Politics
Shekarau, Kwankwaso Team Up Against Ganduje In Kano
Following the formal defection of former Kano State Governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), the political alignment in the state has taken a different shape, TheTide source reports.
Shekarau, the Senator representing Kano Central, picked up his NNPP membership card at his Giginyu Ward on Wednesday after several days of back and forth on the defection.
The National Leader of NNPP and its presidential aspirant, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, also a former Governor of Kano State, was among the bigwigs of Kano politics that were at the event to receive Shekarau into NNPP; a union some political analysts described as a marriage of convenience.
Our source further reports that Kwankwaso personally handed over Shekarau’s membership card, with the Shura Council, Shekarau’s political structure’s highest decision-making body, also in attendance.
This is the first time that Shekarau and Kwankwaso will go into general elections as members of the same party, and with both of them considered as two of three strongest politicians in the state, their alignment is being seen as a game changer.
Since the crisis within Kano APC led to the emergence of the G-7 faction led by Shekarau in late 2021, observers had forecast that as long as the crisis is left to be resolved via the court system where only one winner would emerge, it would be impossible to have Shekarau and the current Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje in the same party come 2023.
This forecast became evident days before the Supreme Court decided the matter in favour of Governor Ganduje as Shekarau was reported to have said that if the apex court’s decision did not favour them (G-7), they will stop over at the famous Yan Lemo fruits’ market at the entrance of Kano. The insignia of the new but fast growing NNPP is a variety of fruits.
After the apex court’s judgment, a lot of politicking took place, most of them in the dead of the night, to broker peace between Ganduje and Shekarau and convince the latter to rescind his decision to leave the APC, but all were to no avail as both sides could not come to agreement on demands made from each other.
But before Shekarau’s formal defection, some other members of G-7 had all defected to the NNPP and were seen at the forefront of convincing Shekarau to also join them in the new party.
Before this chain of defection, at least 17 members of Kano State House of Assembly had defected from both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the APC to the NNPP.
All these defections, which culminated with Shekarau’s move on Wednesday, has now changed the permutations and political alignment in Kano State ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Political analysts observed that before the emergence and sudden growth of the NNPP, PDP was hitherto considered as the main opposition in Kano and was expected to provide a formidable competition to the APC in 2023 as it did in 2019.
But with the party (PDP) engrossed with its own leadership problem between the camps of its chairman, Shehu Sagagi (a loyalist of Kwankwasiyya Movement) and that of a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aminu Wali, the party has continued to struggle to put its house in order.
In 2019, when the opposition (PDP) was coasting to victory before the election was declared inconclusive, the party had its major strength from Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasiyya Movement, which marshalled supports and votes for its then candidate, Abba Yusuf (popularly known as Abba Gida-Gida) against Ganduje.
Unlike in 2019 when Governor Ganduje had the support of Shekarau to defeat his major challenger, Yusuf, the governor’s candidate in 2023 will not only not be able to call on Shekarau’s support but will now have to contend against the joint force of the NNPP, filled majorly by politicians that felt slighted by him (Ganduje) and APC.
Recall that Ganduje-led APC stakeholders had endorsed the current deputy governor, Nasir Yusuf Gawuna and former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Murtala Sule-Garo to clinch the joint governorship and deputy governorship ticket of the party.
This decision was one of the developments that led to the mass exodus of APC bigwigs, especially from Kano South to the NNPP.
Kano South is believed to be central to the permutations of all the parties in Kano, and the battle is expected to come from that axis, especially with the latest alignment.
Alhassan Rurum, who is currently a House of Representatives member for Rano/Kibiya/Bunkure, was among those hoping to clinch the governorship ticket of APC before it was handed over to Gawuna, and he was hinging his ambition on the fact that his zone (Kano South) has not produced a governor or deputy since 1992.
Abdulrahman Kawu Sumaila, a former legislative aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, is also targeting the Kano South senatorial ticket, currently held by Senator Kabiru Gaya. This is even as the immediate past Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Nura Dankadai, is planning to unseat the House Leader, Alhassan Doguwa, as representative of Doguwa/Tudunwada at the green chamber.
The ambition of Dankadai, who is believed to be a major local mobiliser in Kano South, may also change permutations at the federal level for APC as the Doguwa is believed to be prepping up to become the Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2023.
