National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said the time is ripe for Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso to joining the ruling party.
Kwankwaso had dumped the APC for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before moving to the New Nigerian People Party (NNPP), where he contested the 2023 Presidential election.
The former Kano state Governor said now that he is in charge of the party affairs, Kwankwaso can rejoin the ruling party.
He disclosed this in a chat with some media organizations in Kano on Saturday night.
According to Ganduje, “Nobody will say Kwankwaso is not a good politician, at least he was a two-term Kano Governor, although in disrupted tenures, he was Minister of Defence, even though he doesn’t know what is defense, and was once a Senator, even though he never said anything throughout his stay there.
But, if he is willing to decamp to APC, our door is open, especially now that someone from his state is the party Chairman, it will be easier for him to lobby,” he added.
Asked why Kwankwaso’s name was missing in Tinubu’s ministerial list, Ganduje said the appointment issue was first heard from Kwankwaso, and not Tinubu himself.
“It is true that President Tinubu has promised to run a unity government, and he stood by his words. Nyesom Wike, from PDP is now a Ministerial nominee. But he [Kwankwaso] is the one who said he will be given appointment initially, and not the President himself,” Ganduje added.
Recall that Ganduje was Kwankwaso Deputy in the two terms that the NNPP leader governed Kano. From 1999-2003 and between 2011 and 2015.
The hitherto political allies, however, parted ways during the first tenure of Ganduje as Kano Governor.