Minister Meets with Ganduje, Kicks against Kwankwaso’s Rumoured Defection to APC

•Says ex-governor no longer relevant in Kano

•He’s wallowing in darkness, let’s help him, declares party chair

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, Yusuf Ata, has kicked against the rumoured defection of aformer governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Ata disclosed this in Abuja after a closed-door meeting with the APC National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje at the party’s national secretariat.

His words: “Anybody who visits Kano State even today will see that there are a lot of changes. It is hardly you will find red caps in Kano.

“Before now, if you visit the mosque you will see many red caps but today you can visit a mosque and if 5000 people come for prayers, you cannot see 20 red caps in Kano.

“So, we are assuring the president that we are not asking for anything less. We are strongly behind our national chairman. We have been discussing with him. This is the opinion of all the Kano State APC, even to the grassroots.

“Kwankwaso is no longer relevant in Kano. He is only coming to APC, not that we invited him. Because he is going to die politically. I am assuring you and even Mr. President has all his security records from the grassroots in Kano.

“He is no more attractive. So, he is struggling to be accommodated in the APC. That may bring a lot of crisis in the APC in Kano state. This is our position.

“Unless the National Chairman, who is the leader of the party in Kano takes a decision to accept him, Kwankwaso stands rejected.”

Asked why he won’t be happy if Kwankwaso joined the APC, he said, “Personally, I won’t be happy. Unless it is a decision from our father (Ganduje) to accommodate him. I was in the House of Assembly in 1999 when Kwankwaso was the governor. So, I know Kwankwaso very well.

“He is no more attractive in Kano. We have no deal unless the national chairman, as a leader, said we should accommodate him. No problem.”

However,  Ganduje who said Kwankwaso has been abandoned by all his followers, added that “when a fish is running out of water, that’s exactly what is happening.

“If the water is drying, the fish has to find its way to water. So that is what is happening. I will not say we are not ready to welcome him.

“When you see your son running to where he would get shelter and you are a big brother in a big home, I think it is morally right to accommodate him.

“So we cannot say we won’t accommodate him because a friend in need is a friend indeed. Somebody who has been abandoned, we should not allow him to wallow in darkness.”