By Editor
Hon. Muhammad Sanusi Kiru’s recent attempt to dress up a glaring administrative insult as “protocol” is not just intellectually dishonest; it is a blueprint for governance suicide. By defending the decision to place a sitting Commissioner for Information, Comrade Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya, as a mere member of a committee chaired by his predecessor, Malam Muhammad Garba, Kiru is advocating for the deliberate castration of current executive authority.
In any structured society the very ones Kiru claims to respect there is a golden rule: The office is greater than the individual. When you subordinate a sitting cabinet member to a former one within the same functional portfolio, you aren’t practicing “inclusivity.” You are practicing sabotage.
The Crisis of Authority
Governance is not a social club where we sit according to who joined the party first. It is a hierarchy of responsibility. By making the sitting Commissioner a subordinate to a former one, Hon. Kiru and his co-travelers are creating a “two-headed monster.”
Who speaks for the government? Who has the final say on strategy? If a disagreement arises between the man currently holding the seal of office and the man who held it eight years ago, whose word carries the weight of the Governor? Kiru’s “protocol” creates a recipe for stalemate, confusion, and the eventual collapse of the information machinery.
Rewriting the Rules of Engagement
Kiru argues that it is an “honor” to work alongside veterans. Let us be clear: professional respect is earned in the field, but administrative rank is settled by the Governor’s letter of appointment. To suggest that Waiya who is currently navigating the complex political realignment of 2026 should take orders from someone whose primary relevance belongs to the previous administration is an insult to the very Governor Kiru claims to serve.
If we follow Kiru’s logic to its logical conclusion, every current Commissioner in Kano should report to a “veteran” from the 1990s. Why stop there? Why doesn’t Hon. Kiru suggest that the Governor himself report to a “veteran” former Governor on every committee? We know why. Because this isn’t about “merit”; it’s about ego-driven restoration.
The “Shadow Cabinet” Trap
Let us call this what it is: an attempt to build a shadow cabinet. By placing the Old Guard in chairing positions, Kiru is ensuring that the “New Kano” vision is filtered through the lens of those who were already retired by the voters.
This structure is designed to make the sitting Commissioner look like an intern in his own ministry. It is a strategic humiliation intended to force out those who are truly loyal to the Governor’s mandate, making room for the “political nomads” and “veterans” who see the APC merger not as a partnership, but as a host to be occupied.
Conclusion: Protect the Office
Hon. Kiru’s lecture on “insubordination” is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. The real insubordination is his attempt to dictate a new, warped hierarchy that devalues the Governor’s current appointees.
Administrative decorum demands that the sitting Commissioner leads, and the “veteran” advises. Any reversal of this is not a “handshake” it is a slap in the face of the current administration. Kano cannot afford “two captains” in one boat. If the veterans truly want to help, they should learn the humility of being advisors, rather than the arrogance of trying to reclaim thrones that no longer belong to them.
Written by: Adam A Adan