Former Kano State Governor and National Democratic Congress (NDC) vice-presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has declared former governors Ibrahim Shekarau and Abdullahi Ganduje, as well as incumbent Governor Abba Yusuf, politically irrelevant in the state.
Kwankwaso spoke during the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Personality Interview Series in Abuja on Sunday.
He said his experience over the past two decades showed that politicians who betrayed their political allies eventually suffered political decline.
“You cannot succeed with treachery. I have not seen one. Now we have taken about two and a half decades,” he said.
Kwankwaso said Ganduje’s political problems began when he fell out with him after serving as his deputy for eight years.
“If you can even see the issue of Ganduje, who we came together and supported, and became governor free of charge. The day when he started fighting was the beginning of his problem. If I may ask: where is he now? It is difficult to see him,” he said.
On Yusuf, Kwankwaso said he personally supported his emergence as governor after the political crisis with Ganduje.
He said the decision was aimed at ensuring that his successor would not repeat what he described as Ganduje’s actions.
“Members of my political group worked day and night to field Yusuf in the 2019 governorship election,” he said.
According to him, Yusuf has since distanced himself from the political structure that brought him to power.
“He left us, but he is not with Ganduje now. He is in-between because I don’t think he is happy for anybody to call him Dan Gandujiyya,” Kwankwaso said.
The former governor also recalled his disagreement with President Bola Tinubu over efforts to reconcile him with Ganduje, saying political relationships often change with time.
He cited former Lagos State Deputy Governor Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele and former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode as examples of politicians who were once close to Tinubu but are no longer prominent in his political circle.
Kwankwaso, however, said former Osun State Governor Bisi Akande remained one of the political associates he still considered a friend.
“It’s not very peculiar to Kano, but I think the Kano experience is special out of the general lots,” he added.
