The Intrigues That Consumed Katsina Assembly Speaker

Last week, members of the Katsina State House of Assembly, in a move that jolt many people, impeached its speaker, Aliyu Sabiu Muduru, seen widely as the youngest leader of a state legislature in the current dispensation. In this piece, ANDY ASEMOTA explores the undercurrents of the leadership change

On February 15, the Katsina State House of Assembly impeached Hon. Aliyu Sabiu Muduru, then Speaker of the 7th Republic legislature of the state as well as the Deputy Chief Whip of the House, Hon Nasir Yahaya Daura.
In a move seen by many as carefully crafted, the all-APC assembly, within barely 15 minutes, elected Hon. Abubakar Yahaya Kusada to succeed Muduru.
It was observed that 23 members out of the 34 members sat and passed a vote of no confidence on Muduru who has held sway as the leader of the all APC house since its inauguration in June 2015.
Shortly after the no confidence vote was taken, members directed the deputy speaker, Engineer Shehu Dalhatu Tafoki to assume the seat of the speaker and preside over the proceedings pending the election of a new speaker.
Of course Tafoki who represents Faskari constituency and is a second term member, and, who as elected deputy speaker along with the former speaker Muduru, presided over as the leader for the shortest time in the history of the assembly as he mounted the coveted seat for few minutes before members unanimously elected Abubakar Yahaya Kusada who is the member representing Kusada local government, as the new speaker.
Indeed, the move came to many people especially politics watchers as a huge surprise because of the widely held believe that leadership change, especially at the top echelon, is very difficult in the history of the state assembly.
To understand the real intrigues behind the leadership change, it is necessary to have a glimpse into the history of the former speaker and factors that led to his emergence as the leader in spite of the fact that he was the youngest member.
Very few people get to the peak of their careers not only in the political landscape but in other spheres in the country before they are 30 year old.
The Immediate past Speaker of the Katsina State House of Assembly, Hon Aliyu Sabiu Muduru, was such a leader whose rise to the top was a unprecedented in this clime. And one of the records he set in Katsina and indeed Nigeria was that until his impeachment on Wednesday, 15 February, 2017, as earlier noted, he was the youngest speaker of state assembly in Nigeria.
These are truly sad days for Muduru, as he was commonly called since he came into lime light after he assumed the exalted number three position in Katsina State.
He made history first of all as the youngest person to occupy the seat of the speaker since the creation of the state and again he made yet another history, last Wednesday, when he fell from grace to grass, within couple of minutes, as the first speaker to be removed from office in Katsina state.
He was forced to vacate the seat after the House Leader, Hon Hambali Faruk, moved a vote of no confidence sponsored by 23 out of a total of number of 34 members representing the 34 local government councils of the state on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It was gathered that some of the law makers who reportedly signed and passed a vote of confidence on Muduru and former Deputy Chief Whip of the House, Nasir Yahaya (Daura), included Abdurazaq Ismai’l Tsiga (APC, Bakori), Abdullahi Ibrahim Mahuta (APC, Malumfashi), Abubakar Yahaya (APC, Kusada), Abubakar Sulaiman (APC, Ingawa), Abubakar Mohammed (APC, Funtua), Ahmed Abubakar Adidas (APC, Mai’aduwa), Bello Abdu (APC, Dan Musa), Shehu Dalhatu Tafoki (APC, Faskari) and Hambali Faruk (APC, Katsina).
No reason was given on the floor of the House for the impeachment but diverse sources disclosed that Muduru was erroneously believed, by many far from happenings in the legislature, to be enjoying a close working relationship with his fellow law makers with whom he shared same political platform. Diverse factors with connection to claims of how he piloted the affairs of the legislature with high handed proved his major undoing.
A teacher from a humble background with no political experience, he was loved and loathed in equal measure as he cruised in smart SUVs accompanied by a battery of security details, aides and some of his colleagues in the House. As a handsome youth, his position endeared him to many young people and others across the state and beyond.
His positions on how the number one law maker in the state should relate with his colleagues on personal level and other issues of welfare of his fellow legislators did not allow his colleagues to back him for too long during his brief tenure which began since the 7th Republic legislature of Katsina that was formally inaugurated on the 9th of June, 2015.
Our correspondent report that the former speaker would have come down on the wrong side of history not too long after his election as speaker but for the close working relationship he had with the executive arm of the state government and leadership of APC in the state.
Indeed, he escaped impeachment several months ago when the move was nipped in the bud by the Secretary to the Government of the State, Dr. Mustapha Inuwa, and the Katsina chairman of the party, Alhaji Shitu S. Shitu. They ended that conflict by given a stamp of approval to Muduru to remain in power, arguing that his removal would be destabilizing to the young legislature.
But it was too long a period after that intervention when an upheaval swept through the assembly and took at least two principal officials with it. Those waiting with bated breath for Muduru to be brought down were disappointed even though the agitation which radically shook the House at the time led to the replacement of the then House Leader, Lawal Isah Kuraye (Charanachi), with Hambali Faruk (Katsina) while the baton of the Chief Whip went from Bishir Mamman (Dutsin-ma) to Bello Abdu (Dan Musa).
Muduru was ultimately brought down from his high horse, not by hidden political maneuvers ahead of 2019 general elections as many people believed but by his own leadership style.
He was forced to eat the humble cake despite advice of some chieftains of the ruling party that it would be difficult for him to maintain the status quo if most members continue to feel marginalized in the scheme of things in the assembly.
Sources who are of the opinion that the anti-climax of Muduru is connected with his indiscretion and youthful exuberance also raked up another major example. They claimed that the former speaker argued strongly against the House approval given to a close ally of a businessman for a political position recently.
The businessman cum political warrior was said to have played a key role in getting the House rule to be amended at the 11th hour by the sixth Republic legislature of the state to pave the way for Muduru to emerged as speaker by expunging the portion of the House rule which barred fresh legislators from ascending to the plum position. The rest they say is history in line with the wishes of the aggrieved two-third majority in the assembly.
Keen observers of the internal politics of the legislature knew that having entered the bad book of his colleagues and some influential people in the state, it was only a matter of before Muduru would be thrown down from his Olympian height for his strong willed determination as well as for naivety.
There is no doubt that many Katsina people and those following the politics in the state were jolted by the news of the replacement of Muduru by Abubakar Yahaya Kusada. The change of baton may have left many dumbfounded but the news brought a sigh of relief to some workers in the assembly, one of its personnel who pleaded anonymity told Leadership Sunday.
Even though most of the law makers and staff of the state assembly contacted kept mum on the issue but it was obvious from their body language that the Tsunami that hit House was a welcome development.
As things stands, a new chapter has been opened in the history of leadership of the Katsina state house of assembly as the new speaker, Abubakar Yahaya Kusada, who shortly after his election as the speaker, pledged to ensure an all-inclusive leadership.
Katsina State woke-up to a shocking political news on Wednesday the 15th of February, 2017 of new Speaker, Katsina State House of Assembly (KSHA) in person of Hon. Abubakar Yahaya Kusada after they impeached Hon. Aliyu Sabi’u Muduru (Mani).
The new speaker, Kusada, who was born on the 29th December of 1978 was the Katsina State Coordinator of Buhari Youth Congress (BYC) – a youth campaign group that contributed immensely to the emergence of the now President Buhari and was APC national delegate from Katsina State.
He was educated at Kusada model primary school, Government Day Secondary School Kusada, Government Technical College, Ingawa; Hassan Usman Katsina polytechnic and Bayero University, Kano as well as Al-qalam University, Katsina.
Until his new post of Speaker, he was the chairman House Committee of Works and Housing.

Source: Leadership