By Kabiru Sani Maiwanki Dandago (Gwale LGA)
The recent pronouncements by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso regarding Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s strategic political recalibration have finally stripped away the façade, exposing the profound ideological fissures within the NNPP. In a caustic address delivered this January 2026, the Senator characterized the Governor’s newfound autonomy as a “betrayal” more egregious than that of his predecessor, Abdullahi Ganduje. However, in this vitriolic attempt to cast himself as the victim of political infidelity, Kwankwaso inadvertently betrayed a disconcerting truth: he viewed the incumbent administration not as a sovereign executive entity, but as a subordinate instrument of his personal political estate.
Senator Kwankwaso’s admission that he expected the Kano State government to function as a “geopolitical centrifuge” to project his hegemony into neighboring territories is remarkably candid. It implies that his patronage of the current administration was never rooted in the socio-economic advancement of the Kano populace, but was instead a cynical stratagem to treat the state’s commonwealth as a private war chest for a singular, ego-driven presidential odyssey.
The depth of the Senator’s desperation is now laid bare. His recent public appeal asking anyone with access to the Governor to “beg him to come back” reveals a leader who has finally grasped the magnitude of his loss.
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Most telling, however, is the Senator’s demand that the Governor should “assign and surrender the seat” if he leaves the movement. This demand is the height of political confusion. The Governorship of Kano is a constitutional mandate belonging to the people, not a government agency or a piece of furniture to be “returned” to a benefactor’s private residence.
By resisting this role, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has committed what Kwankwaso perceives as an unpardonable “sin” of independence. His refusal to allow the Kano State treasury to be cannibalized for regional political expansion is a resounding victory for fiscal prudence and administrative transparency. He has chosen to be the custodian of the people’s trust rather than a puppet for personal ambition, and in doing so, he has redefined the essence of leadership in Kano for 2026 and beyond.