As political stress simmers in Kano State over reported deliberate defection of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to the All Progressives Congress (APC), an previous video recorded round July, 2024, exhibiting the governor firmly pledging loyalty to his political mentor and NNPP nationwide chief, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, has resurfaced and gone viral.
The viral previous video has gained renewed consideration amid intensifying hypothesis that Governor Yusuf might defect from the New Nigeria Folks’s Party to the APC this January.
Within the footage, recorded throughout a late-night interplay with journalists on the Authorities Home, Kano, Governor Yusuf dismissed claims of any rift between himself and Kwankwaso, describing such narratives as insulting and divisive.
“By saying I ought to stand alone toes, they’re insulting me and not directly dismissing all of the achievements of my administration,” Yusuf mentioned, reacting to the emergence of the ‘Abba Tsaya da Kafarka’ Motion on the time. The slogan translated as ‘Abba, stand by yourself toes’, was veiled message urging the governor to claim his political independence from Kwankwaso’s grip.
The governor confused that loyalty stays central to his political id and that of the folks of Kano. “God gave me the chance to be governor, however Kwankwaso’s help made it doable. Why ought to I betray him?” Yusuf requested.
He added that these pushing the narrative had been intentionally sowing discord, insisting that he remained centered on governance and repair to the folks.
“I’ve all the time been loyal,” he reiterated within the video.
Within the now viral previous video, Yusuf additionally dismissed studies that he had been ignoring cellphone calls from Kwankwaso, explaining that he intentionally averted authorized motion in opposition to a media organisation that printed the declare out of respect for the journalism occupation.
“I might have challenged the journalist who wrote that story, however I selected to not as a result of I respect this occupation and need to work with the media, not in opposition to it,” he mentioned.
The re-emergence of the previous video comes at a time when Governor Yusuf has maintained a loud silence over the rising defection rumours about him, permitting hypothesis to deepen inside political circles throughout the state.
Nonetheless, the chief of the Kwankwasiyya Motion and former governor of Kano State, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, has publicly rejected requires Governor Yusuf’s defection to the APC.
Kwankwaso, talking on Saturday at his non-public residence in Kano, mentioned he was not in help of any deliberate defection. “In the event that they proceed on this path, there’ll come a time when folks will say Ganduje’s betrayal was even higher regardless of how rotten he’s,” Kwankwaso mentioned, referencing Governor Yusuf and his supporters, who had been calling for his defection to APC.
LEADERSHIP studies Governor Yusuf has neither publicly confirmed any deliberate defection to the APC nor has he replied to Kwankwaso’s public response as on the time of submitting this report.
