•Defection runs against Kano history, says Ardo
•Kano Rep, Keyamo taunt Kwankwaso
After months of speculation, Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, is set to consolidate his political alignment with the All Progressives Congress (APC) after quitting the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), on whose back he rode to power.

But the co-convener of the League of National Democrats (LeND), Dr Umar Ardo, expressed reservations about the wisdom of Yusuf’s decision to quit the opposition NNPP for APC, saying it runs counter to the state’s political history and may cost the governor re-election.

Following the defection, the Deputy House Minority Leader, Aliyu Madaki, took a swipe at the leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Rabiu Kwankwaso, over his description of January 23, 2026, as ‘World Betrayer Day’.

Also, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, said Kwankwaso “appears to have boxed himself into one of the tightest corners in his political career” because he refused to join the APC.

Governor Yusuf is expected to flag off the APC broom symbol today, with formal party registration at his Gwale Ward, his spokesperson, Sanusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, revealed.

Yusuf first joined the APC in 2014, when he won the party’s primary election for the Kano Central Senatorial seat, while serving as Commissioner for Works during Kwankwaso’s second term as governor, a ticket he later conceded to Kwankwaso.

Tofa described Yusuf’s return to APC as a homecoming, given his deep familiarity with the party’s structure and platform.

“On Monday, January 26, 2026, the governor will formally register as a member of the APC in Kano alongside 22 members of the House of Assembly, eight members of the House of Representatives and the 44 local council chairmen. He is also expected to officially launch the APC e-registration exercise in the state,” Tofa noted.

On his part, Ardo argued that, going by history, Kano has always aligned with opposition rather than the ruling party, predicting that the 2027 election would end in APC losing Kano, even if it wins the presidential poll.

“By moving out of the opposition NNPP and joining the APC, the ruling party at the centre, Governor Yusuf, and the APC are automatically courting defeat in 2027. Either the APC wins the national government and loses Kano, or it wins Kano and loses the national election.

“But they cannot win both as Kano’s election pattern over the years doesn’t support that. The trajectory is clear,” he postulated.

Madaki, an estranged associate of Kwankwaso, who exited NNPP in November 2024, said Kwankwaso is the real betrayer.

Reacting in a Facebook post, Madaki, who represents Dala Federal Constituency, said, “Senator Kwankwaso has declared January 23, 2026, as a date to be marked as the International Day of Betrayal. In my view, February 23, 2019, is the appropriate date to be designated the International Day of Betrayal. This was the same day Kwankwaso nominated candidates, whom he later abandoned because of an agreement with the APC.

“At the same time, he betrayed Atiku Abubakar to settle the scores over his defeat at the party’s primary election in Port Harcourt.”

Keyamo said: “I have always admired Kwankwaso from a distance, but he appears to have boxed himself into one of the tightest corners in his political career simply because of his refusal/indecision to take the olive branch offered him by APC much earlier.”

The minister said Kwankwaso, who wants to be President, would not be picked by any of the major political parties as a candidate in 2027, asserting that ADC’s ticket is Atiku’s to lose and that other major parties might be picking their candidates from the South.

He cited three other reasons to discredit Kwankwaso.