*Reminds Him That ‘Kanawa’ Are Politically Sophisticated
Expressing disappointment, the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) has spoken of “anger” in Kano State over the resignation of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, who was in 2023 elected on the party’s platform, from NNPP.
It is believed he could move over to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with the rumours stronger in the wake of his recent closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja.
While the APC is the major opposition party in the vote-rich North-West state, it is the party that controls power at the federal level.
President Tinubu is rumoured to be strongly nursing a second term ambition and party strategists have since gone to town discreetly moving to try and bring it to pass.
Governor Yusuf had on Friday announced his resignation from NNPP, claiming the party was in an irredeemable crisis situation.
He left the party together with some members of the House of Representatives and the State House of Assembly in tow.
Stopping short of labelling the governor a betrayer, NNPP stated that he will face the consequences for jumping the NNPP ship.
Yusuf’s resignation happened just a few days after the Kano State chapter of NNPP asked him to officially resign his membership if he was eyeing the APC.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Ladipo Johnson, NNPP criticized the governor for claiming there is irredeemable crisis within the party.
The statement described his claim as baseless, saying it was an afterthought since the party recently held congresses to elect its leadership, starting from ward level up to the national convention, which took place on December 20, 2025 with the governor present at the events, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) supervising them.
Additionally, the party reminded Yusuf that it participated in and won two supplementary elections in August 2025 for the Bagwai/Shanono and Ghari/Tsanyawa constituencies.
“We are very sad and really upset to learn that His Excellency, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, has resigned and left the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
“We are very disappointed that Governor Abba, a man who was trusted by the people of Kano State because of his many years of loyal and committed service to the Kwankwasiyya Movement, has now decided to break that trust.
“By doing this, he could bring back the same groups that have been against the state’s progress and the hopes of its people for a long time,” NNPP stated.
With a sense of history, the party went down memory lane and recalled how Kanawa (the people of Kano State) treated political turncoats in time past, citing the early 80s case of the state’s flamboyant governor Abubakar Rimi, who jettisoned the then-ruling People’s Redemption Party (PRP) for the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP), only for the people to roundly reject him at the polls in his 1983 re-election bid.
To NNPP, same fate awaits Gov. Yusuf in 2027.
The party stated: “This isn’t the first time a betrayal like this has happened in Kano’s political history.
“In the early 1980s, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi left the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) and joined the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP).
“He took with him most of the elected officials, including almost all Local Government Chairmen and Council members, 120 out of 126 members from the Kano State House of Assembly, and most of the Kano representatives in the National Assembly.
“In the 1983 gubernatorial election, the voters clearly showed their choice: Rimi was beaten badly by Mallam Aliyu Sabo Bakin Zuwo from the PRP party, and he came in second place.
“Even more importantly, out of the 120 State Assembly members who joined Rimi in switching parties, only one was re-elected.
“This should serve as a clear warning to any politician thinking about breaking away from their original party.
“This situation is really upsetting and hard for everyone who believed in the Kwankwasiyya plan. We ask the 1,019,602 people who voted for his win, along with the people of Kano State and Nigeria, to stay calm, be patient, and keep their emotions in check.
“Let’s not get angry or start arguing with each other. History has always shown that people who swap loyalty for convenience and honesty for trickery seldom avoid being judged by the public.
‘’The truth stays strong, and the people of Kano will eventually support leaders who stand by their principles.”
*PHOTO CAPTION: Gov Abba Yusuf.
