Former Kano State governor and leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has declared that Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has effectively lost his chances of securing a second term in 2027 following his defection from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and his alignment with former governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
Kwankwaso said Yusuf’s political fate was sealed the moment Ganduje publicly raised his hand after the governor’s defection, a gesture he described as symbolic and politically-damaging in Kano.
“I saw it in the papers that it was Ganduje who raised his hand, and at that moment it symbolised to us that he had lost the election,” Kwankwaso said. “If Ganduje truly had that level of influence, he would have delivered in 2019 and 2023. The people of Kano do not support Ganduje, and that was evident in our victory at the last election, even when we were the weaker party”.
Speaking in interviews and separate remarks to supporters, including an appearance on a foreign broadcast Hausa service, the NNPP national leader expressed deep disappointment over Yusuf’s decision to dump the party, accusing him of betraying the mandate given to him by NNPP members and the people of Kano State.
“He took the mandate of NNPP members and the people of Kano and handed it over to the Gandujiyya camp without any strong justification,” Kwankwaso said, adding that it would have been preferable if the governor had moved to a neutral platform. “It would even have been better if it was the ADC, something new. Instead, they took the mandate and handed it over to enemies”.
Kwankwaso dismissed claims by Yusuf that “deepening internal crises” and leadership disputes within the NNPP forced his defection, insisting that disagreements are normal in politics and do not amount to a crisis. “There is no crisis in our movement. We have a strong leadership structure. Every political party has complaints—that is the nature of politics”, he said.
He also rejected assertions by Yusuf and other defectors that they still belong to the Kwankwasiyya ideology, stressing that the movement’s values and structure cannot be separated from its political base. “Our ideology and structure are different. If you want to remain Kwankwasiyya, why leave its stronghold?” he asked. “Wearing the red cap alone does not matter; we will continue to see them as Gandujiyya loyalists”.
Reflecting on the political fallout, Kwankwaso said he had repeatedly tried to understand what led to the breakup with Yusuf but could not identify any concrete reason. “When I lie down to sleep, I ask myself what really happened. Was it me? Was it the party? Were party members at fault? I cannot find an answer”, he further said.
The former Kano-Central senator also recalled the intense political and legal battles they fought together during the 2019 Kano governorship election, describing the episode as one of the most painful moments of his political life. He recounted how the election was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and eventually overturned in favour of Ganduje after a supplementary poll. “Injustice. In my entire life, I cannot remember where such a thing has ever been done before,” Kwankwaso said, in Hausa. “Look at the struggle we went through in 2019, the courts, everything. I even took him to the homes of Supreme Court judges in their villages and towns to beg them”.
Recall that in the 2019 election, Abba Yusuf, then the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, initially led with 1,014,353 votes against Ganduje’s 953,522 before INEC declared the poll inconclusive due to cancelled votes. After a supplementary election in 28 local government areas, Ganduje was declared winner and later affirmed by the Supreme Court in 2020.
Yusuf eventually returned to power in 2023 after winning the governorship election on the NNPP platform, with strong backing from Kwankwaso and the Kwankwasiyya Movement.
Kwankwaso warned that Yusuf would ultimately regret his decision to align with Ganduje, insisting that the move has not diminished his own political relevance or that of the Kwankwasiyya Movement. “Some people think we have lost relevance because he is no longer with us. For us, this disappointment has strengthened our conviction. Kano will always be with us, and we are working towards positive change for the state and the country”, he stressed.
He concluded that, whether or not Yusuf ever returns to the movement, his current political path has firmly placed him in the Gandujiyya camp—a choice Kwankwaso believes Kano voters will remember in 2027.
