₦airaland Forum

...... to Kwankwasiyya

A former Kano State deputy governor and 2023 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Nasir Yusuf Gawuna, is now the most sought-after politician in Kano as President Bola Tinubu directed some top party leaders to stop his planned defection to the Kwankwasiyya movement and ultimately African Democratic Congress, ADC.

Mr Gawuna’s plan to align with Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso to unseat Governor Abba Yusuf in 2027 is gaining currency in Kano. While the move is causing a stir in the APC, the Kwankwasiyya camp is agog over the defection plan.

Party insiders told this newspaper that Mr Gawuna has been largely unreachable in recent days, fueling speculation about ongoing political consultations outside the country. Efforts by key stakeholders within the APC to reach him have reportedly been unsuccessful.

Sources disclosed that Mr Gawuna travelled to Saudi Arabia during Ramadan to perform the lesser hajj (Umrah). However, days after the end of the holy month, he has yet to return to Nigeria. A source familiar with his movements said the former deputy governor subsequently proceeded on a private vacation to a North African country.

According to the source, Mr Gawuna placed his phone on “Do Not Disturb” mode to avoid mounting pressure and persistent calls from the party leaders seeking to stop his defection.

Mr Gawuna’s political move has rattled the Kano APC, prompting Governor Abba Yusuf to seek presidential support to persuade him not to leave the party.

Although details of the governor’s outreach remain unclear, insiders said Mr Tinubu had delegated a powerful senator from Zamfara State as well as a presidential adviser to lead the lobby.

According to one insider, the party is considering offering Mr Gawuna an automatic ticket for the Kano Central Senatorial District in the 2027 elections if he agrees to remain within its fold.

“The president is concerned about Gawuna’s defection plan. He is made to understand that not only Governor Yusuf’s second term ambition is at stake but the president’s support base in Kano,” said a source familiar with the presidential directive.

Pundits believe that Mr Gawuna is currently the most formidable governorship aspirant who can neutralize incumbency factor and further divide Kano APC during governorship and presidential elections.

“If Kwankwaso gives Gawuna governorship ticket, it will be a game over. Gawuna has a large support base among the youth, the ulama and business community. Apart from this, the APC will be further divided as most of the traditional supporters of the party will vote for Gawuna. So if you merge Gawuna’s political capital with Kwankwaso’s commanding support base, it will be a landslide win,” said a political pundit, Aminu Bashir.

Mr Gawuna, who polled over 800,000 votes in the 2023 governorship election, is reportedly undermined and relegated by his party. “It is baffling for APC to appoint someone who worked against his party as minister and then relegate someone who polled over 800,000 votes to a board chairman,” said an APC stalwart who preferred not to be named.

The supporters of the former deputy governor had been grumbling over what they perceive as his marginalisation within the APC since he lost election in 2023, and that he has not been considered for major federal appointments or strategic party roles.

There are also concerns among his loyalists regarding the reported non-payment of his entitlements as a former deputy governor by the state government, despite earlier call by a certain political figure for such obligations to be settled.

runningriot:
This might be true that Nasir Yusuf Gawuna is the newest sort out bride in Kano because Kano being the headquarters of Hausa and constituting 90% of the Hausas has never seen a Hausa man occupying the sit of governorship. Surprisingly, all but one of the serving and previous governors are Fulani except Malam Ibrahim Shekarau who trace his origin from the Babur tribe of Borno State. Politically economically and royally Kano is the hands of the Fulanis. Right now the awareness, agitation and pressure is intense and very high that an indigenous Kano man from the Hausa extraction must become a governor and now that the star has been sited with Kwankoso approval it will be a pyrrhmic victory...

HarunaWest:
NoYou know history. If Gawuna defects and gets the ticket, Gov. ABBA is out.

BrickandLace:
The man should name his price others were rumored to have got 250bn.

Bobloco:
Gawuna knows very well that his surest way to become governor of Kano is to align with Kwankwasiyya, and he will most likely align with Kwankwaso.

Imagine the APC promising him a Senate ticket, something he could also easily get under the Kwankwasiyya.

In all of this, I pity Abba Gida; he miscalculated big time.

