Kwankwaso seeking salvation in APC as NNPP is dead, says Ganduje

By OUR REPORTER, Abuja

The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, says the opposition New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) that has been the checker of his political standing in Kano is “practically dead”.

He said as such, the NNPP national leader whom he succeeded as Governor of Kano State in 2015, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is now seeking political redemption in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Kwankwaso, it will be recalled, was the Governor that brought about what has now become the modern Kano State (2011-2015) with all the undisputable claims of developments his administration, under the last four-year tenure, achieved infrastructurally, educationally, as well as the lasting peace and succour he brought to the state’s social welfare, religious and traditional institutions.

He was succeeded by in 2015 by his Deputy Governor and former personal assistant (PA) Ganduje, who is believed to have attempted turning all his development achievements of the last four years in office upside down for the period he governed between 2015 and 2023, although he (Ganduje) despite his indictments, was made APC National Chairman by new president that came after President Muhammadu Buhari (2015-2023).

Seeing Ganduje as a key factor in helping him achieve a grip on Kano for his 2027 re-election success, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu allegedly provided all the electoral, judiciary and security powers that he deployed to ensure that the NNPP’s candidate the Kano State electorate voted for in 2023, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, did not settle down to govern them until the heated, artificial political impasse was resolved by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

The political crisis could have been resolved judicially, the Emirate dimension to it also believed to have been the doing of President Tinubu using the same Ganduje remains unresolved till the present as the APC is still using its agents within the traditional institution to cause crisis in the nation’s political headquarters.

The latest is Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s declaration that the undisputable garrison commander of Kano State politics of over a decade, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is coming to APC as his political vehicle, the NNPP, nos now dead.

According to Ganduje, Kwankwaso, his estranged ally, former boss and political benefactor, will soon be welcomed into the fold of APC, describing the anticipated move as a kind of homecoming.

The APC chairman spoke on Tuesday April 15, 2025 in Abuja when he received a delegation from the Tinubu Support Group (TSG).

He said; “The NNPP is dead and it will soon be buried. Very, very soon. I am looking at where we will bury the body. The coffin has already been constructed. What remains now is to dig the grave, and already, they are digging the grave. Very, very soon.

“Even at that, the so-called NNPP national leader, he too, he says after losing everyone, he wants to come back to us. We will welcome him because he is coming back home.”

APC national chairman inconsequential, NNPP debunks Ganduje’s claims

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) on Wednesday April 16, 2025 joined issues with the National Chairman of the All Progressives congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, over his claim that the opposition party was dead.

The NNPP’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Ladipo Johnson Esq, dismissed the claim by Ganduje that the party was dead, stressing that instead, Nigerians were praying that APC should disappear due to the untold hardship it has unleashed on the country.

Johnson added that Nigerians wished that they could be saved from their current predicament caused by the way and manner the leaders of APC have displayed their incompetence in ruling the country.

“Ganduje’s words are inconsequential. We actually do not want to dignify him by response. If the APC feels that this is the calibre, quality of person they want as their national chairman, may be that is why the country is where we are to be. There is no truth in what he said.

“The NNPP is not dead. On the contrary, it is the APC that has Nigerians praying that they disappear because of the way and manner they have displayed their incompetence in ruling the country,” the party spokesman stated.

He stated that contrary to the assertion by Ganduje, NNPP national leader, Senator Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso was working hard to ensure that the party consolidates its gains in the political space of the country.

“Senator Kwankwaso is working hard to ensure the NNPP continues to grow. The party itself, the National Working Committee (NWC) and the National Executive Committee (NEC) are doing what they need to do to grow the base of the party.

“Yes, we are talking to people; people are talking to us. However, at the right time, when we feel we would talk to Nigerians whether it is that we will partner with any party or person; whether we remain as NNPP, or whether we will welcome people to the party.

“Time will tell. This is 2025 and there is still time. We will continue to work and we will continue to move,” he said.