Kwankwaso says he is ready to make peace with Kano governor

Former Kano State Governor and leader of the Kwankwasiyya group, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, says he is open to forgiving Governor Abba Yusuf and reconciling with him. This is despite their political differences. Kwankwaso insists that his feelings for his former protégé have not changed.

The relationship between Kwankwaso and Yusuf got worse when Yusuf left the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP). He switched to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) after winning the 2023 governorship election. This move upset many members of the Kwankwasiyya movement.

In a video interview posted by BBC Hausa on Monday, Kwankwaso, who also left NNPP to join the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), said he is still open to making peace. He pointed out that Yusuf chose to leave their party. If Yusuf decides to come back, Kwankwaso will not turn him away.

"I still love Abba and I didn’t reject him. He is the one that left. So not just Abba, if anyone who left comes back, I won’t be unforgiving. Look at Ganduje, in the many years we worked together, we fell out several times and got back together. That is how politics works," he said.

Kwankwaso believes Yusuf's win was due to the strength of the Kwankwasiyya movement. "We picked Abba to contest under the NNPP and we won, but he left to join the people we defeated. Some say he did so because he feared losing his position, but he knows there was no way we would have been defeated in Kano. If that were the case, we would have lost when he contested under our party," he stated.

He added that the movement chose Yusuf in 2023 to show its political power. "We did not choose him because he was the most senior or the most educated. We chose him because we wanted to test the strength and calibre of the Kwankwasiyya movement at that time," he said.

Kwankwaso stressed the need for tolerance in leadership. He said leaders must accept different views and be willing to forgive. "As a leader, you need to have an open heart. You cannot force people to think the way you do because we all come from different backgrounds and have different perspectives. Without forgiveness, we would not have come this far," he added.