Tinubu’s place in hearts of Katsina people

Throughout history, destinies of great personalities have always been interconnected with, first of all, their places of birth, and thereafter, the cities or nations or places in which they have sojourned and built great relationships with. It goes to say that the kind of relationships people cultivate and nurture in their journeys of life are directly proportional to how their destinies get shaped, and people who are acutely mindful of their purpose on earth and how they will use that purpose to positively impact their societies always take care to build bridges across their immediate borders in order to build lasting and fruitful relationships with people from other climes or regions.

Such is the nature of the special kind of relationship between President-Elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the people of Katsina State. It cannot be taken for granted that it is the special relationship between him and President Muhammadu Buhari, who is from Katsina State, that birthed the transformational journey we are now witnessing in Nigeria since May 2015, and it is equally heartwarming that this special relationship with the people of Katsina State has continued to bloom and blossom, especially under the inspirational guidance of Governor Aminu Bello Masari who has spared nothing in promoting and marketing the candidature of our President-Elect not only to the people of Katsina State but the entire northern region and the country in general.

It is on record that even before Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu personally declared his intention to run for the office of President in January 2022, Governor Masari has been publicly advocating for his candidacy in media interviews and public speeches well before his formal declaration, and because the Governor has great grassroots appeal, majority of the people of Katsina State took the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Presidential project as an essential duty to be executed with all diligence and commitment. Of course, being people that cherish and honour goodwill and kindness, they regarded the project as a worthy payback for the enviable role he played in making sure General Muhammadu Buhari became President in 2015 as well as for his reelection in 2019.

Another proof of the interconnectivity of destinies of individuals and certain geographical areas can be seen in the way fate destined His Excellency Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu to announce his choice of running mate in Daura on Sunday the 10th of July 2022. And where is Daura located? Katsina State, of course. And even before that, when exigencies required that presidential candidates file paper works at the Headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, with names of their running mates before a certain timeline – even if temporary ones as allowed by law, our President-Elect chose Alhaji Ibrahim Masari as his placeholder running mate, and Alhaji Masari is also from Katsina State!

Of course, when the election itself took place on Saturday, the 25th of February 2023, and it became apparent that some well-disguised moles in the State’s APC hierarchy caused the party to lose the presidential election in the State by a measly 6,758 votes, Governor Aminu Bello Masari was decidedly swift in identifying and purging out those moles, both from his cabinet and from the party, right even before the gubernatorial and state assembly elections so that they could not do more damage and sell out the state completely to their hidden paymasters. The swiftness with which Governor Masari purged them out of government and the party is a clear testament of his loyalty and faithfulness to the APC and to the Bola Ahmed Tinubu cause, which also points to his zeal in making sure Katsina State remains solidly an APC home.

So, as clearly demonstrated herewith, the special relationship between President-Elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Katsina State is truly special in every ramification of it, and it was destined to be so. And when anything is destined to be, it means it has been divinely ordained to be, and when it’s divinely ordained to be, it means mortals cannot stop it. Therefore, as it is, Katsina State will surely continue to enjoy a special place in the heart of Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the same way that he will continue to occupy a special place in the hearts of Katsinawa as Nigeria continues on the solid path of progressivism, which both Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Katsina State represent.

•Sharon is an Abuja based social commentator, and is a member of the Public Affairs Committee of the recently dissolved 2023 APC Presidential Campaign Council.