Kwankwaso: NNPP, PDP, any which way?

BY ADNAN MUKHTAR TUDUNWADA

It’s no longer news that a former governor of Kano, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is on his way to joining the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP). The former governor, who hinted this to BBC Hausa on Thursday, said that arrangements were in place to defect to the new party.

The NNPP, had yesterday, dissolved all members of the national working committee, state, local, and ward executives in a move to welcome the leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement.

Kwankwaso, who commands a large number of supporters, has been a strong man as far as Kano politics is concerned since 2011 when he was re-elected as governor of the state. When Kwankwaso defected to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), he held sway in the state. He enjoyed large followership. In fact, his announcement of planned defection to NNPP came to many as a shock. But many analysts and observers became more surprised when the state executives of the PDP under Shehu Wada Sagagi indicated interest to remain in the party even after the formal defection of their leader.

One apparent factor pushing Kwankwaso out of the PDP is his seeming disagreements with party stakeholders from the northwest after they rejected his preferred candidate, Mohammed Jamu Yusuf, as the zonal vice chairman of the party. This was because a majority of the party stakeholders from the region had settled for Bello Hayatu Gwarzo, a former chief whip of the senate. During an interview with the BBC Hausa at his residence in Abuja, Kwankwaso had accused Governor Aminu Tambuwal of aiding his opponents from Kano to fight him.

After sensing a possible defeat Kwankwaso, through a pseudonym, filed a suit at a high court in Zaria under Justice Kabir Dabo to stop the zonal congress that was slated for February. Since then, Kwankwaso has been plunged into a political dilemma, hence his search for a political platform to pursue his presidential aspiration and that of his anointed gubernatorial candidate for Kano, Abba Kabir Yusuf of the popular Gida-Gida meme.

On February 22, Kwankwaso launched a political movement that Nigerians saw as Third Force. Unfortunately, the movement did not gain traction because the security challenges bedeviling this country stole the minds of Nigerians at the time of the launch.

In my article titled: ‘The National Movement and Matters Arising’, I dissected the weaknesses of the movement as lacking in the capacity to assemble the required number of the electorate to make any meaningful impact in the 2023 general election, let alone assuming the mantle of leadership in this country. From the caliber of the people that gathered at the event, one would be rushed to conclude that the movement can be described as dead on arrival.

Now, to the NNPP issue, the presence of Buba Galadima and Rufai Ahmed Alkali at a meeting with the leadership of the party and the emergence of Kwankwaso’s loyalist, Umar Haruna Doguwa, as the acting chairman of the party in Kano speaks volumes that the former governor had concluded all arrangements to take over the party for his presidential ambition, especially knowing that the two big political parties in the country will not give him a chance to do so.

The big question, however, is not about Kwankwaso joining the NNPP but about his motive behind doing so. Could it be that the senator is out for mischief against the PDP in Kano state, considering that he is not only a stakeholder but a brand in his own right?

Can Kwankwaso achieve his mission by joining a small platform like the NNPP, or is he only opting out of the PDP in order to hatch his long-hidden agenda of destabilising the party in the state? These answers are better answered by time and patience.

In the final analysis, I believe that Kwankwaso should leave the PDP and leave it for good. He should allow the party system to work its course, abandon his plans to hold on to a structure and crop of loyalists in the party who do his biddings even if these biddings are contrary to the dictates of the party. Refusing to heed this advice will only continue to tarnish his long and outstanding career in politics. With large followers, the Kwankwasiyya Movement is capable of forming a new party. I was amazed seeing Kwankwaso cross-carpeting to a party that he didn’t form himself.

After Kwankwaso’s formal defection to the NNPP, I envisage that the PDP will dissolve the Kano executives and consider other loyal members that are willing to steer the activities of the party to victory during the 2023 elections.

Sagagi and other executives at all levels should also leave and allow others with fresh ideas and the party at heart to take over. Because it’s obvious that their loyalty is not with the national chairman Iyorchia Ayu but with the almighty Kwankwaso who gave them all to the positions they are occupying. But in politics, you can’t be loyal to two different parties. It’s not only an act of sabotage but anti-party activity, punishable by expulsion.

May Nigeria and Nigerians succeed!

Adnan, a journalist and political PR consultant, writes from Lagos