Groups that straddle the boundary between party cadres and criminal gangs reveal the rottenness of Nigeria’s state politics
young woman from Kano, northern Nigeria’s largest city, laughs shyly before she speaks. But scars above her eyebrow and on her forearm hint at a dark past. As a member of a Yandaba gang—politically linked hoodlums who terrorise the city—she would get high before brawling with rival parties’ gangs or, during elections, grabbing ballot boxes from polling stations.
Most of Nigeria’s 36 states, which elect their governors and state legislators on March 9th, have some equivalent to the Yandaba. These straddle the boundary between party cadres and criminal gangs. They embody the rottenness of state politics in Nigeria. Governors run their states like personal fiefs, amassing fortunes and grooming protégés once they have hit the two-term limit.
Checks on governors’ power are feeble. Although each state has its own legislative assembly and electoral commission for local polls, Maliki Kuliya, who served as Mr Kwankwaso’s justice commissioner, says that these are “just appendages of the executive”. As a result, political parties usually matter less than the politicians who constantly switch between them. Mr Kwankwaso, for instance, looms large over Kano’s politics.
The election pits Mr Ganduje against Mr Kwankwaso’s son-in-law. Both sets of supporters have been busy, holding frequent political rallies. Kano’s residents live in fear of such events, during which the gangs go on rampages, attacking each other and snatching purses and phones from passers-by. “Politicians ask for your votes while their followers steal from you,” sighs Michael Sodipo, who runs an“If we had something else to do, we wouldn’t have done this,” reflects another ex-Yandaba.
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