The lingering political tussle between the incumbent governor of Kano State Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and his predecessor Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso took a new dimension last week when the latter threatened legal action on the former if he fails to remove his red cap within 48 hours.

The red cap is the symbol of Kwankwasiyya, a youth movement founded by Senator Kwankwaso, with the aim of winning his re-election in 2011. However, to the followers of the movement, the red cap is not just a symbol, but a way of life. It was the symbol adopted as a tribute to the late Malam Aminu Kano, who is still revered as a political mentor. 

Residents of Kano woke up on May 29, 2011 to the strange sight of thousands of supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) donning white garments with the red cap and trooping to the famous Sani Abacha Indoor Stadium, the venue of the swearing-in of Senator Rabi’u Kwankwaso and Dr. Ganduje who had won the governorship election on the platform of the PDP. Both Kwankwaso and Ganduje wore white garments and the red cap on that fateful day. 

According to Comrade Aminu Abdulsalam, a former commissioner of state affairs in the Kwankwaso administration, although it was not the first time the white garments with red cap was introduced to the people of Kano, May 29, 2011 was the official date for the launching of the Kwankwasiyya dress code.

“Our tradition in the PDP was that whenever there was a national party event, states choose particular regalia for their people. For Kano, we always chose white garments with red cap and black shoe. However, on May 29, 2011, it became a dress code for the Kwankwasiyya movement in Kano.

“After the swearing-in, our leader Kwankwaso resolved to maintain it as his official dress code throughout his four year second tenure. Six months into his administration, he encouraged local cap makers to produce more red caps to reduce its importation and to empower local producers economically.

The red cap virtually replaced the PDP flag as the main identity of party members and officials in Kano. Even after Kwankwaso and Ganduje defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014, the duo maintained their dress code of white garments with red cap. 

Majority of the members of Kwankwasiyya see the movement as a vital component that consolidated the victory enjoyed by the APC in Kano during the 2015 general elections. This has been the general belief among the red cap adherents until recently when things fell apart between Ganduje and Kwankwaso. 

The current political crisis between Ganduje and Kwankwasom led to many people dumping the red cap. Thirty-four out of the 38 members of the Kano State House of Assembly, many local government chairmen, and other party officials in the state have since stopped wearing the symbolic red cap in solidarity with the incumbent governor. Also, courtesy of the crisis, a blue cap was introduced to replace the red one. 

In April this year, a former Special Assistant to Senator Kwankwaso on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Sharu Garba Gwammaja, had to call on Governor Ganduje to also remove his red cap.

Gwammaja, who was addressing a press conference to mark the 5th anniversary of the red cap revolution in the state, offered to buy the governor’s red cap at the cost of N1million, saying “if Governor Ganduje can remove his red cap today, I will buy it for N1million.” 

In a swift reaction, the state commissioner of information, Malam Muhammad Garba, faulted Gwammaja, saying “If you know the history of the red cap, you will not react this way.

 It is still a minus on your side even if it is only one person that removes his red cap in the state in protest against the ideology. It is now optional to wear the red cap in Kano and with the recent development at least people have a choice to either wear it or not.”

Last week, the movement had threatened to take legal action against Ganduje if he fails to remove his red cap within 48 hours.

Chairman of Hannun Karba, Hannun Rikewa, a wing of the movement, Alhaji Sharu Garba Gwammaja, made the threat while addressing a press conference at the NUJ Press Centre in Kano, in commemoration of the 60th birthday of the founder of the movement and 6th anniversary of the movement. He said: “Earlier, we have offered the governor the sum of N1m to remove his cap and he failed to do so. Now, we are giving him 48 hours to either remove the red cap which is a symbol of Kwankwasiyya or we will drag him to court. He has deviated from the ideology of Kwankwasiyya and it is high time he stops wearing our symbol.

“Ganduje is enjoying the sympathy of Kano people because of the red cap even though his actions are contrary to the ideology of the movement. So we want him to stop associating himself with the movement because he is not one of us.” He added that the true meaning of Kwankwasiyya is selfless service to the public, free education for all, promotion of peace and unity as well as respect for the rule of law.

Reacting to the threat by the Kwankwasiyya, the state commissioner of information, Malam Muhammadu Garba, said Kano State government may likely institute a commission of inquiry to probe Senator Kwankwaso if members of Kwankwasiyya continue to spread falsehood against the Ganduje-led government. 

Garba, in a statement he signed and made available to newsmen, said: “This deliberate distortion of facts and spreading of falsehood is capable of provoking the government to drop its non-confrontational stance and institute commission of inquiry to probe the previous administration particularly on illegal land deals, education and infrastructure.”

He explained that the recent threat of legal action against the governor was the most laughable, pathetic and a clear indication of the ignorance of the members of the movement of law and history of political struggle in Kano. 

The commissioner said members of the movement should have known that the red cap was introduced by late Malam Aminu Kano and popularized by him, his followers and disciples for which Ganduje was among, noting that “Ganduje was at the forefront of its re-introduction during the second tenure of Kwankwaso in 2011. Who then could better claim the red cap doctrine?”

He added that the decision by the governor to continue wearing the red cap was nothing but a personal choice and manifestation of his high sense of decency, decorum, responsibility, modesty and political astuteness. 

“These are rights and liberties guaranteed to any citizen by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and therefore, nobody has the right to deny the governor such liberties. The statement and empty threat should have been backed by citing the exact provisions of the constitution, any statute, law or rules and regulations that were breached by the governor for his action, for it to hold any water, particularly in a court of law,” he stated.  

      “Governor Ganduje has secured the mandate of the people of Kano State by the will of Allah and only He (Allah) has the right to take it back. Power belongs to Allah and He gives it to whoever He so wishes at any time,” he concluded. In the past week, the red cap politics had dominated the political programmes being aired by local radio and TV stations in the state.