The emergence of former Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, as the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has given the Kano State chapter of the party a new lease of life, party stalwarts and political analysts have observed.
But how far this new momentum will contribute to the party’s push to regain the position it had held onto since 2014 but lost out during the 2023 general elections remains a subject that has generated interest from observers not only in Kano but across the country.
Recall that since 2014 when then governor of the state Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso joined other former governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to merge with other parties to form the APC, leading to the defeat of the PDP at the national level and across several states, including Kano, the party (APC) had been the party to beat in Kano State.
While the relationship between Kwankwaso and his erstwhile deputy and successor, Ganduje, went sour not long after the 2015 general elections, leading to the exit of Kwankwaso from the APC to the PDP, the Ganduje-led APC was able to weather the storm against all odds to retain power in 2019.
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However, internal wrangling between the party, which added impetus to the growing strength of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), saw it losing out not only during the presidential and National Assembly elections but also during the gubernatorial and state House of Assembly elections, all to Kwankwaso’s NNPP.
Thus, for the first time since its formation, the APC found itself as the opposition party in Kano, albeit with the hope of changing that fortune at the elections petition tribunal.
But for political observers, APC’s defeat went beyond what it suffered at the polls but the manner in which it lost its goodwill and key stalwarts in the days leading to its defeat at the polls.
Daily Trust on Sunday reports that the internal wrangling within the party had seen erstwhile bigwigs of the party defect to the NNPP before the election together with their supporters. Those that left included a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Alhassan Rurum, and current Senator representing Kano South senatorial district, Abdulrahman Kawu Sumaila, both from Kano South, who felt betrayed by the fact that their zone was again overlooked in the selection of the flagbearer for the party in the governorship election.
Daily Trust on Sunday reports that Kano South has not produced a governor or deputy since 1992.
A former governor of the state, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, had also left the party as well as serving and former federal lawmakers including Abdulmumin Jibril Kofa, Abdulkadir Jobe, Haruna Isah Dederi and Sha’aban Sharada, who later went on to contest for the governorship election under the banner of the Action Democratic Party (ADP).
Ganduje’s emergence as APC chair
But while most of these problems remain unsolved and new ones, like the issues around the withdrawal of the nomination of Maryam Shetty as minister-nominee and how Ganduje was reported to have handled it, have began to come forth, stalwarts of the party told Daily Trust on Sunday that the emergence of Ganduje as national chairman has put them in a better position to consolidate and regain their position as the ruling party in the state.
Mohammad Aruwa, the publicity secretary of the APC state chapter, said the emergence of Ganduje as chairman has given them much joy and impetus.
“By the time you become the National Chairman, you are not only talking of your constituency alone but about the nation.
“One of the impacts that his emergence brought us is that he has started uniting some people,” he said, stressing that they believe all those that left the party as a result of the internal crisis before the election would be brought back to strengthen the grip of the party in the state.
Aruwa said one of the challenges that confronted them as a party in Kano and across the country was that many of the members that left were supporters of former President Muhammadu Buhari, who probably felt that with Buhari no longer in the seat of power they may not get what they want from the party.
He said Ganduje will correct this perspective and give all of them a sense of belonging, which will then bolster the ranks of the party.
“We don’t have any camp in APC in Kano State as of today. We are one family, but there are some few things that you can’t avoid. You must go into it and bring it out to settle it. We are doing this because we want to see that the house is intact,” he added.
Also speaking, a former commissioner under Ganduje, Musa Iliyasu Kwankwaso, said it was wrong for anyone to try to tie the optimism brought by the emergence of Ganduje as chairman with the “victory we are going to have at the tribunal because politics is different and judiciary is different”, adding that the party would emerge victorious at the tribunal on the basis of the evidence it had placed before it.
He said politically, the emergence of Ganduje as national chairman has made them stronger and that the optimism goes beyond Kano State.
On his part, the secretary of the party, Zakari Sarina, said the optimism that came with Ganduje’s new position is because of the pedigree of the former Kano governor as a “grassroots politician, a sociologist, an elderly person that is very composed.”
He said he believes that in the next election circle, Ganduje will lead APC to victory in Kano contrary to what played out in the 2023 presidential election where APC not only lost in Kano but also in Nasarawa, the state of its former chairman, Abdullahi Adamu.
“Of course, the fortunes of APC will change in Kano and other places because the people that voted for NNPP and PDP in the last election are now regretting because most of them broke ranks because of our internal crisis before the election. And we are going to mend all our internal crises, we are going to reconcile ourselves and by the grace of God, even before the 2027 elections, they will see that APC is not a party to joke with,” he enthused.
We’re not bothered – NNPP
But the NNPP in Kano said the party is unperturbed by the emergence of Ganduje as chairman and the momentum the APC in the state may think this has brought them.
Its secretary, Dr. Hamisu Sadi, told Daily Trust on Sunday that “politics is not about holding a position on top or whatever. It has happened a lot of times in Nigeria that a national chairman of a given political party fails to deliver his own state and Ganduje is not the first person to lead APC.
“To us, we don’t feel that because he (Ganduje) is holding that position, they will reclaim Kano. The issue is that the people of Kano are tired of APC. They rejected APC, which was why they chased them away.”
It’s a supremacy battle, Ganduje’s influence cannot be ruled out – Don
A political analyst and lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the Bayero University Kano (BUK), Dr. Aminu Hayatu, said it would be foolhardy to underplay the influence that Ganduje’s emergence may have on the fortunes of the APC in Kano.
“Even those who are saying he (Ganduje) is not up to the task; I don’t think that is the correct information about him. Most importantly, I think why most APC party members are jubilating on his emergence as the national Chairman is because of the battle of supremacy in Kano between the two political camps; i.e. the Ganduje and Kwankwaso. So, I think for them (APC members), the jubilation is mostly about political supremacy not necessarily because of their thought to achieve something.
“On the other hand, I think Ganduje has the capacity to bring an addition to the party now that he’s been brought on board as the National chairman but that is not without also his own limitations, especially because of the allegation of corruption that has refused to leave him.
“That allegation is still there and the question of integrity and personal credibility is still being pursued by other politicians against him and that might affect the kind of impact his emergence will have for the party at the national and subnational levels,” he said.
Hayatu, however, added that “Ganduje is a politician and he knows how to scheme his way to power and he knows how he deals with people.
“I’m sure this time, he will be more careful and not allow for any opportunity to see him as being either corrupt or someone who will undermine the party through unwarranted acts.”
Similarly, a renowned political analyst and professor of political science, Kamilu Sani Fage, said for APC in Kano to take proper advantage of Ganduje’s national chairmanship, it will take a lot of hard work for them to sustain the party, and that it depends on how he (Ganduje) is able to own the party, and how he is able to mobilise.
“You see like what happened with Kwankwaso; because he was able to hold the party followers and the party in Kano (through his Kwankwasiyya Movement), he was able to stay relevant and after eight years, he came out with his structures intact in the new party and won.
“So, all these depend on how serious Ganduje and his supporters are in keeping the party alive in Kano,” he added.
