Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the 2023 elections, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has agreed to return to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on strong terms.....TAP TO CONTINUE READING

The NNPP National leader wants “strong promises” from the ruling party and President Bola Tinubu.

The former Kano governor stated this while speaking to Hon. Buhari Bakwana, a former adviser on political affairs to Abdullahi Ganduje –the immediate past governor of the state.

Bakwana, a former APC member who had joined NNPP, alongside APC members from the 44 local government areas of Kano State, was with Kwankwaso at his Miller Road residence in Kano on Thursday.

The Nation gathered Bakwana is among those pressing on Sen. Kwankwaso to return to APC, on whose platform he won his second term election as governor of Kano state.

During the visit, Kwankwaso reminded his guests he and other key figures played a pivotal role in founding the APC in 2013.

Lamenting that he along other founders of the ruling APC have borne the brunt of political persecution in the process, Kwankwaso insisted that this time he must get “tangible benefits,” should he join the APC.

He, however, explained that the NNPP remained willing to engage in fresh negotiations, but warned that it would not accept to be used and dumped.

Kwankwaso said: “We are ready to join APC under strong conditions and promises. We will not allow anyone to use us and later dump us.

“Discussions about a merger or return to APC must spell out tangible benefits for my party (NNPP).”

“If you are asking us to join APC, you must tell us what NNPP will gain. We have gubernatorial candidates in all the states and full structures nationwide. What will you offer them, if we join?” he asked.

“Nobody in this country will tell me the burden we took to form APC. We were the ones who led the creation of the party, and we were the first set of seven governors to declare support for it. ICPC, EFCC, and the police were all used against us (me and them), just to stop our plans.”

The NNPP national leader also recalled the frustrations of past alliances, accusing both APC and PDP of reneging on agreements.

He also lamented that he and the other APC founders did not benefit from the Muhammadu Buhari led-APC administration.

“Eight years of APC under the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari gave us nothing, not even appreciation. In PDP, we asked for just a zonal party chairman, but they refused. We left peacefully and today we are strong, with integrity,” Kwankwaso said.

Meanwhile, the Kano state chapter of the APC yesterday expressed its readiness to welcome Kwankwaso back to the party.

The State Secretary of the party, Zakari Ibrahim Sarina, said the APC will not hesitate to welcome Kwankwaso back, provided he will be law abiding and respect the law and order and principles of the party.

Alhaji Sarina, however, cautioned that the NNPP National Leader should not think he will return to the ruling party and begin to pursue others for dominance.

On whether he is afraid of (Kwankwaso’s) dominance and control of party structure in Kano, if the merger is realised, the APC secretary insisted “Kwankwaso has no power to control APC.”

“Kwankwaso can’t come to APC and control a party that has national spread. APC is not NNPP which he established and controls.

“We are ready to welcome Kwankwaso back to APC, because his return is an added advantage to the ruling party.

“Another reason the party will be willing to have him is the peace and tranquility in Kano. We need social and economic development in Kano,” Sarina said.

Kwankwaso, in July held a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the president’s official residence.

Addressing State House correspondents at the time, Kwankwaso said he discussed politics and governance with the president.

He also said he might work with Tinubu, but did not state the details.

Few days after the meeting, the former Kano governor accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of sidelining the northern region, alleging that national resources are being disproportionately channelled towards developing the South, the President’s home region.

“Let me advise the Federal Government on the distribution of federal resources,” the former Kano governor said on Thursday at the Kano State Stakeholders’ Dialogue on the 2025 Constitutional Amendment.

“From the information available to us, it’s like most of the national budget is now tilting in one direction in this country,” he added.

Kwankwaso also accused the ruling All Progressives Congress of lopsided allocation of scarce resources between the two regions of the country.