What Tinubu’s cabinet reshuffle means for Kano APC

President Bola Tinubu reshuffled his cabinet on Wednesday, scrapping a ministry, merging some, dropping five ministers and nominating seven new ones for confirmation by the Senate.

The five ministers dropped from the cabinet are the Minister of State, Housing and Urban Development, Abdullahi Gwarzo; the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Uju-Ken Ohanenye; the Minister of Tourism, Lola Ade-John; the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, and the Minister of Youth Development, Jamila Ibrahim-Bio.

The presidency said the reshuffle was part of “eight far-reaching actions to reinvigorate the Administration’s capacity for optimal efficiency pursuant of his commitment to deliver on his promises to Nigerians.”

This development means a lot for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State. Mr Gwarzo, from Kano North Senatorial District, was replaced by Abdullahi Ata, another Kano man. Observers see in this development a deliberate effort by the president to strengthen the APC in the vote-heavy state ahead of the 2027 general election.

Mr Gwarzo and Maryam Shetty’s nominations in August 2023 to represent Kano in President Tinubu’s cabinet came as a surprise in the state. Ms Shetty was later controversially dropped for Mariya Mahmud. The former governor of the state, Abdullahi Ganduje, who is now the APC national chairman, defended Ms Shetty’s replacement. He said the president had been “misled” into nominating her as minister.

Like Ms Shetty’s, Mr Gwarzo’s nomination also provoked grumblings among Kano APC members. They did not consider him an active member of the party in the state. Mr Gwarzo contested the 2007 governorship election as the candidate of Mr Tinubu’s defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

The APC is strong in Mr Gwarzo’s Kano North Senatorial District under the leadership of the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin. The senator’s popularity in the zone has made him a thorn in the side of the state’s ruling New Nigeria People Party (NNPP).

Mr Ata is from the Kano central district and once represented the Fagge state constituency at the Kano State House of Assembly. His appointment will ensure that the state’s three districts have strong representation in the federal government. The second Kano representative in the Federal Executive Council, Mariya Mahmud, hails from Kano South.

Born in 1962, Mr Ata graduated from Bayero University, Kano, with a degree in Economics. He served as Speaker of the state House of Assembly from 2017 to 2018 and as the Majority Leader from 2015 to 2017.

He contested in the APC House of Representatives primary for the 2023 General Election but lost to Suleiman Goro, who in turn lost to the NNPP candidate, Muhammad Bello. In August, the Senate confirmed Mr Ata’s appointment as a federal commissioner at the Public Complaints Commission.

Observers believe Mr Ata’s ministerial appointment is part of efforts by the opposition APC in Kano to pacify aggrieved members and realign ahead of the 2027 election. The recent appointment of Kawu Sumaila of the NNPP from Kano as chairperson of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) was also interpreted in the state as a move to lure the lawmaker back to the APC.

Mr Sumaila, who has advocated for local government financial autonomy and the creation of a new state from Kano, has been attacked by NNPP members for promoting political causes that are not a priority for their party.

Mr Sumaila and his NNPP colleagues in the House of Representatives from the Kano South District were also accused of not supporting Lamido Sanusi’s reinstatement as Emir of Kano.

Mr Sumaila’s recent media commentaries and political meetings fuel speculation that he has decided to return to the APC. With Alhassan Doguwa standing up to the Kwankwasiyya group in the Tudun Wada/Doguwa Federal Constituency, Mr Sumaila’s return would be a massive boost for the APC in the vital Kano South.

With the ministerial appointment of Mr Ata and the fallout from the Kano emirate crisis, the party would also feel the stars are aligning for it in the NNPP stronghold of Kano Central District. However, 2027 is two and a half years away and a lot can happen in Kano politics before then.