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Kano State Deputy Governor Hafiz Abubakar yesterday declared that he would not be part of the re-election bid of his principal, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, in 2019.
Abubakar, a former deputy vice chancellor of Bayero University, Kano said he would rather return to the classroom at the end of his tenure than join any ticket with Ganduje.
The deputy governor declared his position for the first time since the political tussle between Ganduje and former governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, ensued.
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Abubakar who addressed his loyalists yesterday in Kano accused the Abdullahi Abbas-led All Progressives Congress (APC) factional chairman of tampering with the party structure in his Mandawori ward without due consultation.
In a six-minute audio clip recorded in Hausa and made available to The Guardian, the deputy governor lamented the destruction of his photograph placed side by side with that of Kwankwaso by unknown political thugs.
“When they were campaigning for election, my picture was juxtaposed with those of the governor, president and our leader, Kwankwaso. But today at my birthplace, my picture was replaced with somebody else’s photo. What have I done to my birthplace? I do not deserve this, even as a lecturer at Bayero university where I hope to return in 2019 at the expiration of my tenure. Those who want to continue should go on, but my prayer is to go back to the university.”
Abubakar said he would not be in a system where the leadership of his party in his Mandawari ward would be formed and his brother removed without being consulted.
“I did not bring myself here. I was engrossed in my academic activities when I was picked as the deputy governorship candidate. The God that chose me is not sleeping. Whether I am in the university, God knows the best. I pray to him to choose the best for me,” he said.
The professor of food science was the commissioner for finance during the first tenure of Kwankwaso and a strong ally of the senator representing Kano central.
