By Ahmed Badamasi Tsaure
The recent wave of political “scoops” regarding the purported defection of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State to the All Progressives Congress (APC) has moved beyond mere speculation into a coordinated campaign of character assassination. Most notably, reports by Daily Nigerian claiming that the Governor’s move was “postponed” are masterpieces of fiction, designed to portray a sitting Governor as indecisive and subordinate.
As a witness to the political realities in Kano, I find it necessary to dismantle these fallacies with facts that the purveyors of this rumour have conveniently ignored. In Nigerian politics, defection is a statutory process that requires a formal resignation from one’s current party. To date, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has not submitted any resignation from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). To claim that a “finalised arrangement” for a Monday registration existed is a procedural hallucination; one cannot join a new house without first stepping out of the old one.
Furthermore, the narrative suggests that the Governor’s plans were shelved because he failed to seek the “blessings” of local APC bigwigs. This is a laughable distortion of executive power. History is replete with governors who defected based on executive conviction without the interference of local APC power brokers. We have seen this in Delta State vis-à-vis Senator Ovie Omo-Agege; in Bayelsa involving David Lyon and Minister Heineken Lokpobiri; in Rivers with Nyesom Wike; and in Plateau State in relation to the current National Chairman of the APC.
More recently, the defections of governors such as Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Ben Ayade (Cross River), and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) proved that when a governor defects, he does so as the new leader of the party in his state. It is therefore historically hypocritical to label such a move as “betrayal.” When Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso defected from the PDP to the APC in 2013, he neither sought permission from any individual nor from party leadership; he led a rebellion based on personal conviction. If that was considered “principled politics” for the godfather then, it cannot be branded “betrayal” for the Governor now.
What, then, remains for a Governor who already holds the overwhelming mandate of his people? It is a known fact that Governor Abba Yusuf enjoys the ironclad support of nearly 95 per cent of the Kano State House of Assembly, about 50 per cent of National Assembly members from the state, all 44 local government chairmen, and the entire grassroots party structure. The desperate attempt by the NNPP National Working Committee to dissolve the Kano executive committees is a futile, too-late manoeuvre that only confirms its loss of control. When a Governor commands such total loyalty, he does not ask for permission; he leads. The defection of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf is inevitable if he so wishes, as he carries the entire political soul of Kano with him.
The theory that the APC postponed this move because Senator Kwankwaso is not coming along simply does not hold water. Kwankwaso’s refusal to join the APC is a settled matter. It is alleged that the President offered him either a ministerial position or the chairmanship of the soon-to-be resuscitated Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), both of which he rejected after his demand to be considered for the presidential ticket was declined. Using this stalemate as a pretext for the Governor’s supposed “indecision” is a transparent lie aimed at portraying him as a political appendage.
It is disheartening to see Daily Nigerian abandon objective journalism to frame the Governor as a “betrayer.” If Governor Abba Yusuf chooses to move, he will do so as the leader of a massive political movement. The media must stop concocting stories to mislead the public. Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf remains focused on his mandate, and these rumours are merely the desperate gasps of those who wish to see Kano in perpetual turmoil.
Ahmed Badamasi Tsaure writes from Shanono Local Government Area, Kano State. He can be reached via ahmedtsaure28@gmail.com
