It is a cold war between a godfather and his protège. A protège who rose to power because he rode on the coattails of the godfather who now feels betrayed by the actions and decisions of his hitherto long-term mentee. It is a classic case of political heavyweights and their trusted mentee becoming adversaries
In politics, there are no permanent friends or foes, but only permanent interests. There are only a few places where this time-honoured aphorism is truer and more perfectly illustrated than in Nigeria. Nigeria’s politicians are migratory in nature and move to where their goals can be realised and their interests can be protected. While a few of them have personal exemplary dispositions and creeds that can’t be compromised on, the majority are influenced by the inordinate quest for power and primitive acquisition of wealth, and where these two can be guaranteed is where you will find them.
One of the major issues that has dominated public discourse in recent weeks is the political events in Kano State. The breakdown in the relationship between Governor Kabir Yusuf and former Governor of the state, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has not only changed the outlook and dynamics of the state politics but has also changed the whole calculations and permutations for the 2027 presidential election. The bad blood that now characterises the relationship between Kwankwaso and the governor cannot be put down to a petty power struggle between two prominent and influential politicians who are trying to assert their dominance in a state, it is a cold war between a godfather and his protège. A protège who rose to power because he rode on the coattails of the godfather who now feels betrayed by the actions and decisions of his hitherto long-term mentee. It is a classic case of political heavyweights and their trusted mentee becoming adversaries
The defection to the APC
Last Friday, Governor Yusuf resigned from the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, after weeks of speculation regarding where his political allegiance lies and his next move. On Monday, he joined the All Progressives Congress. Joining him in the defection from the NNPP to the APC are Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly, Jibril Ismail Falgore, his Deputy, Muhammad Butu-Butu, and the Majority Leader, Lawan Hussain.
Governor Kabir Yusuf’s defection to the APC did not come as a surprise to many observers. It was only a matter of time before he switched camp seeing how governors have now seen defection to the ruling party as a survival and self-preservation move in an unforgiving political terrain. It must be stated here that the defection to the ruling by these governors is not inspired by confidence in the APC-led federal government, nor is it spurred by any commendable performance of the government; their cross-carpeting to the APC is fuelled largely by greed, inordinate ambition and the quest to consolidate power on both sides. The governors, even though they were elected by the people and they have the mandate of the people, no longer think they need votes and support of the people to stay in office. This is largely due to erosion of confidence in the electoral process and palpable undermining of our democracy with the ruling party’s tyrannical and undemocratic actions. The opposition governors, the majority of whom do not have the spine and courage to confront and challenge the ruling party over its stifling of the civic space and pernicious consolidation of power, because they lack the needed unshakable integrity, strong conviction and character to do so decided to join the ruling power.
Back to Governor Yusuf, some see his defection to APC as nothing more than a pragmatic move by a politician who is trying to stay afloat and survive in an increasingly vicious and turbulent political water where those with real power are ready to use it to hound, persecute and victimise those not within their ranks and also torpedo their political ambition, many see his move as an act of betrayal and treachery to his mentor and principal who nurture him and help him actualise his political ambition. Wherever you stand, one thing we can all agree on is that the success of Yusuf in the civil service, his rise and elevation to the mainstream of Nigerian politics would not have happened without the support of his mentor and godfather, Kwankwaso.
In 1999, Yusuf was appointed personal assistant to Rabiu Kwankwaso while he was the governor of Kano State; he was retained as personal assistant when Kwankwaso became a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2003. Yusuf became Commissioner of Works, Housing and Transport in 2011, when Kwankwaso became the governor of Kano State for a second term.
In 2018, Yusuf was endorsed by his boss Rabiu Kwankwaso to challenge the incumbent Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 gubernatorial election. Kwankwaso had previously backed Ganduje in 2014, when he was his deputy, leading to Ganduje’s victory in the 2015 election. Yusuf lost the highly controversial election which was fraught with widespread electoral manipulation and subsequently challenged the result at the election tribunal, but his petition was dismissed. In 2022, Yusuf moved from the Peoples Democratic Party to the New Nigeria Peoples Party, where he was again endorsed by Kwankwaso to challenge Nasir Yusuf Gawuna in the 2023 elections. He was declared the winner on 20 March 2023.
From the trajectory of his career in civil service and his meteoric rise in politics, one can see the visible imprints of Kwankwaso in the life of Abba Yusuf. He took him under his wing and gave him the support he needed to make a name for himself. From juicy appointments to important endorsements as a gubernatorial candidate on two different occasions, the success story of Governor Yusuf cannot be written without Kwankwaso not taking up a significant portion of its pages.
There is no doubt the defection of Governor Yusuf has thrown a wedge in his relationship with Kwankwaso and this can be seen in the recent outburst of Kwankwaso while reacting to the development. He didn’t mince words in voicing his revulsion at Yusuf’s move. In an interview with BBC Hausa, he stated that the governor will regret his defection to the APC. He warned that the governor’s exit from the party would have dire implications for the defectors, adding that Yusuf and others who left with him would, sooner or later, regret their decision to abandon the party that brought them to power. The former presidential candidate described the development as shocking and difficult to understand, noting that the manner in which the governor departed the party had unsettled members and supporters across Kano State.
Whether the reaction of Kwankwaso is real displeasure and exasperation born by the sharp pain of betrayal or a perfunctory performative anger to save face and maintain his vaunted political influence in Kano remains to be seen. Yusuf defection may have been greeted by anger and disgust by some section of the public but the truth is he is not the kind of politician with the heft and oomph to withstand the bludgeoning shenanigans of the APC, he may be the governor of one the nation’s important state but many still see him as political lightweight who can be run roughshod over, especially by a ruling party that hardly plays fair and who is ready to do everything to gain and keep power.
What the governor’s defection means in the grand political schemes depends on who you’re asking and through which prism they view the whole saga. From Governor Yusuf’s perspective, the move will be seen as a practical and logical one, which is critical to his political survival, but for Kwankwaso, who hitherto was his long-term benefactor, the move is a stab in the back. A reprehensible act of treachery.
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