Abdulmumin Jibrin, a chieftain of the New Nigeria Political Party (NNPP), says that the NNPP taught Kano state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, a political lesson.
Jibrin, who is also a member-elect to represent Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency in the 10th National Assembly, disclosed that he left the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the buildup to the elections because the governor “pushed” him and others away from the ruling party.
Jibrin made this known on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today program.
According to him, Ganduje does not want many of them in the APC, and he practically ensured that he pushed them away. However, they went back, got themselves together, and taught him a political lesson in his life.
“We have always had that affinity and that long-time relationship with the national leader of the NNPP (Rabiu Kwankwaso) who actually headhunted me into politics,” Jibrin said.
“On the other hand, we weren’t wanted in the APC, the governor doesn’t want a lot of us in the APC. So, he practically ensured that he pushed us away. Of course, we went back, got ourselves together, and taught him a political lesson of his life.”
The battle for the political control of Kano State in Nigeria’s North-West geopolitical zone between the APC and the NNPP was settled last month with the declaration of NNPP’s Yusuf Kabir as the governor-elect.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Kabir the winner of the keenly contested March 18 poll, scoring 1,019,602 votes to defeat his closest contender, Nasir Gawuna of the APC, who polled 890,705 votes.
The two main contestants were backed by political gladiators in the state, which boasts of high numerical and voter strength. Kabir was backed by former Kano governor and NNPP presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, who has a “cult-like” following in Kano with his socio-political and religious movement known as the Kwankwasiyya.
On the other hand, Gawuna was endorsed by the incumbent governor and APC powerbroker, Abdullahi Ganduje, whose two-term of eight years ends on May 29, 2023.
Ganduje and Kwankwaso have remained arch-political rivals over the control of Nigeria’s unarguably most populated state with a commensurate number of voters, the highest nationwide.
In the February 25 presidential poll, Kwankwaso won in 38 of the 44 local government areas in Kano with a total of 997,279 votes while APC’s Bola Tinubu won in the remaining six local governments with 517,341 votes. He, however, came a distant fourth in the poll won by Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State.
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