Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso, former Kano State Governor and Vice-Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2027 election, says former Governors Ibrahim Shekarau, Abdullahi Ganduje and the incumbent Gov. Abba Yusuf are politically finished in the state.
Kwankwaso stated this while reflecting on the political fortunes of hitherto members of his political family who had now fallen out with him.
While featuring on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Personality Interview Series on Sunday in Abuja, he described as unsustainable any political success built through “treachery”.
Kwankwaso further said that his experience over the past two and a half decades had shown that those who betrayed their political allies usually go into political oblivion.
“You cannot succeed with treachery. I have not seen one. Now we have taken about two and a half decades.
“If I ask you, I’m sure you don’t know; he is going into oblivion politically. He is nowhere,” Kwankwaso said, referring to one of his erstwhile political associates.
He specifically cited Ganduje, who served as his deputy for eight years before succeeding him as governor in 2015 and what he called his dwindling political fortune now.
According to him, Ganduje’s political career would have been better had he maintained the political structure they both built together, describing the former governor’s current situation as a consequence of his decision to part ways with him.
“If you can even see the issue of Ganduje, who we came together and supported, and became governor free of charge. The day when he started fighting was the beginning of his problem. If I may ask: where is he now? It is difficult to see him,” he said.
Kwankwaso said Ganduje could have commanded greater respect in Kano and beyond had he remained committed to the political structure, adding that the former governor now had significant political challenges.
He also criticised Gov. Abba Yusuf for allegedly abandoning those who worked for his emergence as governor.
Kwankwaso said the choice of Yusuf as his preferred candidate was based partly on the need to avoid a repeat of what he described as Ganduje’s actions.
“Abba Yusuf: we went down, right down, to make sure that we picked the right person who would not go and repeat what Ganduje had done.
“Members of my political group worked day and night to field Yusuf in the 2019 governorship election, which Yusuf won before the result was overturned through litigation,” he stated.
He said the same political structure returned in 2023 and successfully secured Yusuf’s election as governor in spite of attempts to deploy similar tactics against the party.
Kwankwaso, however, said Yusuf had since distanced himself from the political camp that brought him to power.
“He left us, but he is not with Ganduje now. He is in-between because I don’t think he is happy for anybody to call him Dan Gandujiyya,” he said.
He said Yusuf’s decision to allow himself to be publicly identified with Ganduje had also created political difficulties for him.
Kwankwaso further alleged that Yusuf was now attempting to supplant him as the dominant political figure in Kano, despite his continued influence in the state.
“People have no patience and that is why they are making those mistakes. It is just a matter of patience,” he said.
The former governor said the struggle for political succession and control was not peculiar to Kano, describing it as a recurring feature of Nigerian politics.
He recalled a conversation with President Bola Tinubu in which the president asked him to go and reconcile some political differences with Ganduje.
Kwankwaso said he responded by drawing the attention to the fate of several politicians who had once been close political associates of the president but were no longer prominent in his political circle.
He cited a former Lagos State Deputy Governor, Sen. Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele and former Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode as examples.
“I told him that when I come here, I don’t see Bucknor. When I come here, I don’t see Ambode. I started counting the people,” he said.
Kwankwaso, who said that his experience had shown the transient nature of political relationships, added that political colleagues could become distant in spite of having worked closely together before.
Kwankwaso, however, singled out former Osun Governor, Chief Bisi Akande, as one of the few political associates he still regarded as a friend.
He said political relationships often resembled those formed in school, where former classmates could maintain bonds in spite of the differences in their political careers.
“It’s not very peculiar to Kano, but I think the Kano experience is special out of the general lots,” Kwankwaso said.
