Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State was formally admitted into the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday, ending weeks of speculation of his defection from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP). The governor’s former political godfather and leader of the NNPP, Rabiu Kwankwaso, labelled the move a betrayal and demanded that the governor resign from office before defecting.
Mr Yusuf resigned from the NNPP on 23 January in a letter addressed to the Diso ward chairperson of the NNPP in Gwale Local Government Area. He cited deepening internal crises and escalating legal disputes within the NNPP and the need to safeguard the broader “interest of the people of Kano State”.
The governor’s journey to the APC was long and fraught with tension. He eventually joined the party on 25 January in an elaborate event at Government House. Many observers have described the development as a “palace coup”.
His supporters said Mr Yusuf’s defection liberated him from the overbearing influence of Mr Kwankwaso, who they accused of using his son-in-law as a stooge to serve a third term as governor. The governor’s critics, however, accuse him of betraying Mr Kwankwaso, without whom he could not have been governor. For the governor, the defection means a new alliance with his predecessor, Abdullahi Ganduje, a figure he and his erstwhile godfather viewed as a political adversary and whose eight-year governorship they condemned as corrupt-tainted.
The governor took with him into the APC 22 members of the State House of Assembly, nine members of the House of Representatives, the 44 local government chairpersons, and several key support groups of Mr Kwankwaso’s Kwankwasiyya movement.