BY: YASMEEN BAREWA
There comes a time in every political movement when difficult questions must be asked not to destroy the structure, but to save it from collapsing under the weight of silence, favoritism, and unchecked influence.
Today, that moment has arrived for the Kwankwasiyya movement in Tarauni.
For years, ordinary supporters defended the movement with passion, sacrifice, and loyalty. Young people stood under the sun during campaigns.
Women mobilized communities without expecting rewards.
Grassroots loyalists endured intimidation because they believed Kwankwasiyya represented fairness, inclusion, and justice for the common man.
But recent events in Tarauni have left many asking a painful question:
Has the movement been hijacked by powerful individuals who now decide who rises and who is buried politically?
The growing outrage surrounding the emergence of Abdullahi Maikano as the State Assembly candidate and the re-emergence of Hon. Mukhtar Umar Yarima as the House of Representatives candidate has exposed what many insiders describe as a dangerous concentration of power within a small political circle.
Across Tarauni, whispers have now turned into open complaints.
Party loyalists are no longer hiding their anger. Many believe that the process was not only unfair but carefully engineered to favor allies connected to Hon. Mukhtar Umar Yarima, whose influence within the caucus is said to have become too powerful to challenge.
The allegation shaking the political atmosphere in Kano is simple but explosive: that delegates, strategic support groups, and even key structures tied to the Kwankwasiyya movement in Tarauni have gradually fallen under the control of one political camp.
And if that perception continues to grow unchecked, the consequences could be devastating.
What makes this situation even more sensitive is the belief among many grassroots supporters that Hon. Mukhtar Umar Yarima’s closeness to the leadership of the Kwankwasiyya movement has created a system where dissenting voices are ignored while loyalists are rewarded repeatedly.
The emergence of Abdullahi Maikano has further intensified suspicion.
Many supporters are asking whether competence, popularity, and loyalty to the movement still matter, or whether political survival now depends solely on proximity to powerful individuals.
These are dangerous conversations for any political movement heading into a critical political season.
The real threat here is not opposition parties. The real threat is internal frustration.
History has shown repeatedly in Kano politics that when grassroots supporters begin to feel betrayed, political earthquakes happen unexpectedly.
This is why the silence of respected leaders at this moment could be interpreted as approval.
Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso built Kwankwasiyya as a movement of the people, not a private political empire for a handful of individuals.
That is why many loyalists now expect him to pay close attention to the growing discontent in Tarauni before the anger spreads beyond control.
Because if ordinary supporters begin to believe that some individuals are untouchable within the movement, then the moral foundation that made Kwankwasiyya powerful may slowly begin to crack.
This is no longer just about Tarauni. It is now a test of whether Kwankwasiyya still belongs to the people, or to those who have mastered the art of controlling the system from within.