The national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, has, while mocking the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, termed him a “serial loser.”
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Ganduje made the statement on Wednesday while hosting the Bauchi state NNPP governorship candidate in the 2023 election, Haliru Dauda Jika, who formally defected to the ruling APC at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja.
The former governor of Kano said that Kwankwaso’s pursuit of selfish interest against national interest would continue to hinder the realisation of his presidential ambition. He also blamed Kwankwaso’s inability to maintain a principled stand in party politics over the years as another factor that made the former minister of defence a perpetual loser.
Ganduje said the former NNPP flag bearer in Bauchi state must have now realised that the “Kwankwasiyya backed” NNPP as “deceitful and exploitative.”
“He is returning to a party that is very progressive and focused when we look at where he was coming from. He is coming from a party that used to be a decent party and highly respected but was later hijacked and polluted by the kwankwasiya group,” Ganduje said.
“The Kwankwasiyya group headed by the former kano state governor was forced to go into a sabbatical leave for eight years before it found its way back to Government House in Kano.”
Ganduje added that Kwankwaso is a “professional contestant” for presidential elections who “would remain a professional failure.”
“He loves himself so much. I am happy you have dumped the red cap,” Ganduje said.
The APC national chairman then promised the returnees of inclusiveness in the running of the party in the state as part of an ongoing effort to reposition the party ahead of the 2027 poll.
The former NNPP candidate, in his speech, said his decision to return to APC was informed by the wishes of his teeming supporters in Bauchi state.
“My dumping NNPP for APC has nothing to do with the presidential candidate of NNPP. I have no issue with Kwankwaso. The interest of Bauchi State informed my returning back to APC,” Jika said.
Recall that last week, the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in its ruling sacked Governor Abba Yusuf of the NNPP, a political son of Kwankwaso and declared the candidate of the APC, Nasiru Gawuna, winner of the March 18 guber election.
The judgement did not sit well with some law professors, who have since faulted the verdict.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared that the NNPP polled 1,019,602 votes to defeat the APC with its candidate, Mr Gawuna, who scored 890,705 votes. The NNPP candidate thus won with a margin of 128,897 votes.
However, the three-member panel of judges led by Oluyemi Asadebay who delivered the judgement on Wednesday (last week) virtually, invalidated over 165,663 votes printed in favour of NNPP.
