Kwankwaso is a force to reckon with, Followers Deprived Him Ministerial Slot – APC Speculate
The New Nigerian People’s Party’s Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso may have lost out on the spot in President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet, according to the ruling All Progressives Congress, because of the ongoing attacks in Kano State on the legacy of the party’s National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje.
This was stated by the party’s Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim while speaking to newsmen yesterday.
Given their friendship following the presidential election, there were rumours that Kwankwaso might be appointed to one of Tinubu’s cabinet positions before the announcement of his nominees. However, Kwankwaso did not make the list of Tinubu’s ministerial nominees.
Ibrahim said he believed the attacks on Ganduje’s legacies in Kano State by Governor Abba Yusuf of the NNPP and Kwankwaso’s political godson was why Tinubu decided against giving Kwankwaso a ministerial position.
He said, “Kwankwaso is a force to reckon with in the politics of Kano. But the way and manner his Kwankwasiyya movement goes about conducting itself have made the support for Kwankwaso to wane gradually. This is because of the brigandage the movement is bringing into the politics of Kano, and by extension, Nigeria.
“The President must have felt the pulse of the public and weighed the relevance and implementation of his policies, particularly his effort to win the hearts of the Kano people. There is no way you will dismiss the political maturity, sagacity and experience of Dr Abdullahi Ganduje when it comes to the way he plays politics in Kano.
“If you weigh the two on a good calibrated scale, the political weight of Ganduje is by far higher than that of Kwankwaso. I believe the President must have listened to people who will give him honest and sincere advice, people who read the political temperature of the state very well, not those who are misguided by the hullabaloo of the commotion caused by the brigandage of the Kwankwasiyya movement. It is that direction I think the President took the decision not to treat Ganduje lightly.”
Meanwhile, the Kwankwaso camp has knocked the APC for trying to taint the image of its principal. Major Agbo, the NNPP National Publicity Secretary, noted that the APC did not deserve a response.
Agbo said, “Some of these issues are things the party is not supposed to be reacting to now. He (Kwankwaso) has spoken directly on the issue you talked about. He is the one who opted out. What else do you want?
“If Ganduje is saying what he is saying and wants to continue to be behaving like a garrison commander, it is his business, not ours.”
