By Aishatu Haruna
There is a point in every political administration when one begins to realise that some appointees are more than the offices they occupy. They become instruments of political imagination, interpreters of vision, bridges between government and the governed and, sometimes, the quiet architects of political possibilities.
Comrade Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya appears to have entered that territory.
He is, officially, the Commissioner of Information and Internal Affairs of Kano State. But politics, like history, is rarely impressed by official titles alone. It is interested in what a man does with the space given to him.
And that is where Waiya becomes interesting.
A Commissioner of Information is traditionally expected to explain government. A good one goes further, he helps government to be understood. A very good one goes even more further. He helps government to be believed. But a politically useful Commissioner does something still greater. He helps create the human relationships upon which political confidence, stability and continuity are built.
This is perhaps the most fascinating dimension of Comrade Waiya’s present political relevance.
His public interventions have increasingly placed him beyond the conventional boundaries of publicity. From defending government policies and articulating the philosophy of Kano First to engaging contentious political narratives, he has demonstrated that information management in contemporary politics is not merely about issuing statements. It is about shaping perception, managing tension and keeping the political conversation alive.
But there is another side of the Waiya phenomenon that deserves attention.
Politics is ultimately a game of people.
Policies do not vote. Buildings do not vote. Press releases do not vote. Political structures are built by people, sustained by people and, ultimately, tested by people.
Therefore, any politician who understands the importance of winning people without humiliating them possesses an invaluable political currency.
This is where Waiya’s ongoing engagement with members of the opposition, and, more recently, his political outreach to serving Councillors, becomes worthy of reflection
.
One may call it political romance. One may call it mobilisation. One may call it realignment. But beneath all the political vocabulary is a very old truth. That people move when they find a reason to move.
And political persuasion is not always about defeating an opponent. Sometimes it is about convincing him that there is a larger table at which everybody can sit.
That distinction matters.
The mature politician does not see every opposition member as an enemy. He sees an opponent as someone who may disagree today and cooperate tomorrow. Democracy, after all, is not the permanent separation of citizens into enemies and friends. It is the management of differences in pursuit of a common society.
If Comrade Waiya’s current political engagements succeed in bringing people across old partisan boundaries, then his contribution may eventually be measured not merely by the number of people he persuades, but by the number of political walls he helps dismantle.
That is what makes a Commissioner a political asset.
A political asset is not necessarily the loudest person in the room. Sometimes, he is the person who understands when to speak, what to say, whom to speak to, and, perhaps most importantly, when not to speak.
Comrade Waiya’s strongest currency appears to be communication.
But communication, properly understood, is not the ability to talk. It is the ability to connect.
There is a world of difference.
Talking fills the air. Communication changes understanding.Talking may win an argument. Communication may win a relationship. Talking can produce applause. Communication can produce movement.
And politics, ultimately, is movement.
This perhaps explains why Comrade Waiya has become such a visible defender and interpreter of the Abba Kabir Yusuf’s administration. His public interventions have repeatedly placed him at the intersection of governance, politics and public perception. In January 2026, for instance, he openly challenged narratives surrounding Governor Yusuf’s political future and argued against the idea that Kano’s political destiny should be reduced to the influence of any single political godfather.
Whether one agrees with every political position he takes is beside the point.
What matters is that he understands that political silence also communicates.
A government without a voice can easily surrender its narrative to its opponents.
And a government whose voice lacks conviction can lose the battle for public confidence even when its policies are sound.
The indefatigable Waiya appears to understand this.
Yet there is an even deeper philosophical question here.
What makes a person politically valuable?
Is it his position?
His popularity?
His access to power?
His ability to mobilize crowds?
His proximity to the Governor?
Or is it his capacity to make himself useful to a larger political project?
I would argue for the last.
A political appointment is a trust. A political asset is someone who multiplies that trust.
Such a person does not merely occupy political space, he creates value within it.
He builds confidence where there is suspicion.
He creates conversation where there is hostility.
He explains where there is confusion.
He defends where defence is necessary.
And, where possible, he persuades without insulting.
That last quality is particularly important in Kano’s intensely competitive political environment.
For politics to mature, politicians must eventually learn that today’s opponent may be tomorrow’s ally, and today’s ally may become tomorrow’s opponent.
Therefore, wisdom demands restraint.
It demands that political disagreements should not become permanent personal hatred.
It demands that bridges be preserved even when roads temporarily separate.
This is why Waiya’s apparent effort to engage opposition figures deserves to be viewed beyond the immediate arithmetic of party politics.
There is a larger philosophy here. Inclusion is often more powerful than conquest.
When a political actor brings another person closer, he does not necessarily diminish himself. Sometimes, he enlarges the political space available to everyone.
The recent attention surrounding his engagement with Councillors is therefore significant, not simply because Councillors represent another layer of political structure, but because grassroots politics lives at that level. The Councillor knows the Ward. He knows the street. He knows the community. He understands the ordinary political pulse in ways that speeches delivered from government offices cannot always capture.
To engage such people is to engage the roots of politics.
And perhaps Waiya’s greatest political asset may ultimately lie in his ability to combine the language of government with the language of grassroots politics.
He speaks as a Commissioner, but he appears to understand the psychology of the activist.
He operates within government, but he retains the instincts of a political mobilizer.
He communicates policy, but he understands persuasion.
That combination is rare.
It is also powerful.
Of course, celebration should not become hagiography. No public official is beyond criticism, and no political strategy is without risks. Political realignment can generate suspicion, aggressive political advocacy can sometimes blur the boundary between government communication and partisan mobilisation, and every political bridge must ultimately be judged by where it leads.
But acknowledging these realities does not diminish Comrade Waiya’s contribution.
Rather, it makes the appreciation more meaningful,
because the real compliment to a public servant is not that he is perfect.
It is that he is useful to the people and purposeful in the service entrusted to him.
Waiya’s story, therefore, may be less about being the Commissioner who speaks the most and more about being the Commissioner who understands that words can be political infrastructure.
A road connects places.
A bridge connects people.
But words can connect minds.
And sometimes, the most consequential political bridge begins with a conversation.
This is why the title “When a Commissioner is a Political Asset” is not merely praise. It is an observation.
Waiya has demonstrated that a Commissioner of Information can become much more than the custodian of government publicity. He can become a political interpreter, a defender of institutional confidence, an advocate of a governing philosophy and, when wisely deployed, a bridge-builder across political divides.
His recent recognition as a finalist in the 2026 National Spokespersons Awards’ Crisis Communicator category adds an interesting professional footnote to this emerging reputation.
But awards, commendations and newspaper headlines will eventually fade.
What may endure is something more difficult to measure. That is the number of minds he changed, the relationships he repaired, the people he brought closer, the misunderstandings he clarified, and the political bridges he helped construct.
That is the higher test of political usefulness.
And perhaps that is the most generous way to understand Comrade Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya today, not simply as a Commissioner who happens to be politically active, but as a political asset who happens to occupy the office of Commissioner.
There is a subtle difference.
One describes a man by his office.
The other describes an office by the value of the man occupying it.
And in the theatre of politics, that difference can be everything.
Waiya, therefore, is not merely carrying the government’s message. He is increasingly participating in the conversation about what kind of political community Kano can become, one in which persuasion can replace hostility, engagement can soften rivalry, and political differences need not become permanent divisions.
That is a worthy thing to celebrate.
And perhaps, in the final analysis, the greatest political asset is not the man who knows how to win against people.
It is the man who knows how to win people.
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