The playbook of manufactured scandals and public blackmail, once the engine of Kwankwasiyya’s electoral success, has officially expired. As we approach the 2027 polls, this strategy of defamation is failing to gain traction, largely because the current leadership in Kano State has moved beyond the shadows of the movement to master the mechanics of genuine governance.
For years, Kano’s political landscape was dominated by a cynical art: the systematic erosion of an incumbent’s credibility through orchestrated controversies. We saw it perfected in the lead-up to the 2011 elections against Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, and again in the campaigns against Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje in 2019 and 2023. These were not merely political disagreements; they were calibrated efforts to manufacture public outrage and harvest synthetic sympathy as a vehicle for electoral victory.
However, the 2027 election cycle tells a different story. The strategy is hitting a wall, not because the opposition has forgotten the moves, but because the man at the helm of Kano’s affairs today, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, is the one who helped write the manual. It appears that the gubernatorial candidate of the Kwankwasiyya dynasty under the Nigeria Democratic Congress has yet to realize that Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf effectively weakened the movement by taking away many of its longtime social media influencers when he left the New Nigeria Peoples Party for the All Progressives Congress. That is precisely why the candidate has resorted to carrying out the propaganda himself, unfortunately without the field commanders needed to support and amplify it for public consumption. It is truly a pity to witness the negative public reception and comments trailing the candidate’s interviews.
Crucially, the Governor has successfully dismantled the very digital infrastructure that once powered the Kwankwasiyya movement. The most fearless, energetic, and intelligent youths who served as the backbone of the movement—the digital air force and ground strikers once used to tarnish and discredit previous administrations—have largely realigned. Recognizing the shift toward substantive governance and personal accountability, many of the most prominent figures of that era, including Salisu Yahaya Hotoro, Jikan Oga, Kabiru Dakata, Ahmad Alasan Kabo, Yusuf Babati, Yaseer Monday, Abubakar Muhammad Inuwa, Ahmed Umar, Aminu Abubakar Isma’il, Abdulrashid Panda, Musayyib Ungoggo, the late Baba Alo, and many others, have moved away from the Kwankwasiyya dynasty to align themselves with the administration of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf. Meanwhile, the new generation raised to replace them is struggling, facing a distinct lack of popularity and followership in the highly competitive social media space.
Beyond mere political survival, the Governor’s exit from the New Nigeria Peoples Party was driven by a higher calling: a desire to unite Kano and end the long-standing political rivalries that have threatened the state’s peaceful coexistence. Under his Kano First Agenda, the Governor is actively working to dismantle the divisive politics of the past while restoring the values of unity and common purpose that define us as one people in one state.
Having emerged from within the Kwankwasiyya family, Governor Yusuf did not merely witness these strategies; he was one of the movement’s internal architects. When he parted ways with that structure, which functioned like a cartel, he took with him more than just his resignation. He walked away with a deep technical understanding of the movement’s vulnerabilities and an intimate knowledge of the very dossiers once used to target others.
Over the past three years, this insider knowledge has become a strategic asset. The Governor intentionally placed key figures from the movement in positions of high responsibility. In doing so, he allowed their conduct—often marred by the same allegations of financial impropriety they once leveled against their rivals—to be documented under official scrutiny.
Today, the administration holds the keys to a vast archive of these failures. The movement’s ground strikers and digital air force now find themselves in a precarious position: they are no longer the accusers but the subjects of an oversight process from which they cannot escape. For the Governor, maintaining these dossiers is a matter of administrative necessity. If and when the time comes to address those who seek to destabilize the state, it will simply be a matter of pressing the appropriate buttons.
As we look toward 2027, the era of relying on hit pieces and orchestrated defamation to secure power is drawing to a close. The Kano electorate is becoming increasingly discerning, and the old guard of the Kwankwasiyya movement is discovering that the tactics which once destroyed their opponents are now, quite literally, being used to dismantle their own house.
The message for the upcoming election cycle is clear: yesterday’s weapons have no place on tomorrow’s battlefield. In this new dawn for Kano, the currency of politics has shifted from the loud noise of the blackmailer to the quiet dignity of the reformer. The Kano First Agenda is more than a policy statement; it is a declaration that the era of political cartelism is over. As the state moves toward a future defined by transparency and inclusive growth, those who insist on clinging to the wreckage of the past will find themselves left behind by the very people they once sought to manipulate. Kano has awakened to the reality that its destiny lies not in the destruction of leaders but in building a legacy that places the state above the narrow interests of a few. The page has been turned, and for those who have mastered the art of governance rather than the art of agitation, the path to 2027 is clear, purposeful, and entirely in their hands.
Muhammad Sanusi Kiru, FCA (Majidadin Kiru), Former Commissioner of Education, Kano State.
