Rabiu Kwankwaso, national leader of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), on Wednesday, January 28, declared that he has never felt so politically let down following Kano state governor, Abba Yusuf‘s defection from the party to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
On Monday, Yusuf, a long-time ally of Kwankwaso, formally defected from the NNPP to the APC.
During his resignation from the NNPP last Friday, the governor cited deepening internal crises and prolonged leadership disputes within the party as reasons for his decision.
In a video shared by his media aide, Saifullahi Hassan, Kwankwaso addressed supporters at his residence, saying it would have been preferable if Yusuf had joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC) rather than the APC.
The NNPP leader accused the governor of handing over the party’s mandate in Kano to political adversaries.
Recalling their political struggles, Kwankwaso referenced the 2019 Kano governorship election, which was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“Injustice. In my entire life, I cannot remember such a thing happening before,” Kwankwaso said.
He added that after the election was declared inconclusive, he personally accompanied Yusuf to meet supreme court justices in their homes and communities in an effort to reclaim the mandate.
“It would have been better if they had gone to a new party like the ADC. Instead, they took the mandate and handed it over to enemies,” he said.
Kwankwaso also recounted how former senate president Anyim Pius Anyim contacted him when the controversy began, expressing shock over the developments.
INEC had declared the March 9, 2019, Kano governorship election inconclusive after determining that the margin between the top two candidates was lower than the number of cancelled votes.
Yusuf, then the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, polled 1,014,353 votes, while Abdullahi Ganduje of the APC secured 953,522 votes, leaving a margin of 26,655 votes.
A total of 100,873 votes were cancelled.
Following a supplementary election in 28 affected local government areas, Ganduje was declared the winner with a total of 1,033,695 votes, while Yusuf polled 1,024,713 votes.
In January 2020, the supreme court dismissed Yusuf’s appeal and upheld Ganduje’s victory.
Yusuf later emerged as Kano state governor in the 2023 election on the NNPP platform, a victory widely credited to Kwankwaso and the influence of the Kwankwasiyya political movement.
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