Ganduje: Kwankwaso’s defections have cost him followers… he’s no threat to APC

Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano, has downplayed the threat posed by Rabiu Kwankwaso to the chances of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 elections in the state.

In a chat with TVC on Sunday, the governor said the constant movement of Kwankwaso between political parties has seen him lose a chunk of his supporters.

Kwankwaso, who was elected twice as governor of Kano on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had defected to the APC in 2013.

He, however, returned to PDP in 2018 and, in March 2022, he left the party again for the newly formed New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), where he is the only presidential hopeful.

Since Kwankwaso joined the party, NNPP has poached some political heavyweights from the APC in Kano.

Reacting to the development, Ganduje maintained that Kwankwaso and NNPP would pose no challenge to the ruling party.

“He was in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), I was with him, and we moved to the APC. By so doing, we lost some followers in the process. Then he moved back to the PDP, and he lost more followers. And now he has moved to a new party, he has also lost some followers,” the governor said.

“So you see that when people are on nomadism in terms of politicking, they will tend to lose some followers along the line. So we have a formidable chance of winning the election in Kano.”

The ruling party is expected to hold its national convention to elect a presidential flagbearer from June 6 to 8.

Ganduje is backing the presidential bid of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former governor of Lagos state.