Former Kano State governor and national leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has reacted to Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s defection to the All Progressive Congress, APC.
The defection comes days after Mustapha Rabiu Kwankwaso, the senator’s son, resigned as Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development under Yusuf’s administration in Kano state.
Speaking during an interview with the BBC Hausa Service in Kaduna, Kwankwaso said the governor would eventually regret leaving the NNPP.
He described the decision as shocking and difficult to understand, adding that the circumstances surrounding Yusuf’s exit from the party were confusing even to him.
Kwankwaso said the development had fueled speculation that the move was part of a broader political arrangement.
“Many people have approached me, believing that what happened was part of an arrangement either between me and him or between me and those around him. Even I sometimes find it hard to believe how events unfolded,” he said.
The former governor insisted that time would expose the consequences of the defection, stressing that Yusuf and his political allies would come to regret the move.
Governor Yusuf formally joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday, January 26, 2026, after resigning from the NNPP on Friday, January 23.
His defection came less than three years after he won the Kano governorship election on the NNPP platform, a party closely linked to Kwankwaso and the Kwankwasiyya political movement.
Other loyalists to Kwankwaso who have since resigned from the Kano State Government include Commissioner for Internal Security and Special Services, Ibrahim Umar; Commissioner for Special Duties, Nasiru Sule Garo; Director-General of the Kano Pilgrims Board, Alhaji Laminu Rabiu; and Managing Director of the Kano State Roads Maintenance Agency (KARMA), Hassan Danbappa.