Elsewhere, in Kano North, the recent peace parley between Ganduje and Senator Barau Jibrin, another leader of the G-7, seems to have doused the tension in the axis, especially as it was reported that the governor has agreed to step down his senatorial ambition for Barau’s return to the red chamber. Barau was a front runner for the governorship seat until the endorsement of Gawuna. He thereafter abandoned his gubernatorial ambition.
But there are still fears within the APC that unless the party is able to resolve the animosity between Barau and Sule-Garo (the anointed deputy governorship aspirant), the party may still implode, especially with talks of dissatisfaction in the camp of Sule-Garo over the peace parley between Ganduje and Barau.
In Kano Central, Senator Bashir Lado, Abdulkarim A. Zaura and Barrister Ismaeel Ahmed, all in the camp of the governor, are expected to test their popularity at the party’s primaries to know who will contest against Shekarau of the NNPP for the senate seat.
The Kano central has always been seen as a stronghold of Kwankwasiyya while Kano north and south belong to governor Ganduje and APC as evidenced during the 2019 elections. However, many observers see the Kwankwaso/Shekarau merger and the recent high-profile defection to NNPP from Kano south as a serious threat that could lead to the defeat of the ruling APC.
But some APC insiders believe that Ganduje’s reconciliation with Senator Barau of Kano north and the fact that Gawuna hails from Kano central as well as the incumbency factor will help them retain Nigeria’s most populous state.
Commenting, Dr Aminu Hayatu, a political analyst and lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Bayero University, Kano, (BUK), is of the opinion that as much as Kwankwaso and Shekarau’s union has changed the political alignment and permutations in Kano, the real challenge will come after the party’s primaries or shortly after the party retains power.
He said, “His NNPP is no doubt an alternative force that has the promise of neutralising the arrogance of the ruling party, basically in Kano, and the incompetence of the PDP as a supposed opposition.
“But Kwankwaso’s major dilemma is that, most of those defecting to the NNPP are just after what they can personally gain from the party’s elective positions and appointments.”
Hayatu, therefore, believes that while NNPP has the potential to “capture power at least in Kano and some few Northern states maybe, but it may, if care is not taken, run into post-victory crises arising from different kinds of grievances.”
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday brushed aside the order of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which ordered him to stay proceedings in a suit that sought deregistration of the African Democratic Party (ADC), Accord Party and three others.
The Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision of a panel of three Justices had on May 22, 2026 directed the Federal High Court Judge not to proceed with the suit until an appeal pending before them and filed by Accord Party is resolved.
In a Certified True Copy Enrol Order of the Superior Court, Justices Mohammed Danjuma, Adebukola Banjoko and Oyejoju Oyewumi asked the lower Court Judge to stay proceedings until all issues on the appeal filed by the Accord Party were resolved
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State had, through the Accord Party, applied to justice Lifu to join him as a defendant in the deregistration legal battle instituted by a group of former legislators.
The contention of the Osun State governor was that he had a stake in the Accord Party, being the platform he was seeking re-election in the August 15 gubernatorial poll in the state.
In his ruling, Justice Lifu on April 27 ruled against the Osun State governor, rejecting his request to be joined in the suit to defend his own position and interest.
Not satisfied with the Federal High Court decision, the Osun State governor, through his lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), moved to the Court of Appeal in Abuja where he challenged the Justice Lifu decision to refuse to allow him join the suit.
After listening to the argument canvassed, especially that he has interest to protect as Accord Party gubernatorial candidate for Osun State governorship election, the three Justices of the Court of Appeal, unanimously directed Justice Lifu to allow them look into the grievances of the governor.
In specific terms, the Court of Appeal Justices directed Justice Lifu not to proceed further with the matter and fixed October 27 to determine the interlocutory appeal of the appellant.
However, when the certified enroll order and notice of appeal were served on Justice Peter Lifu by Mr Adetunbi (SAN), the judge rejected it on the ground that it was a ploy to arrest his judgment in the matter.
Although the judge had adjourned his judgment delivery in the matter indefinitely, he finally made a dramatic turn around on Monday and proceeded to deliver the judgment that has now proscribed the five political parties.
Actor turned politician, Mr Kenneth Okonkwo, has rejected the choice of former Rivers State Governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, as the running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a statement on Monday, Mallam Bolaji Abdulllahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, announced the party’s choice of Mr Amaechi.
However in a statement, Mr Okonkwo said that the choice of Mr Amaechi from the South South strengthens the continued marginalization of people from the South East.
