Kano APC Warns Emirate Crisis Will Cost Yusuf Re-election

The leadership of the All Progressives Congress in Kano State, on Monday, expressed conviction that the New Nigeria People’s Party would be rejected by the people of Kano in 2027, following the political crisis rocking the state.

The APC statement was in response to an earlier report quoting the Kano NNPP Chairman, Hashimu Dungurawa, as saying the Kano emirate crisis would cost President Bola Tinubu re-election in 2027.

Kano has been embroiled in crisis since May 24, 2024, when Governor Abba Yusuf reinstated Muhammadu Sanusi as the Emir of Kano.

The development followed the repeal of the 2019 Kano Emirate Law, leading to the removal of the 15th Emir of Aminu Ado Bayero, and his counterparts in Bichi, Karaye, Rano and Gaya.

The five emirs sacked by Yusuf were installed in 2020 by immediate past governor, Abdullahi Ganduje.

The matter has become a legal issue as the deposed 15th Emir of Kano has rejected his removal.

At the moment, Ado Bayero occupies the mini palace at Nasarawa while Sanusi stays at the main palace in Kano.

Court verdicts are being awaited to resolve the crisis.

On Sunday, the Kano NNPP Chairman, Dungurawa, accused Tinubu of taking sides, saying the crisis in Kano would cost him re-election in 2027.

Dungurawa said, “Your perceived stance on the ongoing Kano Emirate tussle would surely work against you in the forthcoming 2027 presidential polls. If you think you can use it to secure grounds in Kano when the chips are down, it will dawn on you that you have made costly mistakes.”

But replying him on Monday, the Kano APC said it was the NNPP that would lose out over the crisis in 2027.

The Kano APC Chairman, Abdullahi Abbas, in a statement, said, “Aside from the widely acknowledged poor performance of Governor Abba Yusuf-led NNPP government in Kano State in the past year, the party’s penchant for causing and sponsoring crisis in a peaceful state he inherited and some of his anti-people’s policies are factors voters will consider in the next election.

“It is a public knowledge that while other state governors were inaugurating one project or the other to mark their first anniversary in office, the NNPP Kano State government was busy distracting the good people of Kano from his obvious failures through the contentious Emirate law as a tactic from his inadequacies in office.

“The people of Kano State whose houses were demolished and rendered homeless will not forget in a hurry, the people of Kano State whose sources of economic survival and businesses were destroyed will not vote NNPP again, among many categories of people already badly affected by the current misfit government in Kano State.”

Abbas stated that bringing up the issue of the 2027 presidential election by the Kano NNPP chairman in the face of an apparent failure of the government was not only diversionary but an indication of a plan to plunder the resources of the state in the name of candidature.

The APC chairman further stated that the consistent attack on the President was an indication that the crisis of confidence rocking the party and its embattled leader, Senator Rabi’u Kwankwaso, was making them jittery ahead of the 2027 election.

“Kwankwaso got 1,454,649 total votes (at the last presidential poll), representing only 6.23 per cent, and most of them were from Kano. In fact, media post-election analysis showed that Kwankwaso did not get up to 100,000 votes elsewhere aside from Kano.

“How come Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the opposition Labour Party from far away South-East, bested Kwankwaso in 13 northern states of Kaduna, Taraba, Borno, Gombe, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Plateau, Adamawa and Benue?”