…Rabiu Kwankwaso condemned the move as a betrayal and proclaimed January 23 as “World Betrayal Day.”
KANO, NIGERIA – The iNews Times | Twenty-one members of the Kano State House of Assembly have defected from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), signaling a significant shift in the state’s political landscape.
The lawmakers announced their defection on Monday, shortly after Governor Abba Yusuf officially withdrew from the NNPP following his recent visit to President Bola Tinubu at the State House in Abuja.
In a resignation letter addressed to the chairman of the Diso-Chiranchi ward in Gwale Local Government Area, Yusuf attributed his departure to what he described as escalating internal crises and prolonged leadership conflicts within the party.
The governor’s defection occurred alongside that of 21 state assembly members, eight members of the House of Representatives, and all 44 local government chairmen in Kano State.
Prominent figures among the defectors include the Speaker of the House, Jibril Ismail Falgore (Rogo), and the Deputy Speaker, Muhammad Bello Butu Butu (Tofa/Rimin Gado).
Others who left the NNPP include the Majority Leader, Lawan Hussain (Dala); Deputy Majority Leader, Garba Shehu Fammar (Kibiya); and the Chief Whip, Muddasir Ibrahim Zawachiki (Kumbotso).
Additional lawmakers who joined the APC are Zakariyya Abdullahi Nuhu (Gabasawa), Lawal Tini (Ajingi), Musa Tahir Haruna (Albasu), Ali Lawan Alhassan (Bagwai/Shanono), Ali Muhammad Tiga (Bebeji), Hafiz Gambo (Bunkure), and Rabiu Shuaibu (Dawakin Kudu).
The list also includes Tukur Mohammed (Fagge), Murtala Muhammad Kadage (Garko), Abdulmajid Isah Umar (Gwale), Ahmad Ibrahim (Karaye), Alhassan Zakari (Kura/Garun Malam), Suleiman Mukhtar Ishaq (Madobi), Abdulhamid Abdul (Minjibir), Muhammad Ibrahim (Rano), Kabiru Sule Dahiru (Tarauni), and Ali Abdullahi Manager (Wudil).
Reacting to Yusuf’s defection, NNPP national leader Rabiu Kwankwaso condemned the move as a betrayal and proclaimed January 23 as “World Betrayal Day.”
Kwankwaso played a key role in Yusuf’s victory in the 2023 Kano governorship election through the Kwankwasiyya political movement.
