2027: Kwankwaso, Kano supporters join ADC Monday

 

The National Leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, will on Monday (tomorrow) join the African Democratic Congress, Sunday PUNCH can authoritatively report.

Credible sources in the ADC and NNPP confided in our correspondent that Kwankwaso would make a formal declaration for his new party in Kano.

According to a principal official of the ADC who spoke with Sunday PUNCH on condition of anonymity on Saturday, the National Chairman and Secretary of the party, David Mark and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, respectively, will welcome the former Kano State governor into the party.

Sunday PUNCH gathered that Kwankwaso was likely to join the ADC alongside the immediate past Deputy Governor of Kano State, Aminu Gwarzo.

Gwarzo resigned from his position on Friday, as confirmed by his media aide, Ibrahim Shuaibu.

The ADC had been courting Kwankwaso for more than three months, with the former governor reportedly demanding the vice-presidential slot of the party to contest the 2027 presidential election.

Kwankwaso had eyed a joint ticket with the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.Both Obi and Kwankwaso’s camps had confirmed the move, with former President Olusegun Obasanjo said to be the brains behind the alliance.

The ADC had also intensified its discussions with Kwankwaso following the defection of his political son and the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, from the NNPP to the All Progressives Congress.

Yusuf joined the APC on January 26 with members of the state House of Assembly and his cabinet.

Findings revealed that Kwankwaso finally concluded plans to join the ADC on Thursday after a meeting with Aregbesola at his residence in Abuja.

Reliable insiders disclosed to our correspondent that Kwankwaso had earlier agreed to join the ADC and picked last Tuesday, March 24, for his declaration until he made a U-turn, insisting that he would not join the party until he was promised the vice-presidential slot.

“We have been talking to Kwankwaso, and he has agreed to join the ADC. He was supposed to declare for the party last Tuesday in Kano in the presence of our national officials. But he made a sudden U-turn, insisting that we must promise him the vice-presidential slot; failing that, he would no longer join the party.

“The National Chairman of the ADC, David Mark, said he was not in a position to make that kind of commitment; that was how Kwankwaso refused to make the declaration,” an official of the party disclosed to Sunday PUNCH.

After the rejection, Aregbesola held a private meeting with Kwankwaso on Thursday, the aftermath of which was the NNPP leader’s readiness to join the ADC.

Apart from Aregbesola, Kano State officials of the ADC also held a meeting with Kwankwaso, but it was not clear whether their meeting preceded that of the former interior minister.

A picture of the former Kano State governor and Aregbesola taken after the meeting was shared on social media by Kwankwaso’s media aide, Saifullahi Hassan.

Planned Monday defection

Providing an update on the meeting, the credible ADC official said Kwankwaso had agreed to join the party and would make a declaration in Kano on Monday.

“He (Kwankwaso) has agreed to join without preconditions,” the ADC chieftain said in a terse message to our correspondent on Friday.

This is as a leader of the NNPP, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that Kwankwaso would depart Abuja for Kano on Sunday (today) in preparation for the ADC declaration.