The candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the 2023 presidential election, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is reportedly making moves to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Naija News learnt.
An ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, AbdulMajid Dan Bilki Kwamanda, revealed this while addressing pressmen at the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat in Kano.
The APC chieftain said Kwankwaso’s move would face strong opposition as he cannot be trusted, stressing that the former Kano State Governor is selfish and always joins a particular political movement for personal gains.
Kwamanda warned President-elect, Bola Tinubu, to reject Kwankwaso’s alleged plan to join the APC.
Naija News reports that Kwankwaso came fourth behind Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and APC’s Tinubu in the presidential election held on February 25th, 2023.
In his submission, while reacting to news of alleged secret meetings between Kwankwaso and Tinubu to bring the Kwankwaso back to the party, Kwamanda cautioned that bringing the NNPP candidate into the APC would cause serious fracas among party loyalists.
“We will fight to a standstill, this move, no matter what will not happen to the party,” Kwamanda said.
He said the party and people in the North had done their best for Tinubu’s emergence as the president, hence the need for him to compensate them, adding that politics in the North is different and challenging to be manipulated by one single person.
Kwamanda said as an analyst, he knows Kwankwaso to be selfish and always joins a particular group or party for his gains, not for the general public, and that he will not be of advantage to the APC.
He stressed that bringing Kwankwaso to APC would mean betraying Northerners, which according to him, would not be in favour of Tinubu in future politics.
He debunked the rumours saying that Kwankwaso’s coming would block the chances of Vice President-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima, adding that Shettima is far higher than the former in national politics.
Speaking on the 10th National Assembly, he said only Northwest deserved the Senate President and that the South-South had no basis for criticizing the decision since they didn’t join forces that formed the new government.
“They didn’t work for us, they were against the Muslim-Muslim ticket. They didn’t consider it during Jonathan when the president, Senate President and his deputy were all Christians. So now it is time for the North, even in the North, it is time for Barau Jibrin to be the Senate president. This is our choice and is what we are calling for,” he said.
He called on the National Chairman of the Party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, to stop propagating for zoning, saying that northerners would not support it and it won’t be good for the party.