Atarakpa:
nah 250 million them give me not billions

Bobloco:
Gawuna knows very well that his surest way to become governor of Kano is to align with Kwankwasiyya, and he will most likely align with Kwankwaso.

Imagine the APC promising him a Senate ticket, something he could also easily get under the Kwankwasiyya.

In all of this, I pity Abba Gida; he miscalculated big time.

Ofunaofu:
https://dailynigerian.com/gawunas-phone-not-reachable-as-tinubu-mounts-pressure-to-stop-his-defection-to-kwankwasiyya/

angelboy01:
If Bola is doing this then he's not sure of winning. Forget The judiciary, INEC and the likes. You have about 32 governors in the bag but still scared then that tells you he's not sure of himself. Even INEC won't save him..

Hedonisco:
Seems rigging no dey too work for Kano.

angelboy01:
If Bola is doing this then he's not sure of winning. Forget The judiciary, INEC and the likes. You have about 32 governors in the bag but still scared then that tells you he's not sure of himself. Even INEC won't save him..

Melagros:
COMRADES, all these politicians sef are betrayers, after Kwankwaso don help them secure victory then go betray him at last

anonimi:
My dad, victim of complex conspiracy – Kola Abiola

What role did Bola Tinubu play in all of these?

At the very beginning, he was part of the Yar’Adua PF group from Jos. He was a senator then, and as far as the group went, we related. The crisis started post-election. When Abacha came, one of the things he wanted to do was to be the administrator for Lagos.

That is Tinubu?

Yes. I am sure you have seen pictures of him and my dad. He was hoping that there would be civilian administrators like we had under IBB but Abacha said no, that he was going to have military administrators. So he (Tinubu) said okay, in that case, can I be a deputy administrator? But Abacha said that there wouldn’t be deputies. Then he wanted the post of a commissioner.

He wanted to be a commissioner?

Yes. Then it was a choice between him and someone very close to Jakande who has passed on now. I can’t remember his name, but because Babagana was already in the government, that guy was picked as commissioner. But really, Senator Tinubu had lost out already.

Was Tinubu very close to MKO?

Yes, he was close enough. He and Adeniyi Adele, a very good guy, were close to my father. In fact, Adeniyi was closer to my father and more dedicated to the process than anyone of them. When my documentary comes out, you will see Tinubu’s take on issues. So once he lost out, automatically, he became a NADECO member and Adeniyi was incarcerated.

https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2019/06/12/my-dad-victim-of-complex-conspiracy-kola-abiola/

anonimi:
How we foiled Jonathan’s effort to make Mulika Adeola Speaker, Akande reveals

AS president in 2011, Goodluck Jonathan did all he could to ensure South West grabbed the country’s number four seat, including lobbying then opposition leaders from the zone, to no avail. The North West eventually grabbed the seat, supported by South West leaders in opposition to then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Former Governor of Osun State and now statesman, Chief Bisi Akande, made this revelation in his autobiography, “My Participations” which is currently dominating political and national dis- course.

Aminu Tambuwal, now Sokoto State governor, won the seat, against the preferred pick of his party, Mrs Mulikat Adeola Akande, from the South-West. Defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, then a fledging opposition, which had Akande and his soulmate, former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, as front- line leaders, openly asked its elected members of the House of Representatives, mostly from the South-West, to work against their region and back Tambuwal from North-West.

The opposition party’s support carried Tambuwal through the contest against Akande, then ruling party’s favourite for the speakership seat.

In his book, Chief Akande revealed that former president then as incumbent, personally reached out to Tinubu, who is now believed to be nursing presidential aspiration in 2023 and himself, but couldn’t convince them.

He wrote, “President Jonathan, immediately after the meeting (with political parties), called Bola Tinubu aside into a lobby to broach the matter of ACN support for a choice of who would become the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“That same day, President Jonathan talked to me on phone about the same matter. He disclosed that PDP had zoned the position to the South-West but that only one Muraina and another Mulika won elections on PDP ticket from the zone into the House of Representatives.

https://tribuneonlineng.com/how-we-foiled-jonathans-effort-to-make-mulika-adeola-speaker-akande-reveals/