According to the former spokesperson of the Labour Party, any arrangement that would not factor a person from the South East either as president or vice president in the party is anti-Igbo.
He contended that Chief Raph Nwosu, who founded the ADC in 2005 and willingly surrendered it’s leadership to Senator David Mark did not do so to entrench Igbo marginalization in the party.
The former actor said: “I heard from the social media that ADC has picked its vice presidential candidate from the South-South. If this is true, it is unfortunate, as this will continue the crude marginalisation of the South-East.
“This geo-political zone has neither produced a president or vice president since 1999. To deny the South-East the opportunity to produce the president or vice president in the ADC in 2027, will amount to perpetuating the marginalisation.
“The ADC was founded by Ralphs Nwosu from the South-East in 2005. He made the sacrifice to give up the party in 2025 for the coalition to usher in a better Nigeria. He couldn’t have made that sacrifice to marginalise his own people.
“I did not join the coalition to assist in marginalisation of my own people further. I am of the opinion that if we made a sacrifice to give up the national chairman and the president, it will amount to unpardonable injustice to deny us the vice president in 2027.
“I joined politics to fight for a better Nigeria where no region, geo-political zone, or person will be marginalised.
“The only favour I asked Atiku Abubakar, who openly declared that he is the pathway to the presidency of the South-East, is to show it by choosing someone from the South-East to be his vice.
“If it is confirmed that he has chosen a candidate from the South-South, I wish him well. I am not favourably disposed to campaigning for any presidential ticket that does not have a person of South-East origin as president or vice in 2027”
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, on Monday said that the numerous projects being executed by President Bola Tinubu across the states in the southeast will give him upper hand over other presidential candidates during next year’s general elections.
Prof. Yilwatda stated this at the Abakaliki Township Stadium during a mega rally organized by the Ebonyi State government and Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, during which President Tinubu and other APC candidates for the 2027 general elections were adopted.
According to the APC National Chairman, no President had done for the southeast region what President Tinubu has done for them and expressed the confidence that the president would not only win in Ebonyi State but in the entire South East.
Prof. Yilwatda also used the occasion to address growing insinuations in some quarters that Ebonyi State had been conceded to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Dismissing the claim, Prof. Yilwatda said the state would not allow the PDP to win any position in the forthcoming general election.
“We will return President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Francis Nwifuru as Governor of Ebonyi State in 2027.
“We want to return all APC senators, members of the House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates in 2027.
“Nobody has conceded Ebonyi to the PDP. Therefore, there is no vacancy in Ebonyi State. Ebonyi PDP has no place, and there is no vacancy at all in the Government House come 2027,” the APC National Chairman declared.
He commended the people of the state for their support for President Tinubu and urged them to re-elect him in the next presidential election in appreciation of what he has done for the state and the entire South-East through infrastructural transformation and human capital development.
Governor Francis Nwifuru, who also spoke at the event, said the state had no other presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections apart from President Tinubu.
He declared that Ebonyi remained a stronghold of the APC and vowed that the party would deliver the President in the state.
Gov. Nwifuru said President Tinubu had shown exceptional commitment to the state and deserved total support for appointing Senator Umahi as Minister of Works, a role he said Senator Umahi had performed creditably.
“Ebonyi has no other presidential candidate apart from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and we will return him in the presidential election.
“We are standing here today to tell the whole world, especially those using the President’s name to orchestrate division and confusion in this great state, that we have only one party, and that is the APC.
“This statement became necessary because some people are going around claiming they have discussed with Mr President and that he has handed Ebonyi over to the PDP. They are also saying that Chief Nyesom Wike is their leader and that Wike said the President has given Ebonyi to him.
“Ebonyi is not for sale. We are restraining ourselves because the people are with us. Nobody should push us because we have what it takes to confront anyone trying to destabilise us.
“We want to tell Mr President that he has earned our votes. He gave us what we had never had in Eastern Nigeria — the office of the Minister of Works. And this Minister of Works is not sitting idle; he is working,” he stated.
Senator Umahi, in his remarks, said President Tinubu had done what no other President had done for Ebonyi State and the entire South-East by executing numerous projects across the state and the region.
“Ebonyi State is a one-party state under Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru. We are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done a lot, not just for Ebonyi State but for the entire South-East and other geopolitical zones,” he said.