By Ayomide Otitoju
Buba Galadima, a chieftain of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), has dismissed suggestions that Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the party’s leader and former Kano governor, could ally with President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Galadima accused the Tinubu administration of working against Kwankwaso and the NNPP in Kano, citing its support for the reinstated Emir Aminu Ado-Bayero despite his removal by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of the NNPP.
“How can Kwankwaso be a friend of the APC with what they are doing to us in Kano? They have created a situation where there are two emirs in one city — one backed by the state and another backed by the Federal Government,” Galadima said. He alleged that federal authorities have deployed security operatives to protect Ado-Bayero while neglecting rising insecurity in rural parts of the state.
Galadima insisted that the NNPP would play a decisive role in determining Nigeria’s next president. “We are the people who will determine who will be president of Nigeria in 2027,” he said.
The NNPP stalwart also accused the Federal Government of using security agencies to destabilize Kano, arguing that backing Ado-Bayero was a political strategy to influence the next presidential election. He, however, stressed that no Kano emir had ever determined the outcome of a Nigerian presidential contest.
He further maintained that Kwankwaso had not indicated any plan to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). “Let anybody come out and tell me that Kwankwaso has been persuaded or coerced to join the APC. He is the strongest political Iroko in this country today because he dared the APC and defeated them at their game in Kano,” Galadima declared.
Kano remains a key battleground in Nigerian politics, consistently posting the highest voter turnout in presidential elections since 1999. In the 2023 polls, Kwankwaso secured nearly one million votes in the state, winning 38 of its 44 local government areas. Despite this, he placed fourth nationwide, behind Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of the Labour Party.
Currently, the NNPP controls the Kano governorship under Abba Kabir Yusuf, though the APC holds two of the state’s three senatorial seats.
