Kano governor surprises friends, foes with cabinet reshuffle

On Thursday, Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf sacked the Secretary to the State Government, Abdullahi Baffa, and five commissioners in a cabinet reshuffle that observers described as long overdue. The changes followed allegations of corruption and favouritism in the administration.

Announcing the development, the governor’s spokesperson, Sanusi Bature, said the governor scrapped the office of the Chief of Staff (CoS) and directed its occupant, Shehu Sagagi, to await further instructions. Mr Sagagi got another appointment a few hours later as the secretary of the Kano State Shura Council, headed by Shehu Galadanci, a professor.

On Sunday, the governor directed the affected commissioners to ensure a smooth handover before the close of office hours on Tuesday.

“All the commissioners affected by the changes are directed to hand over their responsibilities between Monday, 16th and Tuesday, 17th December 2024,” the spokesperson said.

The governor urged the members of the state executive council to double their efforts and uphold a strong spirit of teamwork, dedication and commitment to supporting his administration in serving the people of the state.

A long struggle for power cut short

Mr Baffa is the only official not offered another position. All others were asked to report to the governor’s office for ‘possible reassignment.’ As of Sunday morning, most of the sacked commissioners had not been offered new appointments.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that Mr Baffa is a former chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at Bayero University, Kano. He became prominent during the 1 January 2012 protest against former President Goodluck Jonathan’s attempt to remove fuel subsidies. He was later appointed as an aide to former Minister of Education Adamu Adamu and later headed the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) from 2 August 2016.

In 2019, former President Muhammadu Buhari sacked him as the Executive Secretary of the TETFund. No official reason was given for his removal. However, it was linked to his alleged role in a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano opposing the then-Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.

After his removal from office, he joined the opposition in Kano led by former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso. Subsequently, he ran for the Senate as the candidate of the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP) in the Kano North district in 2023 but lost the election to his APC opponent, Barau Jibrin, the current deputy Senate president.

Mr Baffa reportedly fell apart with Mr Kwankwaso after his appointment as SSG. Many speculated that he coined the recent campaign in Kano for the governor to stand independent of his political godfather, Mr Kwankwaso was accused of interfering in the administration, allegedly giving orders behind the scenes to some of the commissioners.

While Mr Kwankwaso may seem okay with Mr Baffa’s fate, his feelings would be different regarding the sacking of Mr Sagagi, a trusted political ally. Mr Sagagi was not an official NNPP member when he was appointed as the governor’s Chief of Staff. He was the state chairman of the PDP and led the Kano delegates to the national convention where the party held its presidential primaries for the 2023 poll. Kano delegates voted for Nyesom Wike and Mr Wike’s victory over Atiku Abubakar in the state was seen as a machination of Mr Kwankwaso, who had left the party to run for president as the NNPP candidate.

Mr Sagagi was believed to have been compensated with the Chief of Staff position by Mr Kwankwaso.

Alleged scholarship fraud

Another commissioner linked to Mr Kwankwaso, Yusuf Kofar-Mata, was transferred from the Ministry of Higher Education to the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation amid his investigation by the Kano State Anti-corruption and Public Complaints Commission for alleged fraud in the state’s foreign scholarship scheme. The state government allocated N4.6 billion for scholarships to be awarded to 1,001 postgraduate students abroad.

Mr Kwankwaso was among state officials who handed hard currency to the students at a ceremony where the government bade farewell to the first batch of students leaving for universities in India, Kenya, and Uganda.

However, Mr Kofar-Mata was alleged to have supervised the disbursement of a huge part of the funds without the approval of Governor Yusuf. The anti-corruption agency said only 418 students were sent abroad despite the release of a substantial part of the programme’s budget. The agency later said it had recovered over N700 million from the alleged fraud.

To underscore Mr Kwanwaso’s influence in the Kano administration, at least 14 of the 19 commissioners appointed by Governor Yusuf in June 2023 were former commissioners, aides, and associates of Mr Kwankwaso.

While announcing the cabinet reshuffle, the governor’s spokesperson said those affected by the cabinet reshuffle are Ibrahim Fagge of the Ministry of Finance, Ladidi Garko of Culture and Tourism, Baba Dantiye of Information and Internal Affairs, and Shehu Yammedi of Special Duties.

Political observers said the cabinet reshuffle is a step by the governor towards asserting control over his administration, especially with the scrapping of the office of the Chief of Staff, which Mr Kwankwaso allegedly used to monitor the governor’s activities.

But the governor’s spokesperson, Mr Bature, dismissed the speculation. He said the governor made the changes to ensure efficiency, stressing that the governor would assign the sacked commissioners new roles.