What has been turning the political firmament turtle currently in Kano is the speculation being peddled by some politicians who are exceptionally good at fabricating stories and disseminating them that former Governor of Kano State Engr. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso has perfected plans to crosscarpet to the governing APC to assist President Bola Ahmed Tinubu retain his seat beyond 2027.
Most of these people peddling this political rumour are people hired by Kwankwaso himself to clear the coast for him by dissipating false information in some radio stations in Kano and in the social media that it is President Tinubu who has been mounting pressure on him to join the APC, so that by the time he finally defects to APC, the people of Kano particularly his blindfolded supporters won't see him as a turncoat politician who moves from one political party to another after every election for his personal or selfish interest.
I wonder why, if this rumour making its round within and outside Kano is true that the President once said; "without Kwankwaso joining the APC, he would not win reelection in forthcoming election." I am at a loss that a well-groomed grassroot politician of Tinubu's standing would ever make such a politically baneful statement lionizing the paperweight presidential candidate of the mushroom political party called NNPP.
I don't think President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has in his political camp, the Deputy Senate President Sen. Barau Jibrin in Kano, should have a cause for alarm by retaining his seat in 2027. If you could remember, in spite of all the riggings in the Kano North senatorial district, Kwankwaso couldn't be a stumbling block on the path of Senator Barau Jibrin to a landslide victory.
I am sure, if Barau Jibrin who is now the apple of the eyes of the people of Kano State clinches the APC's gubernatorial ticket come 2027 in Kano, it is not going to be a piece of cake for the APC to wrestle power from the dying NNPP.
Kwankwaso is nothing more than the Hausa proverbial snake which doesn't dig its own hole but chases away other harmless rodents and reptiles and mercilessly takes over their holes.
Engr. Rabi'u Kwankwaso should prove his mettle by remaining in the NNPP till 2027 and see if he can win election even in his Local Government of origin again.
Because his popularity is rapidly diminishing in the state owing to his funny act of cross-carpeting to any political party in power.
Lest it slips my memory, the NNPP wouldn't have been declared winner of the 2023 gubernatorial election in Kano had the APC not toyed with Senator Kawu Sumaila who was not treated as he should be treated by the the leadership of the governing APC in Kano.
For the record, the megalomaniac Kwankwaso in his political history has never won election in the politically-sensitized Kano south senatorial district which produced late Abubakar Rimi, until when they pleaded with Kawu Sumaila who was jettisoned by his own party (APC) in favour of Senator Kabiru Gaya who at that time was the political pet-hate of the people of his senatorial district and who by all means wanted to replace him with Kawu Sumaila. Had Kawu not given them those votes they would have been nowhere near the Kano state government house by now.
Fielding the Kano-born political octopus called Senator Barau Jibrin by the APC as its gubernatorial candidate in 2027 in Kano, will be a surefire way for it to reclaim Kano and give President Tinubu more than the votes Kwankwaso as presidential candidate scored in Kano in 2023 because presently in Kano, there is no single polling booth you will go to and you won't hear people saying that if senator Barau is given the gubernatorial ticket in 2027 they will vote for all the candidates vying for one position or the other under the aegis of the APC regardless of the candidates' region or religion.
I am sanguine about it that the ever-growing popularity of Senator Barau Jibrin has outshone that of Engr. Rabi'u Kwankwaso because of his unequalled generosity and proudest achievements in not only his Kano-North senatorial district but also in Kano State as a whole because in Kano today, there is no Local Government you will go to and you don't find at least three or four capital projects worth billions of naira executed by Sen. Barau Jibrin from his personal purse because he sees politics as a sacrificial vocation.
The deputy senate president through his empowerment scheme has touched and changed the lives of thousands of our underprivileged youths for the better and this cuts across all the three senatorial districts in Kano particularly through his domestic and external scholarship programme which is gradually becoming an elixir of youths as it drastically reduces the number of the miscreant youths in Kano which are referred to as 'Yan Daba in Hausa.
Written by Shu'ayb Mustapha Kano, a political analyst, a seasoned writer and a public commentator.
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