• Ganduje keeps reconciliation door open
Former presidential candidate and leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, has yet to come out of the shock he suffered from the defection of Governor Abba Yusuf to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Relatedly, the former National Chairman of APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, has not ruled out the possibility of reconciliation with Kwankwaso.

Ostensibly in disbelief over Yusuf’s political realignment, Kwankwaso insisted the present political reality still seems like a dream to him.

The leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, however, believes Yusuf would eventually regret his parting ways with NNPP, a platform that brought him to power.

“Many people I spoke to felt it was some kind of arrangement between him and me, or between him and others. Even, I often find it hard to believe that things are unfolding the way they are.

“When I lie down, I reflect and ask myself: what really happened? Who was at fault? Was it me? Was it the party? Were party members at fault? But I have not been able to find an answer,” he said.

Kwankwaso, while speaking with BBC Hausa, revealed that he was deeply disappointed that the governor “handed over the mandate of the NNPP members and the people of Kano to the Gandujiyya political camp” without any strong justification.

However, Yusuf, who dumped NNPP recently, cited “deepening internal crises and the need to safeguard the broader interest of the people of Kano”, part of the reasons he left the opposition party.

Ganduje, also in an interview with BBC, said that as a Muslim, he could not shut the door against reconciliation, describing Kwankwaso as a brother and long-time political associate.

The former two-term governor’s comment came barely days after Governor Yusuf’s defection.

He added: “As a Muslim, is there a person you would say you don’t want to be reconciled with? It’s politics. So we hope that in the future, we can reconcile with him completely because we have been in politics together, and we are brothers. We are happy with this (defection) and we are excited. He (the governor) is also happy that he has come.”

“The party leadership are all temporary because by the end of February, the party leadership will be decided from the ward, local government, state, zone to the national level. When the time comes, we will see how every party has their people in it (represented in the composition).”

Meanwhile, Yusuf has approved a fresh round of appointments and promotions across key sectors of the state, marking his first major appointments following his defection.

The appointments were announced in a statement yesterday by the Director-General, Media and Publicity, Government House Kano, Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa.