Gov Abba: Four Hours Standing For The Talakawas By Abdulmalik Suleiman

There are leaders who govern from behind tinted glasses, and there are leaders who stand in the sun with the people. Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf belongs to the second group.

Yesterday in Kano, the Governor did something that no press release can fully capture. For over four hours, he stood on his feet, personally handing N50,000 cash to over 5,000 Kano women in an empowerment programme.

He did not delegate it. He did not send an aide to represent him. He did not sit in an air-conditioned office while others did the work. He stood, woman after woman, handshake after handshake, until the last beneficiary was attended to.

This is not the first time he has done this. The empowerment programme is now an annual event in Kano. But this year was different. This year was unique.

What we saw was not politics. It was a pity. It was compassion. It was a leader with a soft spot for the downtrodden.

Governor Abba’s compassion goes beyond him. It is inbuilt in him. It is not a performance for the cameras. It is not a strategy crafted by media aides. It is who he is.

Some leaders learn compassion when they get to power. Abba came to power with it. It flows naturally from him in the way he listens, in the way he looks at the poor, in the way he refuses to sit while his people are standing.

And then he did something even more remarkable.

Instead of using the opportunity to canvass votes for himself, Governor Abba used it to canvass votes for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

That is selflessness. That is loyalty. That is a leader who puts the bigger picture above personal ambition.

The response from the women said it all. Overwhelmed with joy, the Kano women brought out their voters cards and displayed them for the APC. It was spontaneous. It was heartfelt. It was gratitude turned into political commitment.

In a country where the poor are often remembered only during elections, Abba remembered them in power. In a time when many leaders have lost touch with the streets that produced them, Abba went back to the street and stood there.

The Talakawas, the ordinary market women, the widows, the petty traders, the mothers struggling to feed their families saw a governor who did not consider himself too big to stand for them.

Four hours is a long time to stand for anyone, let alone a governor with a thousand other engagements. But Abba stood because he understands what that N50,000 means. For some women, it is capital to restart a business. For others, it is school fees. For many, it is dignity. It is a message that government has not forgotten them.

Critics will always talk. They will reduce everything to politics. But let them come and stand for four hours in the Kano sun, looking into the eyes of 5,000 women, and tell us if that is politics.

Leadership is not in the convoy. Leadership is not in the agbada. Leadership is in the sacrifice. Leadership is in the willingness to feel the pain of your people, even for a few hours.

Yesterday, Abba showed who he really is.

He is not just the Executive Governor of Kano State. He is a governor of the Talakawas.