By Dr Hamisu Maikudi
“A clinical and authoritative dissection and deconstruction of Kushi’s rejoinder which ostensibly asserted the authenticity of Dahiru Sani’s critical expose on governor Fintiri’s excessive obsession to maintain grip on power at all cost instead of denouncing it.”
I WAS a bit confused while reading George Kushi’s rejoinder to an article authored by one Dahiru Sani published in Arewa Times of March 9, 2023.
The reason for my confusion stems from my understanding that Kushi was trying to put a strong rebuttal to the arguments generated by the author of the article but to my dismay, he only succeeded in giving the viewpoints of Dahiru Sani more authority, substance and added credibility.
I was a bit reluctant to read the article written by Dahiru Sani which was sent to me by a friend at first, because in the build up to a contentious and sensitive elections, politicians usually hide under the ouvre of sensational writers to either burnish their image or besmirch their opponents so as to leverage their acceptability before the electorates.
But I became very curious when my friend again sent me a rejoinder by one George Kushi whom I learnt was governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri’s media aide on the same topic. The rejoinder made me to believe that very strong and critical issues must have been raised by the author to deserve a rejoinder by an official of the government which made me to instantly develop interest on the issue.
Because of my predilection to add my critical voice to the issue, I also contacted a number of personalities from Adamawa who gave me very incisive views about the political situation in Adamawa State.
In order to situate the issues at stake very well, I reverted back to the first article written by Dahiru Sani and took my time to absorb the nuances and rudiments of the article. After deep assimilation, I then took a dive into the rejoinder by Kushi to see the counter arguments he made for the sake of balancing.
But rather than situating the counter narratives effectively in order to decimate the ones presented by Dahiru Sani, I was perplexed to read supportive arguments as alternative discourses by one of the image launderers of the governor on a mission to score a major political point for his principal.
The rejoinder to say the least was insentient, brash and filled with braggadocio which I believe are spectacularly deployed by Kushi to make the article look good so as to get a pat on the back by his principal for a job well done.
The article is also filled up with unnecessary drivel aimed at maligning its author in an attempt to give dog a bad name so so as to hang it instead of directly addressing the issues raised by the author which led to avoidable waste of time, space and energy.
A look into some of the counter narratives will show the extent of Kushi’s agreement with Dahiru Sani’s points.
For instance, in one instance Kushi while trying to discredit the writer imputed that “the article, full of mischief demands scrutiny not because it has any merit but because false statements, coupled with irrational thoughts need explanations.”
But not long after, Kushi again in an unusual self contradictory posture while responding to the accusation that governor Fintiri has entered into negotiation with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Adamawa State branch said, “it is interesting to note that one of the accusations levelled against Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri has to do with an alleged attempt to woo CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria).
“A question that arises from this flimsy accusation is, since when has it become wrong in Adamawa state to go into negotiations with religious groups? Is this Binani apologist not aware that his principal, Binani was in consultation with Adamawa North CAN executives where she promised heaven on earth? In this case, her move has not been faulted by the PDP, nor by Ahmadu Fintiri who understands her desperation and her last ditch attempt to seek support from all quarters.”
Instead of having the courage to make categorical statements to the effect that the governor did not promise to anoint christian at the end of his tenure, Kushi started moving in circles by first accepting that his principal was actually in a romance with CAN, but in order to justify what he earlier refuted, Kushi was quick to defend the position taken by his principal by making allusions to the effect that since Binani is also negotiating with Adamawa north CAN, his principal is also entitled to make same move.
But while Dahiru Sani made his point clear that Fintiri has promised to produce christian as the next governor, George Kushi deployed subterfuge by alluding that Binani has promised to give Adamawa ‘heaven on earth’ a statement that many people will regard as false since it is neither here nor there.
In another contradictory statement, Kushi accused Dahiru Sani of trying to cause disharmony between some powerful personalities of Adamawa from the Fulani ethic stock and governor Fintiri by submitting that “Dahiru Sani has no license to draw eminent and respected citizens into his despicable attempt curry favors by calling names like Atiku Abubakar, First Lady Aisha Buhari, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Badaru and others so as to make his story plausible.
He then asked the rhetorical question “how can he in his wildest dreams make people believe that the future of Adamawa state has been put on the table like a loaf of bread. Dahiru Sani (nor his principal) should have respect for the people of Adamawa when next he employs pedestrian publicist technics in an effort to woo sympathy.
“From all indications, Dahiru wants to impress, but lacks the finesse, thereby his resort to pooling names from all quarters to seek credibility. Come to think of it, to make Aisha Buhari’s brother a minister, must Fintiri move to APC before that can be achieved. The whole idea look laced with lies and wishful thinking. In any event, if I were Fintiri, I should be flattered that such names have been woed to my side.
“With all those names, all formidable forces on my side, why bother about less important people like Dahiru Sani? The names associated with Fintiri in Sani’s is daunting enough to make Binani throw in the towel before the polls. Interestingly enough, these names were notably mentioned as having work to ensure Fintiri’s victory in 2019. So what has changed? Especially now that they are all testament to the fact that he has not disappointed them but impressed them with his sterling performance in governance.”
Again Kushi makes a caricature of his submission by not making a categorical statement disputing the alleged promises made by Fintiri to the persons enumerated in order gain political leverage ahead of the election. But instead he confirmed that the governor actually worked with the forces in 2019 and is still working with them till this day.
This line of argument raised another serious and fundamental question which is the rationale for their support to Fintiri if they had nothing to benefit from supporting him. To make his submission more forceful, Kushi should have added that Fintiri will never defect to APC if perchance he emerged winner of the guvernorship race.
What his position rather brought to the fore was that Fintiri is still mortally afraid of Binani despite pocketing the cream of people Kushi referred to as “eminent personalities in the state.”
Again, Kushi deployed inanities to avoid the medley of posers strewn by Dahiru Sani on whether it is in tandem with Nigerian reality for the eminent people he mentioned to support his principal without any strings attached for their support.
Based on these glaring loopholes and lack of coherence, even an elementary student of language will pick holes in the submissions of Kushi but since he earns his living by working in the media team of the governor, it is plausible to say he can not fold his arms while his principal comes under heavy criticism.
But going by the failure of his media team to do a clean job on the issue in contention, it behoves on Governor Fintiri to make a categorical statement so as to remain above board and convince those who may feel deceived amongst the array of those who Dahiru Sani mentioned in his discourse as silence in this kind of situation is not golden.
But it must be reiterated that the attempt of Mr Kushi to burnish the governor is premised on a weak foundation that should have been avoided entirely in the first place in line with the Hausa adage which says “da muguwar rawa gara kin tashi.”
Dr Maikudi writes from Zaria, Kaduna State.