Barring last-minute changes, the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the 2023 general election, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, will defect to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Monday.
The defection is coming almost a week after THE WHISTLER reported that all was set for his move.
Kwankwaso was billed to defect to the ADC last Wednesday, but sources close to him said it was postponed to allow “sticky points” to be ironed out. One of the conditions was to enable the former governor to produce the governorship candidate for the ADC in Kano.
While the ADC pushed for an open ticket to allow interested aspirants to contest, Kwankwaso insisted on anointing a candidate.
Kwankwaso is looking in the direction of Nasiru Gawuna, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023, who was defeated by his anointed candidate and current governor under the NNPP.
Sources said the ADC leadership accepted Kwankwaso’s condition and would allow Gawuna, who is also expected to defect to the ADC on Monday, during the ceremony to welcome the former minister, to get the ticket.
Also expected to defect alongside Kwankwaso is the immediate past Deputy Governor, Aminu Abdussalam, who resigned from office a few days ago.
Kwankwaso is to be made the leader of the ADC in Kano and will also be regarded as a national leader of the party.
Another condition Kwankwaso reportedly pushed was to “at least get the ADC presidential running mate,” but this was not granted, with the explanation that the party’s candidate is at liberty to choose a running mate.
Kwankwaso was said to have accepted this, knowing there was no time for alignment and prolonged negotiations, especially after his political godson, Abba Yusuf, dumped the NNPP for the ADC, leaving the former governor “politically deflated.”
The Kwankwasiyya movement, the political base of the former defence minister, confirmed the development in a statement, saying its leader will move to the ADC on Monday.
It said the ceremony is scheduled to be held in Kano.
The negotiations concluded a few days after the initial botched defection, following a visit by the National Secretary of the ADC and former Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, to Kwankwaso at his Abuja residence.
Kwankwaso, who confirmed the visit on his X page, did not disclose details of their discussions. However, a member of the Kwankwasiyya movement privy to the talks said Aregbesola returned with answers to Kwankwaso’s final demands.
“The former governor understood that time was of the essence, and the ADC leadership also recognised Kwankwaso’s influence and what Kano represents, so both sides shifted ground and struck an agreement.
“That is why we are all defecting on Monday, all things being equal,” the member, who contested for the House of Representatives in the 2023 election under the NNPP in Kano, told THE WHISTLER on Sunday.
He said Kwankwaso’s defection was a matter of when, not if, “having seen what happened with the defection of the governor to the APC, the role of the former governor and national chairman of the APC in the state, as well as the reception when Peter Obi visited during the annual Kwankwasiyya Eid festival in Kano.
“Remember, supporters repeatedly chanted Peter Obi during the festival. If you watched the video, both our leader and Obi acknowledged the applause and delivered brief speeches at the Eid celebrations, and the crowd went wild.”
He, however, said, “The movement will not be bothered if our leader does not emerge as the ADC running mate. It is all for the good of the country.”
The National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, did not respond to text messages seeking comment as of the time of filing this report. Calls to his telephone line returned unavailable.
