Adebayo Obajemu
Salihu Tanko Yakasai may have been a new entry in the political register of the Left of the centre; but much more interesting is the style and panache with which he makes his own register come alive. He nibbles and pokes fun at the inadequacies of those who came to power with righteous indignation and messianic mission only to turn out worse than their predecessors.
The “offence” that led to his arrest by the Department of State Services was legal and constitutional: He merely reminded the Buhari administration of its avowed responsibility to protect lives and properties; and how the escalating security situations in the country have loudly highlighted the administration’s failure in this regard.
A scion of the two traditions of radicalism and iconoclastic thinking.
One , he is from Kano, the “St.Petersburg” of radical thoughts and the centre of northern rebellion against obscurantist feudalism.
The second tradition from where the young Salihu is weaned into his role as a thorn in the flesh of northern political conservatism and presidential rascality was his family’s history of independent thought.
His father, Tanko Yakasai is a surprising bundle of mystery. He was never part of the crowds around Aminu Kano, the symbol and personification of northern Talakawa rebellion against entrenched and enslaving feudal system and conservative political system that sought to perpetuate class system and stratification.
Yet, he was ensconced among political conservatism as the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, of which he was a member in the second republic could be described as the most far-reaching of the political Right.
There among the bourgeoisie in the party of the conservative was where the elders Yakasai, a forward- looking radical was perched in the second republic, nibbling at and iritating the NPN from within.
After the coup of December 1983 that brought General Buhari to power, the new administration moved quickly to put him in the coolers.
Yakasai the elder was a radical without identifiable cause as his mind and thought swerved from radical views to conservative stand on some issues. Yet, for all his oscillations between radicalism and conservatism, he can not be accused of silence, for in season of sealed lips and graveyard silence from some leaders of thoughts and politicians, Yakasai would speak out and express his mind not caring a hoot whose ox is gored.
Salihu the current toast of chattering class is chip of the old block.
In a region that hardly produces independence of thought, and one that has treated the Buhari mystique with a cult of personality and infallibility, it is thus surprising that Salihu has chosen to see the administration through a different prism.
Using twitters as a medial tool of interventions in a roiling miasma called Nigeria, Salihu has constantly attacked Buhari’s alleged incompetence and apathy even when the ship of the state he superintend seemed poised for cataclysmic fall.
He has garnered a number of following for his critical stand on issues in the polity. He has severally come hard on Buhari for shoddy handling of the insecurity.
Looking at Salihu, Professor Adeagbo Moritiwon, a political scientist says ” He represents broadmindedness, open mind and world view that transcends primordial sentiments. Salihu is a man of the future, and when the history of the era comes up for posterity he will be counted among the outspoken, one who represented the voiceless. ”
Less than 24 hours he criticised the government that APC-led administration has failed Nigerians, some People on twitter posted that the father of three had gone missing for over 14 hours.
Salihu who before his sack as special adviser on media to Governor Ganduje had been using his twitter handle
@dawisu to criticise government , e chop suspension.
Earlier, he had been suspended from work from work
four months ago after he criticised president Buhari handling of
the EndSars protest.
Salihu’s father said he had repeatedly warned him to resign
