Will Kwankwaso Lose Grip on Kano Politics?

With the defection of Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State from the New Nigeria People’s Party to the All Progressives Congress, potentially altering the state’s political equation, will the National Leader of the NNPP, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, lose his firm grip on the politics of the state? Ejiofor Alike asks

There is no doubt that the National Leader of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is currently facing one of the greatest tests of his political career.

Since he regained control of the politics of Kano State in the 2023 general election, the former governor of the state has been losing his allies and loyalists to the defection tsunamis that swept through the opposition parties in the country.

Kwankwaso was so hit by the latest defection of his godson and Governor of Kano State, Abba Yusuf, that he confessed that the governor’s exit from the NNPP was as startling as it was difficult to explain.

After weeks of speculation and political horse-trading, Governor Yusuf, alongside nine federal lawmakers, and 31 members of the state House of Assembly, last Monday, officially joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the NNPP.

The governor and other defectors were received by prominent APC chieftains, including a former governor of the state and erstwhile National Chairman of the party, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje; Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin; Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Abdullahi Ata; and the state party chairman, Abdullahi Abbas.

Speaking shortly after flagging off the e-registration process, the governor said his decision to re-join APC was not motivated by personal ambition but “a deliberate step taken in the interest of unity, peace, stability, progress and sustainable development of Kano State.”

THISDAY had reported that Yusuf’s defection was being delayed due to his demand for an automatic ticket in the 2027 general election, which was being resisted by other APC leaders in the state, who were nursing governorship ambition.

But in his address, Ganduje announced that all contenders for the governorship under APC had relinquished their ambitions for Yusuf.

Similarly, Jibrin, hitherto identified as having a governorship ambition, also relinquished his governorship bid, saying, “When I say Abba Gida-Gida, you say 4+4.”

Although the deputy governor, Comrade Aminu Abdulsalam, and three commissioners, who were absent, have remained in the NNPP, the defection of the governor and others was seen as a great political blow to the National Leader of NNPP, Kwankwaso.

Kwankwaso, the leader of the Kwankwasiyya movement, a powerful political group, regained his political supremacy in the politics of the state in the 2023 general election.

However, with the defection of his political godson, Yusuf and his other key allies and foot soldiers, who were all members of the Kwankwasiyya movement, it is feared that Kwankwaso is gradually losing control of the politics of the state.

Kwankwaso had in May 2025 lost the Senator representing Kano South Senatorial District under the platform of the NNPP, Kawu Sumaila, to the APC.

In his letter of defection read at plenary by the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, he said his decision to leave the NNPP was anchored on compelling and undeniable developments within the party, which had rendered the party severely divided and dysfunctional.

NNPP had also lost many elected members of the House of Representatives in the state.

These defections will significantly alter Kano’s political equation and potentially weaken Kwankwaso’s control of the politics of the state ahead of the 2027 general election.

When it emerged that Yusuf would defect to the ruling APC, Kwankwaso had described his planned defection to the APC as an act of betrayal.

“This is a lesson to all of us. We thought everyone had understood. We never expected betrayal.

“The most painful thing is that after everything we did to rescue Kano from Ganduje and the APC, you have now handed the governorship back to him free of charge,” Kwankwaso lamented.

However, many believe the former Kano State governor was paying for his sins against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Kwankwaso had defected from the PDP to the APC while serving as governor without vacating his office.

In their separate reactions to Yusuf’s resignation from the NNPP, shortly before he joined the APC, Kwankwaso and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the NNPP had described the governor’s resignation from the party as a cold betrayal of a sacred trust.

Addressing his loyalists at his Miller Road residence in Kano, Kwankwaso, declared January 23 as “World Betrayal Day”.

Kwankwaso said the idea of adopting the day as such was inspired by social media commentators who described the governor’s NNPP exit as an act of betrayal.

Similarly, the NNPP, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Ladipo Johnson, noted that Yusuf’s resignation was not the first time such a betrayal occurred in the political history of Kano, adding that in the early 1980s, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi defected from the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) to the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP).

In his latest reaction to Yusuf’s defection, Kwankwaso had warned that the governor would regret his decision.

Kwankwaso stated this last Wednesday during an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, where he described Yusuf’s exit from the party as startling as it was difficult to explain.

The former Kano State governor noted that the manner in which the governor and his allies left the NNPP had raised widespread suspicion.

He said, “Honestly, there are times I also struggle to understand how events unfolded in that manner.”

But in their reaction, former National Chairman of NNPP, Professor Rafai Alkali; former National Organising Secretary, Suliman Hunkuyi; and former National Legal Adviser, Professor Bem Angwe, declared that they had been vindicated by Yusuf’s defection to APC.

A statement jointly signed by Alkali, Angwe, and Hunkuyi, said, ‘’Today, the very party Abba Yusuf left is engulfed in open conflicts – courtroom litigations, factional declarations, and advertised confusion over par-ty legitimacy.

“This is not an external conspiracy; it is the natural consequence of unresolved contradictions, demanding serious attention, but ignored for too long.”

Responding to Kwankwaso’s statement that Governor Yusuf should relinquish his mandate before defecting to the APC, a former Kano State governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, insisted that Yusuf should not be accused of betrayal because Kwankwaso set the precedent.

“To me, Kwankwaso has either forgotten what happened in the past or he thought people have forgotten,” Shekarau said.

“When he was in PDP, he also left the governorship seat to APC. Why didn’t he drop it for PDP? The way he took PDP’s seat to APC is likely the same way Abba will take the NNPP seat to APC,” he added.

Today, Kwankwaso is caught between joining APC and queuing behind Yusuf as his leader or rebuilding what is left of the NNPP ahead of the 2027 elections.

But the question is: Can Kano NNPP, which has depleted in ranks, stand the APC, which parades formidable leaders such as Governor Yusuf, Ganduje, Jibrin and other political gladiators?