These are not the best of times for the Senator representing Kano Central Senatorial District of Kano State, Rufa”i Sani Hanga, as his gift to the people of his constituency has brought him under heavy scrutiny.
As Senators and other politicians are wont to do, the Senator recently conceived the idea to empower his people and reportedly donated bundles of white cloth, clay pots among other burial items to them.
The gift by Hanga, a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the Kwankwasiyya movement, as well as the Deputy Minority Chief Whip of the 10th Senate, has led to outcry among his constituents, ever since it went viral, with some saying he wants them dead, hence the gift.
A political analyst in the state, Comrade Mohammad Yunusa Kwa, said the two-time senator got it wrong by embracing such a move at a time when what the people need is support to survive and not support when they die.
He described it as a wrong political calculation that may affect the senator’s political chances.
Kwa, however, said there was room for the senator to correct the blunder before it affects his political fortune.
A resident of the Hotoro area in Nasarawa local government, one of the local governments in the Senatorial district, described the gesture by the senator as unbelievable.
According to him, it deserved condemnation by every right-thinking person as it was ill-timed.
He said: “What we need is support to survive the economic hardship, Hanga is not oblivious of the fact that Nigeria and Nigerians are passing through one of the harsh moments in their history. It is, therefore, a wrong attempt to donate such items now.”
Or is he trying to tell us that we should get ready to die?” the resident queried.
But it’s not all criticism as some residents have a contrary view.
An Islamic scholar, Malam Aminu Hangama, said there is nothing bad in what the senator did as everyone would die someday.
He admonished people to not be in a hurry to judge others actions especially when they do not know their motive.
Hangama, pointed out that the Senator is new in the Senate and has reportedly been ill and just convalescing and so should be cut some slack.
“I don’t know Senator Hanga, but I am sure what he did was just one of the line up of empowerment he has for the constituents. Moreover, I see no offense in what he did, because most of our cemeteries are in dire need of what he donated. To me, this shouldn’t be a thing to argue over. Let’s wait and see if he stops at it in the next three years. Only then would one accuse the senator of not doing what he ought to have done,” he added.
Another resident of the Senatorial district, Abba Isah, said it is nothing to worry about, because Nigeria and Nigerians are used to politicians’ acts of misplacement of priorities. According to him, either way, the senator has done something compared to others, adding that the senator had with the gesture, succeeded in announcing his presence at the chambers even though he had no bill to his name after almost a year.
