Rabiu Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State, has denied claims that he is working for President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
“The allegation is false,” Kwankwaso said, “I’ve been hearing similar rumors since my days in the New Nigeria People’s Party.
He spoke in an interview with Global TV Wednesday night.
The ex-governor was reacting to claims by the spokesman to Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, Sanusi Bature, who accused Kwankwaso of working indirectly for the re-election of Tinubu.
Kwankwaso denied the allegation, saying he belonged to the Nigeria Democratic Congress political party.
“I don’t think anyone would be that stupid,” he said. We work for our own. We are NDC exclusively.
“Bola Tinubu has been my senior brother and a good friend up till now. But that doesn’t mean we’re all going to unite our political ideologies with him.
“I am doing my own, and he is doing his own.”
Bature also alleged that Kwankwaso was working for Tinubu in 2023 and later sought a direct meeting with the President that did not come through.
The former Minister of Defence, Kwankwaso, said that although he was a member of another political party, he believed the President might not be fully conversant with the situation in the country because those around him are not telling him the truth.
He added, “Normally, the president may not see what is happening in the current conditions. And the sad fact is, it’s most of the people around him who are actually creating the problems.
“So in those circumstances, it’s hard to see who’s going to counsel him or tell him the obvious situation. And they say they are in the business of picking governors and that’s what they are doing. “I think APC is number one by the number of governors now.
Why We Supported Obi
Kwankwaso also gave reasons why his camp decided to support former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi in the NDC.
Kwankwaso and Obi joined the NDC on May 3, where discussions are ongoing on a possible joint presidential ticket.
He said: “When we joined the NDC, we invited all our leaders from the six geopolitical zones and we sat down and looked at the situations. Then we decided to join together and work as a family.
The party, in its wisdom, decided to zone the presidential ticket to the south. We went around the zones and we saw that Peter Obi is the best candidate. That was our assessment at that point in time.”
He was asked how his popularity in the North would help Obi to mobilise votes in the North-East and North-West. He said they had enough time to convince Nigerians before the election.
“I cannot begin to tell our viewers that I am popular,” Kwankwaso added. That’s a matter for the folks out there, I think. “Just out in the field, working real hard.”
We are trying to convince the people, even those who go around saying lies to try to take advantage of our differences in the country, which should be our strength.
“And I’m happy to say that we are very lucky because from now until January 16, 2027, we have about eight months, which is plenty of time.
“Those who are spreading the lies, the lies will be revealed, and people will also be able to identify those who are telling the truth and are serious.”
