Former Governor of Kano state, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has been rejected from joining the All Progressives Congress (APC) by some leaders of the party in the state.
Speaking with newsmen Tuesday after a closed-door meeting with the APC National Chairman at the party’s national secretariat, the minister of State Housing and Urban Development, Yusuf Ata, said the former governor’s red cap is gradually going extinct in Kano state.
According to Ata, unless the National Chairman, who is the leader of the party in Kano takes a decision to accept him, Kwankwaso stands rejected.
Ata, who declared support for the leadership of Dr. Ganduje-led APC both in Kano and at the national level, said appreciated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and assured him, saying the National Chairman has been working day and night to ensure the President win convincingly in Kano State come 2027.
He said: “Anybody who visits Kano State even today will see that there are a lot of changes. It is hardly you will find red caps in Kano. Before now, if you visit the mosque you will see many red caps but today you can visit a mosque and if 5000 people come for prayers, you can not see 20 red caps in Kano.
“So we are assuring the President that we are not asking for anything less. We are strongly behind our national chairman. We have been discussing with him. This is the opinion of all the Kano State APC, even to the grassroots.
“Kwankwaso is no longer relevant in Kano. He is only coming to APC, not that we invited him. Because he is going to die politically. I am assuring you and even Mr. President has all his security records from the grassroots in Kano.
“He is no more attractive. So, he is struggling to be accommodated in the APC, that may bring a lot of crisis in the APC in Kano state. This is our position.”
When asked why he won’t be happy if Kwankwaso join APC, the minister said: “Personally, I won’t be happy. Unless it is a decision from our father (Ganduje) to accommodate him. I was in the House of Assembly in 1999 when Kwankwaso was the governor. So I know Kwankwaso very well.
“He is no more attractive in Kano. We have no deal unless the national chairman, as a leader, said we should accommodate him. No problem.”
However, National Chairman of the APC, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who said Kwankwaso has been abandoned by all his followers, added that “when a fish is running out of water, that’s exactly what is happening. If the water is drying, the fish has to find it’s way to water. So that is what is happening. I will not say we are not ready to welcome him.
“When you see your son running to where he would get shelter and you are a big brother in a big home, i think it is morally right to accommodate him. So we cannot say we cannot accommodate him because a friend in need is a friend indeed. Somebody who has been abandoned we should not allow him to wallow in darkness.”