By Abu-Taqiyah Zumo
The APC national campaign team did not visit two different countries. They visited two palaces separated by less than 90 kilometers of blood-soaked road in the same Katsina State, and came back with two different Nigerias. It is as if one palace is in Nigeria and the other palace is in Dubai.
In the first palace, the APC campaign team met Nigerians. In the second palace, the team met the Villa.
In Katsina Palace, the Emir spoke like a father whose house is on fire. He spoke at length on hunger, on banditry, on the roads that have become graveyards, on young men who cannot farm. He faulted the government for inaction. He spoke for the Talakawa. That is the voice of a royal father who still sleeps in his domain and hears gunshots at night.
A few kilometers away in Daura Palace, same state, same insecurity, same hunger, but different tune. The Emir did not see hunger. He did not see bandits. He saw only the best thing to happen to Nigeria and called for continuity. He eulogized President Tinubu. Same Katsina State, different reality.
Why two different truths from two neighbours breathing the same dusty air?
The answer is not culture, it is stomach. It is not tradition, it is transaction.
The Katsina Emirate is an ancient, independent institution that draws legitimacy from history and its people. It can afford to tell power the truth because its palace does not depend on Villa dollars to survive. Its throne is older than any political party.
The Daura Emirate is the home of the former President. For 8 years, it was the center of power. The jets landed there, the contracts passed there, the appointments came from there. Today, it knows that the only way to remain relevant in the new Villa is to sing louder than any other palace. If you do not eulogize today, you will be forgotten tomorrow. So continuity must be preached, even if the subjects have no food to continue living.
This is the tragedy of 2027. Even our traditional institution has been divided into two: The palace that still feels the pain of its people and speaks, and the palace that feels the weight of patronage in its pocket and sings.
One Emir reminded the APC that people are dying. The other reminded the APC that loyalty must be rewarded.
In one afternoon in one state, Nigerians saw the two futures of the traditional stool in modern politics: A stool that stands as the conscience of the people, and a stool that stands as the megaphone of the Villa.
History will one day remember which palace stood with the people of Katsina State, Northern Nigeria and Nigeria as a whole.
