THE HERESY OF STANDING STILL IN A MOVING POLITICAL TERRAINBy Barrister Aminu Hussaini Sagagi

THE HERESY OF STANDING STILL IN A MOVING POLITICAL TERRAIN

By Barrister Aminu Hussaini Sagagi 

One of the most persistent misconceptions about Kwankwasiyya is the attempt to imprison it within a single personality or a single political platform. This reductionist view strips the movement of its historical depth and undermines its ideological ancestry. Kwankwasiyya did not begin with an individual, nor was it designed to end with one. It is the latest expression of a political philosophy that has travelled - deliberately and consistently - through Nigeria’s evolving political landscape.

The philosophical roots of Kwankwasiyya lie unmistakably in the radical populism of Malam Aminu Kano, the NEPU tradition and the audacious Tabo philosophy. Tabo was moral courage in action: the willingness to confront feudal dominance, inherited privilege and the culture of silence imposed on the talakawa. Aminu Kano embodied this ethos in both conduct and symbolism. His simple white attire represented moral clarity and humility; his red cap projected identity, resistance and solidarity with ordinary people. These symbols were not ornamental - they were political language.

Crucially, this philosophy never pledged eternal loyalty to a single platform. NEPU itself was born as a rejection of conservative politics. As Nigeria’s political environment evolved, NEPU gave way to the PRP, carrying the same ideals into a new democratic moment. Later, the same populist current found expression in the SDP during the Third Republic and the PDM tendency that followed, adapting again to shifting political realities without abandoning its core mission.

With the return to civil rule in 1999, the philosophy re-emerged within the PDP, where it gained administrative expression and delivered tangible outcomes, particularly in education and social mobility. When the PDP’s internal contradictions deepened, the movement explored the APC as a possible national reform vehicle. When that promise faltered, it returned to the PDP and later found a more accommodating home in the NNPP. At each stage, the platform changed; the values endured.

This historical movement - from NEPU to PRP, SDP, PDM, PDP, APC, back to PDP, and NNPP - is not evidence of ideological inconsistency. It is evidence of ideological resilience. The philosophy travelled because Nigeria changed.

To remain static would have meant irrelevance.

Understanding this lineage is essential to the present debate surrounding Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s imminent alignment with the APC. Resistance from some Kwankwasiyya notables often rests on the mistaken assumption that movement equals betrayal. History suggests otherwise. 

The betrayal would be to freeze a living philosophy in sentiment while political realities shift around it.

Nigeria’s contemporary political environment rewards strategic relevance. Governance today is shaped by access to power, coordination of resources and the ability to negotiate influence. For a sitting governor, relevance is not ambition - it is capacity. Surely, capacity in the Kwankwasiyya tradition, exists solely to serve the people.

Perhaps the most damaging misunderstanding is the portrayal of Kwankwasiyya as a personal empire rather than a historical continuum. Individuals may carry the torch at different moments, but the fire itself predates them and will outlive them. To reduce the movement to a personality is to erase Aminu Kano’s legacy and misunderstand the meaning of Tabo.

Kwankwasiyya was never a prisoner of parties. It has always been a travelling philosophy - rooted in justice, powered by relevance and willing to move again to its next destination if that is what service to the people requires.

By Barrister Aminu Hussaini - Special Adviser - Justice/Constitutional Matters to the Governor of Kano State - AKY.  May be reached: +234 803 374 2424 / aminuhussaini173@gmail.com