On February 5th, 2025, an online news poster, with a quotation and picture of Comrade Ibrahim Wayya, the newly appointed Kano State Commissioner for Information, went viral on social media. The news posters, from Premier Radio, quoted the honourable commissioner as saying in Hausa, “Yunƙurin cutar da jami’an tsaro da ɓata gari suka yi shine ya haddasa mutuwar mutane yayin rusau a Kano,” meaning “the attempt to harm the security forces by thugs was the trigger for the killing of people during the demolition in Kano”. Most of the comments about him were negative.
My concern is not about the claim’s veracity but rather about the career transition of Comrade Ibrahim Waiya, which I think is one of the triggers for the public outrage against him. If a similar issue had happened some months back, Waiya, as an activist, would have attacked the government and urged for justice for the victims. And perhaps, attacked the person who tried to defend the government or security forces. As the Hausa man says “inda ranka ka sha kallo”, the reverse is the case now, Waiya is now the protector and the spin doctor of the government.
As a media and communication practitioner and researcher, I thought of writing a piece to share my opinion about this career transition because it is related to our field and worthy of public discussion. Career transition and conflict of identity, norms and practices is a known phenomenon that remains controversial. For instance, in the field of media and communication studies, journalism to public relations transition and vice versa is very common practice, yet objectionable and distasteful to many. “Whereas journalists should report objectively and without bias,” wrote Viererbl and Koch, “public relations practitioners are supposed to represent their clients’ particular interests.” If migration from journalism to PR is obnoxious to many, what do you think about a shift from civil society activism to PR?
Mehdi Hassan, a veteran international journalist, once addressed Obiageli Ezekwesili, a former minister of education in Nigeria, as a politician on his popular Head-to-Head Al-Jazeera programme. She furiously rejected the title, being a renowned activist and technocrat who joined the government to contribute her expertise. Mehdi laughed hilariously, imagining how a federal minister rejected the title. I think the duo can be excused.Whereas Mehdi defined a politician as a political leader or administrator, Obi thought of the Nigerian derogatory connotation of the term as a liar, deceptive and corrupt individual which conflict with her real identity. This is just an example of the intrinsic conflict of norms, values and practices being faced by the technocrats and activists who joined a participatory government.
Joining any government is not a bad idea. We have seen the likes of Prof. Attahiru Jega, a first-rate political scientist and activist, who received domestic and international accolades after doing an excellent job as the INEC chairman. Before him, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed minister of finance. Although frustrated and truncated by politicians (you can find details in her book Reforming the Unreformed) she did an excellent job, because she was given a portfolio which aligned with her expertise and passion, just like Prof. Jega. These two giants participated in government and their image remained unsullied.In fact, their participation in government boosted their integrity as they emerged as “ tested comrades.”
However, that’s not the case for Comrade Ibrahim Waiya. He was given a portfolio that is an antipode to his career and expertise. I asked several questions when I saw Waiya’s portfolio. How can a sniffer dog become a spin doctor? Is Waiya so desperate to join the government? What impact can he make in this “unwanted” position? Is it a deliberate decision by politicians to tarnish the image of civil society activists in Kano State? Or is it a reductionistic attempt to silence CSO in Kano state? I might be wrong, but a real comrade or technocrat will not accept the position a veteran journalist, Baba Dantiye was sacked from, probably due to what politicians in their selfishness style defined as “underperformance”. Okonjo-Iweala once wrote a resignation to Obasanjo because of his (or his Cabinet) attempt to scuttle her work.
Philosophically and practically, activism solely aimed to protect public interest while the media and information management is to protect your boss or client interests. Jumping from activism to government mouthpiece is tantamount to a shift from being an imam to bartender – just to show how obverse the duo is. For Waiya to do his spin doctoring job the way his boss and most importantly politicians(including Sojojin Baka) would like him to do, he must compromise public interest – something he spent the major part of his career advocating for. I can see how he is trying to maintain his CSO identity, for instance by avoiding the red cap which is the symbol of the Kwankwasiyya government. To be frank, Waiya is either deceiving the public or himself. As I said before, you cannot be an Imam and bartender at the same time unless “muna bara muna karuwa.”
I think the best realistic options for Waiya are four; identity shift, getting a new portfolio, self-resignation or imposed resignation. My identity shift is to forget about his CSO identity and wear a full partisan politics identity. With this arrangement, he can wear his red cap and work for his government fully. He will ease himself from his Kano state CSO wahala and get full acceptance among his new group. Additionally, it is a good way to avoid option four.
The second option which is neutral is to ask his boss, Abba Kabir Yusuf to assign a new portfolio that will align with his activism identity just like his activism brother, Dr Nura Iro Maaji who was appointed as Commissioner for Public Procurement, Monitoring and Evaluation. Undoubtedly, this position is relevant to Maaji’s career and if wisely managed, it can boost his reputation while serving the good people of Kano.
The third option is a voluntary resignation which I don’t think is possible now. I will not explain my reasons for now. However, this option may not be helpful because it will not free him from the series of crises and allegations against him by some members of Kano civil society. The last option is clear and very possible because some activists have already started advocating for his sack. Even if they didn’t succeed, and he also didn’t succeed in getting a befitting portfolio or changing his identity to full time politicians, Sojojin Baka will soon advocate for his removal. I wrote my undergraduate and master’s degree works and a book on Sojojin Baka; I know them very well.
Which option do you think is best for Waiya? Or if you are in his shoes now, what is the best thing you can do considering Nigerian factors? Identity shift? Change of portfolio? Voluntary retirement or waiting for a red card? Personally, if I were him, I would close my eyes, and pretend to be muazzin, instead of calling for prayer, I shout “All is Well”.
Dr Nasidi is a lecturer at Baze University, Abuja and a media consultant. isanyaya@gmail.com
