The Kwankwaso I know

By Bishop Isaac Idahosa

Leaders are individuals who influence and guide others. John C. Maxwell once said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.”

In contemporary times and particularly in Nigeria, many people robe themselves in the garb of leadership without having any iota of merit and requisite qualifications to be called so.

Simply put, many people in Nigeria rise to leadership positions and don’t usually know what to do with it and how they can use such platform to better the lots of their people who are yearning for positive change in their current position.

Despite clear shortage of leaders in abundance, there appear to be some few exceptions who are gradually etching their names in gold and working towards being on the positive side of history.

These political gladiators who are usually cognisance of the verdict of history are daily toiling and working not just for the collective good of their people but also for posterity.

One of such is my boss, and National Leader of our great party, New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso who has over the years helped to rework and remake the developmental trajectory of his home state of Kano and Nigeria in general.

It is no longer news that Sen. Kwankwaso remains the face of the new modern Kano, owing to his renewed passion for education, without any exaggeration, Kwankwaso is the Awolowo of the North in terms of his passion and dedication towards transparency, education, welfarism and a workable country.

Also,his infrastructural development in his home state as well as sustained human capital development of the vast majority of people of the state is second to non.

Our paths crossed some years back, and was not surprising when he picked me as his running mate, although I was perplexed by that gesture and the trust he had in me. I saw first hand an uncommon passion in him how he was passionate about Nigeria.

I saw a leader, not a ruler who had a clear understanding of the problems plaguing the country and how those problems would be surmounted.

He was a leader prepared for leadership and not someone who complained about the situation at hand and unable to rescue the situation.

In Kano for example, aside from governance, where his accomplishments in and out of office is seen and visible to all, Kwankwaso in his political engagements is highly detribalised considering the fact that he is at home with all those that come across him.

Though a devouted Muslim from the North, he is very much at home with Christians from any other parts of the country without harbouring any kind of bias or prejudice against anyone based on tribal or religious bases, I’m a good example and in a better position to tell this story, an ordained Bishop and one of his close confident.

For Kwankwaso, his relationship with people is based on shared mutual respect and for goal getting purposes. He is at home in his native Kano just as he is anywhere in the country.

It most also be noted also that in many of my interactions with him, he has not only continued to show clear understanding of issues , he has continued to also demonstrate intellectual depth in dissecting the issues.

A doctorate degree holder in water engineering, a reputable, trustworthy and consummate politician, he is my darling brother from Madobi Local Government of kano state who has continued to demonstrate uncommon love towards all that have come across him.

To him, humanity comes first before any other form of consideration and that all human beings must be treated as equal and that in the task of nation building, all hands must be on deck.

To him, all the needed human assets for bringing about development must and should be harnessed.

This is the Kwankwaso I know and this is the Kwankwaso that I am recommending to Nigerians.

Bishop Isaac Idahosa is General Overseer, GOD FIRST MINISTRIES INC LAGOS.

Thank you.