2027: If Kwankwaso joins APC, I’ll go with him –Senator Hanga

By Chinelo ObogoFormer President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year tenure (2015–2023) has been labelled a colossal failure by former allies who accuse him of leaving Nigeria worse than he met it. Rufai Hanga, a senator on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), representing Kano Central, who spoke exclusively to Daily Sun, also slammed Buhari for blatant nepotism, describing him in an unprintable word. He said all the former President ever wanted was power and that he had no knowledge of leadership or administration.

He also addressed the ongoing crisis within the NNPP, dismissing the reports of the expulsion of former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso as recurring rumours. He claimed that Kwankwaso’s alleged expulsion is part of an attempt by powerful forces to destabilise the party. He criticised Boniface Aniegbonam, the party’s founder, for attempting to reclaim control of the NNPP despite lacking executive authority, just as he also accused him and his allies of being sponsored to create crisis within the party similar to what is happening in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP).



He however revealed that he would not hesitate to move with Kwankwaso, should he decide to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC). googletag.cmd.

push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1718806029429-0'); }); What is the present situation of the NNPP after recent reports that former governor, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso has been expelled from the party?This is not the first time they have said that Kwankwaso has been thrown out of the party or suspended; they have said it several times. When we started, the founder of the party, Boniface Aniegbonam, allowed the party to go sleep for many years, and nothing was happening there.

But when we had problems with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), we decided to join another party. So, we approached him because the party was almost dead, and he was happy to receive us. We were grateful that he received us.

He said it was alright for us to take over the party, so we had a convention, and he suggested that some of his boys must be part of the executive, and we agreed. We then had a joint leadership, and he was appointed the chairman of the Board of Trustees, and things were going well.Immediately after a government was formed in Kano, we always invited him, but he was not attending anything frequently.

He would either say that there was no time or that he was busy. After the government was formed, we always invited him for events, being the BoT chairman and the person who was initially the chairman of the party. Sometimes he came, and other times he would give excuses for why he would not come.

He was being patronised, but I think that he was not happy with the patronage he was getting. He probably considered it too little and wanted to control everything. But the party constitution does not give him the power to decide things; he was just the chairman of the BoT, which is just an advisory body, with no executive power according to the constitution.

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push({})}); He then started causing problems through his boys who were in the exco and said the party belongs to him after all and that he is taking over. So, they left us and started problems. But since we have the majority of the exco in all states and at the national level, we went to INEC to apply to conduct a national convention.

A convention is the highest echelon of any party, and the decisions taken there are final. So, we had a national convention, elected leaders, and changed our logo. All of these were done in the presence of INEC and all those whom the constitution said must be present.

After that, they are still being used to foment trouble because they are still claiming to be in charge and that they still maintain their former logo. How can you be a leader of the party when you have had no convention with INEC?But they are laying claim to the leadership of the party. Are you not worried?How can you be a leader of the party when your logo is no longer relevant? The new logo, which was changed in the presence of INEC, is there on the INEC website because the former logo has been removed.

We participated in all the Local Government elections that took place in this country with our new logo as the recognised part of the party. But Boniface and his team are being sponsored to foment trouble just like some people were sponsored to scatter the PDP and LP. I know that the PDP is already gone, but LP is still alive, so they scattered it, and they wanted to do the same to us in desperation.

But unfortunately, they were late because we quickly thought about it and were steps ahead. We knew that this was coming, which is why we did what we did. I was the one who chaired the convention that was recognised by INEC.

The things that are happening in this country are terrible. Like in Kano, we now have two emirs. There is a judgment that whatever pertains to traditional rulership should be handled by the state, yet they used the same system to remove our emir and bundled him out of the state and took him to a village.

But when we did it, we allowed him to remain in the state and carry on with his life, which is a more civilized thing to do. You can now see the desperation. In fact, some days ago, the police invited the emir, and it is very shameful because the emir was attacked, and one of the local vigilantes who was securing him was killed because they removed most of his security aides.

Now they are questioning him about it. How can he organise something to kill his own man? These people are only making themselves more unpopular in Kano because people are abusing them every day. People are saying that there is an emergency rule in Rivers and that the next state would be Kano.

We are waiting to see what they can do; they should come and do it. You can force a horse to the river, but you cannot force it to drink from the river.Were you not part of the senators that supported the emergency rule in Rivers?I was not in the country when that decision was taken, and the second issue is that I am in the minority.

I am the only senator from the party in the senate, so even if I have a say against it, I could not have had my way. $(document).ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.

adsbygoogle || []).push({})}); Is there any pressure on you to join the APC?I am not a small boy in politics, and by my upbringing, I can never betray someone with whom we had a deal. I have never done that and will never betray the NNPP leader.

I would rather not come back to the senate than betray him. Politics is local. APC cannot do anything for me in Kano; they will abandon me, so I cannot be stupid.

If my leader decides to move with them, I’ll go with him.Are there any conversations within the NNPP to join the coalition led by opposition leaders?We have not decided anything yet, but within the next one or two months, you will hear our decision. My leader has been a friend to President Bola Tinubu for many years.

They invited Kwankwaso ab initio to come and join the government because they had an agreement, and he consented. But that agreement was kicked out, and he was ditched. We thank God it happened very early before anything even started.

There is so much betrayal in this country. If not for me, APC would not have existed, and no one gave me a dime. Tinubu came to Arewa House in Abuja, invited me to his house, we sat in his bedroom, and agreed on how APC would be formed.

We have been together for a long time, and I have a lot of respect for him, but his spin doctors do not see that. It is only themselves they know, and this has never happened in this country before. People from other parts of the country have ruled, but we have never had a situation where people were openly bragging that it is their time.

They do things with impunity, and when you talk to them, they will tell you it is their time.When former President Muhammadu Buhari was president, he was criticised for nepotism and favouring only the North. There were also the sentiments that the northerners who are now criticising Tinubu for nepotism were silent during Buhari’s administration.

What is your take?We have never had a leader like Buhari, someone who didn’t know what he was doing. I believe in Tinubu because he knows what he is doing, but Buhari knew nothing; all he wanted was power. He didn’t rule the country.

Even during the military, he was not the one in charge; it was his second -in -command, and this time as well, it was the cabal who ruled. He had no idea about what was happening. $(document).

ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({})}); But there weren’t many critical voices from the North during his tenure.

He seemed to have been given a pass mark by northerners. Isn’t that true?He won his first-term election, but he didn’t win the second term; it was snatched by force. We were not happy; we spoke out against him.

The South-West benefited the most more than any part of the country during Buhari’s administration in terms of appointments, projects, and others. Next to them was the North-East because many of his friends are from there. The South-South also benefited.

The only part of the country that didn’t benefit anything was the South-East, unfortunately, because of who he is. He deliberately came out to show his hatred and disdain for the South-East. In the North-West, only his family benefited.

These are facts. Most members of his cabal were from the North-East, and that is why they benefited.There is a perception that the quality of leadership in the senate is deteriorating.

How do you feel about such a perception?People have said that, but I am part of the senate, and even though I am in the minority, I cannot say anything about the senate. Let people judge.The post 2027: If Kwankwaso joins APC, I’ll go with him –Senator Hanga appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.

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