The Northern Youth Assembly (NYA), also known as Majalisar Matasan Arewa, has accused the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the 2023 election, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, of betraying the core ideals of the Kwankwasiyya movement following reports of an alliance with Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
In a statement issued by its Secretary-General, Hafiz Garba, the group described the alleged alliance as a complete abandonment of the principles upon which the Kwankwasiyya movement was founded.
The group claimed that the movement was built on the promotion of northern development, education, economic empowerment, and the protection of the region’s political and cultural heritage.
According to the statement, “There is a particular kind of political betrayal that is more devastating than the ordinary kind. It is the betrayal that strikes at the very identity of a political movement and contradicts the foundational values that gave the movement its reason for existence.”
The Assembly alleged that Kwankwaso’s reported partnership with Obi and the Obidient Movement represented “the final abandonment of everything the movement once claimed to stand for.”
The group noted that the Kwankwasiyya movement earned support across northern Nigeria through educational scholarship programmes, welfare initiatives, and advocacy for northern interests.
“It was built on the commitment to northern development, northern education, northern economic empowerment, and the unapologetic assertion that northern Nigeria’s people deserved leaders who placed their interests, dignity, and advancement at the centre of every political calculation,” the statement said.
The Assembly further alleged that some supporters of the Obidient Movement had made comments it considered disrespectful to prominent northern figures, including Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, and Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio.
It questioned Kwankwaso’s silence on such alleged remarks.
“The question that Kwankwaso must answer is this: how does a man who spent 30 years building a political identity on northern pride, northern dignity, and the defence of northern interests now stand silently beside a political movement that has publicly denigrated the Sardauna, diminished Tafawa Balewa, and dismissed the legacy of Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio?” the group asked.
The Assembly argued that Kwankwaso owed northern Nigerians an explanation regarding the reported alliance.
“Where is the repudiation? Where is the statement of condemnation? Where is the Kwankwaso who once presented himself as the North’s most authentic champion?” it queried.
The group maintained that Kwankwaso’s silence suggested that the ideals he projected over the years were being sacrificed for political convenience.
“The silence that has met these questions is itself an answer. It says that the northern pride Kwankwaso wore so visibly for so long was always more of a political costume than a governing conviction,” the statement added.
The Assembly further alleged that the former governor of Kano State had placed personal political ambition above the interests and historical heritage of northern Nigeria.
“It means that the man who wore the red cap as a symbol of northern political identity has decided that winning the vice presidency of Nigeria matters more than defending the honour of the Sardauna of Sokoto,” the statement claimed.
The group concluded by describing Kwankwaso as “the leading political embarrassment and disappointment in Northern Nigeria,” insisting that the reported alliance contradicted the values upon which the Kwankwasiyya movement was established.
Neither Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso nor his associates had reacted to the allegations as of the time of filing this report.
