Former presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso met with former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the weekend to discuss the future of governance and politics in Nigeria.
Kwankwaso, a former Kano State governor, made the disclosure of his meeting with the former president, at his Otta Farm residence in Ogun State, on his X handle.
He was accompanied to the meeting by former Cross River State governor, Donald Duke.
Posting a picture of himself and Obasanjo and Duke, Kwankwaso wrote “I was pleased to be in company of my friend, HE Donald Duke and other associates to pay a courtesy call on President Olusegun Obasanjo at his residence in Abeokuta.
“Deliberations on significant national issues, including the future of politics and governance in Nigeria defined the conversation. We are grateful to Baba for his warm support and hospitality,” he said.
Since after the 2023 election, Kwankwaso’s leadership of the Kwankwasiyya movement and NNPP has been challenged by some party leaders especially in Kano State.
While NNPP has been plagued by a leadership crisis at the national level, indications and speculations of a strained relationship between Kwankwaso and his political mentee, the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, has been rife.
This followed calls by some Kano NNPP and Kwankwasiyya leaders, calling on the governor to distance himself from Kwankwaso.
The political intrigue had led to the suspension of Abdullahi Baffa Bichi, Secretary to the State Government, and Muhammad Diggol, Commissioner for Transport, on allegations of involvement in a splinter group promoting Yusuf’s autonomy from Kwankwaso’s influence.
A House of Representatives member representing Dala Federal Constituency, Aliyu Sani Madakin-Gini, had recently broken ranks with Kwankwaso just as a NNPP group, calling itself “Abba Tsaya da Kafarka” (meaning “Abba, stand on your own”), has been vocal in urging Yusuf to distance himself from Kwankwaso and make decisions independently.
However, the governor has consistently denied claims of discord with his political mentor, Kwankwaso, insisting that their relationship remains strong and based on mutual respect.
Meanwhile, it remains hazy whether or not the pre-2023 joint ticket talks between Kwankwaso and former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, would be revived ahead of 2027.
However, while Obi had visited Kwankwaso earlier this year in Kano, Kwankwaso had also visited Abia State governor, Alex Otti, the only governor elected on the platform of Labour Party.
Interestingly, the Labour Party, which has barely recovered from a legal battle over its leadership, has, in less than two weeks, seen six of its members in the House of Representatives, dump it for APC.
The party’s woes was compounded by its Bayelsa governorship candidate, Odengs Eradiri, and his running mate, Commodore Benjamin Nathus (rtd), leaving the party as well.
Earlier, a governorship aspirant in Edo State, Kenneth Imansuangbon also left the party, which performed woefully in the recent, Edo and Ondo governorship elections.