April 28, (THEWILL) – The ongoing claims and denial about the possible defection of Senator Rabiu Kwankwao from the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NPPP to the governing All Progressives, APC, is still clouded in high-wired politics.
The 2023 presidential candidate of the NNPP is said to have brokered a deal with President Bola Tinubu about his future, sending tongues wagging that the claims of his planned defection are a matter of days. The red flag on this matter is a meeting of three serving federal lawmakers on the platform of the NNPP with the APC national Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje ahead of their formal declaration for the ruling party. The lawmakers, who are Kwankwasos’ alies are Senator Sumaila Kawu, Honourables Aliyu Sani Madaki and Kabiru Usman Rurum.
The law makers defected on Thursday April 24, 2025.
But officials of the party continue to maintain that the many months of speculation over the impending defection by Kwankwaso to the APC, his untrue.
The NNPP in Kano State last Friday strongly denied rumours of Senator Kwankwaso’s impending defection to the APC. The Chairman of the party, Alhaji Hashimu Dungurawa, stated this while fielding questions from journalists in Kano at the weekend.
THEWILL recalls that the Chairman of the APC in Kano State, Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas, had described the speculated defection of Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso to the party as a welcome development.
Abbas made the statement on the same Friday, while addressing a press conference at the party’s headquarters on Maiduguri Road, Kano. “Of recent, the attention of the party has been drawn to speculations of the impending defection of the leader of the expelled faction of the NNPP, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, into the party.
“This is a welcome development, especially given the fact that the APC remains his last political refuge as he has successfully destroyed his relationship with all other political groups in the country”, he said. Responding to Abbas’ statement, Dungurawa said Kwankwaso had no plan or intention to defect to the APC.
“We have no business with the APC, and do not have any intention to defect to it”, Dungurawa said, dismissing the rumours as mere mischief. He described the APC’s claims as baseless and motivated by desperation.
Dungurawa attributed the APC’s actions to its knowledge of the damage the party had caused to the nation’s economy and other sectors during its time in power.
The speculation started when the opposition APC in Kano State described the ‘impending defection’ of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to the party as a welcome development.
The Chairman of the party in the state, Prince Abdullahi Abbas, who stated this during a press conference held on the same Friday at the APC state headquarters on Maiduguri Road, Kano, added, “The APC, as a political institution under the Renewed Hope Agenda, has embarked on the project of receiving defectors from all political parties,” Abbas said, adding, “Recently, the attention of the party was drawn to speculations regarding the impending defection of the leader of the expelled faction of the NNPP, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, to our party. This is a welcome development, especially considering that the APC remains his last political refuge, having severed ties with other political groupings across the country.”
Abbas, however, clarified the party’s position regarding the development. “In line with our party’s constitution, we have directed all ward chapters to open registers for new entrants, regardless of their political or social status,” he said.
He further urged prospective members to proceed to their respective wards to register, assuring elected party officials at all levels — ward, local government, senatorial, and state — that they will continue to function in line with their constitutional tenure.
“For the purpose of contesting any future party or elective position, both old and new members shall be free to exercise their constitutional rights without any special preference,” Abbas added. He said the party is aware that some individuals, having squandered their political goodwill, are now desperate to join the APC to regain relevance.
“For the avoidance of doubt, let me emphasise that the APC does not and will not promote cult-like associations under the guise of political grouping,” he said.
Abbas further demanded that prospective defectors who had previously made derogatory remarks against the party’s leaders — including President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima — must publicly apologise as a show of remorse and respect for future political engagements.
Kwankwaso, former governor of the state, has been wearing this speculation like a necklace for the past one year since he visited President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa last year, shortly after the President was sworn into office.
Although premature and unfounded, the speculation was that President Tinubu was working ahead of the 2027 election at the time when the court cases over alleged corruption cases involving the National Chairman, then in acting capacity, Abdullahi Ganjuje, looked possible of returning a conviction, particularly as the governing party lost the governorship to the NNPP.
When this conjecture failed, the internal crisis with the party leading to suspension and counter-suspension orders issued by factions of the party on Senator Kwankwaso became another ground for activating the defection rumours.
Subsequently, Kwankwaso’s alleged disagreement with Governor Abba Yusuf over appointments of certain commissioners and special advisers provides another fresh ground for speculation.
Giving some credibility to the rumours, Ganduje has said that Kwankwaso was making plans to return to the party because NNPP was dead in Kano State. Speaking in Abuja during a recent courtesy visit by the Tinubu Support Group to the APC National Secretariat, Ganduje stated that the party under his leadership was ready to welcome Kwankwaso back into its fold.
According to Ganduje, the APC has been waxing stronger and becoming the bride for prominent politicians and lawmakers from various regions of the country, further solidifying the party’s dominance.
He said, “The NNPP is dead. And it will soon be buried very, very soon. I’m hoping where we will put the dead body, the coffin has already been constructed,” Ganduje said.
“What remains now is to dig the grave. And already they are digging the grave very, very soon. Even like 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’s coming back home.”
This is the highest mischief in the land, Kano NNPP state Chairman said at the weekend, “We have no business with the APC, and do not have any intention to defect to it.” As at press time, available information shows that Ganduje may be proof right.
Abdullahi Yusuf is a seasoned journalist, communicator and was previously the Deputy Editor-In-Chief and Zonal Manager, News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Jos, where he retired on December 15, 2021
