The Kano State Chairman of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Hashim Dungurawa, announced on Monday that neither the party’s national leadership nor its leader, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has approved Governor Abba Yusuf’s rumoured defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a radio broadcast monitored by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Dungurawa described the potential move as a betrayal of the people of Kano State, who voted the NNPP into power in the last general elections.
“It is a betrayal of the people of Kano who elected this party. It is improper to defeat a party in an election only to turn around and join that same party,” Mr Dungurawa stated.
His remarks followed speculation that Mr Yusuf and several high-ranking NNPP members were preparing to defect to the APC, which came second in the 2023 governorship election in the state.
Earlier, PREMIUM TIMES reported that Abdullahi Rogo, the director general of the Protocol Directorate at the Kano State Government House, along with NNPP stakeholders from the Rogo Local Government Area, had already expressed their intention to join the APC.
Speaking on the resolutions reached during a recent meeting, Mr Rogo said, “We have consulted with NNPP stakeholders in Rogo and agreed that the leadership of the Kwankwasiyya movement—specifically Rabiu Kwankwaso and Governor Abba Yusuf—should lead us back to the APC.
“We believe Kwankwaso’s presidential ambitions can only be realised on the APC platform. This decision is rooted in the best interests and future prosperity of Kano State,” Mr Rogo stated.
NNPP maintains stance
Mr Dungurawa said that while the NNPP is aware that “certain individuals” are contemplating an exit, the move lacks Mr Kwankwaso’s and the NNPP’s official backing.
“I want to make it clear that the Kano State chapter, the national leadership, and our National Leader, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, do not approve of these developments,” Mr Dungurawa said in the radio broadcast.
He further revealed that the party has made efforts to persuade those involved to remain patient and honour their mandate to the electorate. He urged members to focus on the party’s core objectives: improving the educational sector, revitalising agriculture and commerce and providing relief to the marginalised citizens of Kano.
Mr Dungurawa also addressed rumours suggesting that he, alongside the state’s Deputy Governor, Aminu Abdulsalam, the senator representing Kano Central, Rufai Hanga, and others, were hatching a plan to create a rift between Governor Yusuf and Mr Kwankwaso. He dismissed these allegations as baseless.
“We have never turned anyone against our leader. If anyone has evidence to the contrary, let them present it,” he challenged.
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Concluding his broadcast, Mr Dungurawa urged the public to disregard the rumours and remain law-abiding. He also warned party members against signing any documents or petitions being circulated by “mischief makers” aimed at destabilising the party.
Possible Implications
The party chairman’s remarks confirm the widening rift in the NNPP, which governs only Kano State and has a majority of Kano lawmakers as its members.
Mr Kwankwaso, as the NNPP candidate in the 2023 presidential election, also came fourth in the election.
However, the rumoured defection of Governor Yusuf is not peculiar to Kano State or indeed to the NNPP. Many governors from opposition parties are rumoured to want to defect to the APC, Nigeria’s ruling party. Many others, including those of Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Delta, have already abandoned their former party, PDP, for the APC, fuelling concerns that Nigeria is moving towards a one-party state.
