Fresh details emerged yesterday on how efforts by the presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to forge a political deal with Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, until recently regarded as Kano’s “beautiful bride” and a potential election-shaping force, eventually collapsed.
Courted for the perceived electoral value of his red-cap movement, Kwankwasiyya, the former Kano governor appears to be watching his political allure wane, leaving the leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) increasingly isolated and struggling to translate past dominance into present influence.
Sources familiar with the talks said engagements between Kwankwaso and President Bola Tinubu stretched across several months, with multiple meetings held, especially in Abuja.
At the outset, the presidency was said to have viewed Kwankwaso as a strategic bridge into Kano and parts of the North-west, particularly given NNPP’s performance in the 2023 general election.
However, top sources within the ruling APC told THISDAY last night that negotiations broke down over what they described as excessive and unrealistic demands.
According to sources, Kwankwaso sought control of up to 20 per cent of APC’s national structure, alongside a vice presidential slot and guarantees extending to the 2031 political cycle.
Senior APC figures said the requests immediately raised red flags as manoeuvring ahead of the 2027 polls gathered pace.
“Even President Bola Tinubu has not specifically asked for any percentage share of the APC. That demand for 20 per cent of the structure of the APC nationwide was a deal breaker. Besides, the vice-presidential position was never on the table.
“It was made clear to him that it was not vacant, and there was no basis for discussions around 2031 at this stage,” the impeccable source who was familiar with the negotiations said.
Also, the Dr. Boniface Aniebonam bloc of the NNPP, yesterday, revealed that the decision by Governor Abba Yusuf to leave the party was due to Kwankwaso’s domineering attitude and alleged slavish intentions.
Reacting to comments by Buba Galadima on Yusuf’s defection, the National Vice Chairman North-west, Alhaji Sani Danmasani, in a statement claimed that Kwankwaso’s behaviour was unbearable, prompting Yusuf to seek “greener pastures”.
Although initially, the Kwankwaso/APC engagements were driven by the belief within the APC that the former Kano governor remained indispensable to the ruling party’s long-term electoral calculations, particularly in the North-west, in the build-up to the collapse of the deal, presidency strategists increasingly questioned Kwankwaso’s claim to absolute control of the state’s political machinery.
They envisaged that the growing friction between him and Yusuf, as well as signs of uncertainty within the NNPP over the governor’s long-term political future could be exploited.
It was no surprise then that negotiations soon ran aground on the scale of Kwankwaso’s demands.
According to senior APC sources, the NNPP leader’s demand for control of 20 per cent of the APC’s national political structure, stunned party leaders and was quickly deemed impractical.
Beyond structural concessions, Kwankwaso also pressed for the vice presidential slot, despite the fact that the position had already been filled and was not subject to renegotiation.
Kwankwaso has also publicly confirmed this, saying recently that he would only join or defect to another political party if he was offered either the presidential or vice presidential ticket ahead of the 2027 general election.
“He was clearly overreaching,” a top APC chief said.
According to those who spoke to THISDAY, even more striking to APC negotiators was Kwankwaso’s apparent focus on the long game. Kwankwaso was said to have sought assurances not just for immediate accommodation, but also for influence over the party’s succession plans, with an eye firmly on 2031.
To the presidency and APC leaders, the package of demands suggested a politician negotiating not as a prospective ally, but as a near-equal stakeholder in a party he did not build.
When no headway was made, Tinubu, initially open to engaging Kwankwaso as the presumed gatekeeper of Kano politics, then recalibrated his strategy.
Rather than expend political capital trying to woo an opposition leader with expansive demands, the president and APC negotiators were said to have turned their attention to consolidating ties with the Kano governor, betting that incumbency, federal leverage and direct engagement would yield better results than protracted courtship with Kwankwaso.
“That was the turning point. Once it became clear that Kwankwaso no longer controlled the entire Kano political space the way he claimed, especially with divisions between him and his erstwhile political godson, the presidency decided it made more sense to deal with the governor,” another source explained.
A masterstroke, the shift appeared to have effectively stripped Kwankwaso of the bargaining power that once made him attractive. His inability to deliver a unified Kano bloc, combined with what APC leaders described as an inflated sense of indispensability, weakened his negotiating position.
According to the sources, the president and his people positioned the APC to Yusuf as a more stable and predictable platform for him, amplifying doubts about Yusuf’s second-term prospects within Kwankwaso’s NNPP.
NNPP Bloc: Kwankwaso’s ‘Slavish’ Intentions Forced Yusuf Out
Meanwhile, the Dr. Boniface Aniebonam-led NNPP has revealed that the decision by Governor Yusuf to leave the party was due to Kwankwaso’s domineering attitude and alleged slavish intentions.
Reacting to comments by Galadima on Yusuf’s defection, the National Vice Chairman North-west, Danmasani, in a statement claimed that Kwankwaso’s behaviour was unbearable, prompting Yusuf to seek “greener pastures”.
The NNPP chief stated that Yusuf’s move to the APC was not driven by selfish motives, but rather a desire to escape Kwankwaso’s suffocating leadership style. The party accused Kwankwaso of attempting to impose his will on others, leaving Yusuf with no choice but to leave.
The NNPP leader described Kwankwaso as the mastermind behind the betrayal, who violated the trust of the party’s founder, Aniebonam. The statement alleged that Yusuf’s efforts to reconcile differences within the party were thwarted by Kwankwaso’s arrogance and greed, forcing the governor to seek alternative political shelter
On Buba Galadima’s interview on Arise News Television, Danmasani added: “The cross over of Yusuf to APC is affecting Galadima and Kwankwaso so much that the bitterness and pain are evident in their speeches.
“What is striking in the details of Galadima’s expression during the session on Arise TV were his experiences, travelling by road from Enugu airport to Umuawulu town in Anambra, hometown of NNPP Founder, Aniebonam. He got to Anambra by 2.a.m to meet Aniebonam for the purposes of getting a political platform for Kwankwaso and others against the 2023 general election.
“Incidentally, Yusuf who is a prime beneficiary of the risky trip to Umuawulu is the one found to have betrayed the NNPP family to join their enemy, a former governor of Kano state and APC stalwart, Ganduje. Galadima and Kwankwaso crying foul of betrayal of trust were the same people, who were favoured at no cost to use the NNPP platform to contest elections in 2023.
“They were the same people, who betrayed Aniebonam, and fought to hijack the party he founded in 2001. They are still fighting to hijack the structure of the NNPP without conscience, yet calling Yusuf a betrayer. One begins to wonder why Kwankwaso and Buba Galadima are crying foul and disturbing the peace of the society as if they do not know that God acts differently?” he stated.
The party, therefore, stated that rather than continue to lament over Yusuf, Kwankwaso and his group should seek the face of God and ask for forgiveness from those they betrayed.
Thisday