister of the federal capital territory had
acted in October 2013 to revoke some of the
properties belonging to Kwankwaso located in
Abuja.
The presidency, according to a competent source,
has traced a commercial property located in
Gwarimpa district of Abuja to Governor
Kwankwaso. The property was reported to have
been purchased by Kwankwaso for use to build a
university. The vast space of yet to be developed
land, the source says, may be revoked as the
political mechanizations of 2015 ripen. The source
pointed to one of President Jonathan advisers as
one of disciples determined to revoke the said
properties – and render Kwankwaso political
handicapped. “If the aide gets his way,
Kwankwaso is finished”, the source cautioned as
he added that Kwankwaso appears the major
political concern within the northern region for the
Jonathan presidency beyond 2015.
In addition, the Jonathan presidency, according to
the source, intends to exploit the latent divide
within the APC in Kano between the Shekarau led
APC and the Buhari/Kwankwaso led APC. Both
groups have been at loggerheads over the control
of the APC party – Shekarau had joined the APC
through the All Nigerian Peoples Party [ANPP] as
the leader of the party while Kwankwaso joined
the APC as a defector from the PDP. Buhari had
fought with Shekarau for the leadership of the
ANPP and failed before abandoning the ANPP for
the Congress for Progressive Change [CPC].
The president’s men are said to be more
comfortable with the emergence of Shekarau as
the leader of the APC in northern Nigeria rather
than the Buhari/Kwankwaso duo – who are
considered too combative to the Jonathan led
administration. An aide to the President who
sources point to as the principal person hell-bent
at stopping the Kwankwaso political machinery
against 2015 – is said to have initiated moves to
reach out to the Shekarau camp of the APC to aide
subdue the Buhari/Kwankwaso emergence.
It can be recalled the Kano State governor
recently defected from the ruling party, the PDP,
for the new opposition party, the APC. His
defection gave the APC the required lift it needed
to pose a significant threat to the ruling party.