GODFATHERISM WAR: Kano NNPP crisis deepens as Gov. Yusuf stops picking Kwankwaso’s calls

The rift in the ruling New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, in Kano has deepened as Governor Abba Yusuf snubbed meetings and refused to pick the calls of his godfather, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

A political slogan, Abba Tsaya da Kafarka — Abba, stand on your feet, or, more bluntly, Abba, part ways with Kwankwaso — is gaining prominence in Kano as calls from within and outside the party for the governor to be independent intensified.

Our reporter gathered that the political war and scheming to abandon Mr Kwankwaso were launched from several fronts.

While some political foot soldiers are neck-deep in negotiation with the ruling APC at the top, others have already obtained a court order to take control of the NNPP from Mr Kwankwaso.

On November 1, an Abia State High Court perfected one of the plans by granting an order returning the control of the party to erstwhile leader, Boniface Aniebonam.

Observers view the legal fireworks as a plan to create faction in the party and prepare ground for the governor’s eventual defection to APC.

The arrowheads of the rebellion are the secretary to the state government, Baffa Bichi; the state commissioner for Transport, Mohammed Diggol; the state commissioner of Education, Umar Doguwa; the senator representing Kano South, Kawu Sumaila; a member representing Rano/Bunkure/Kibiya Federal Constituency; a member representing Dala Federal Constituency, Ali Madaki and; some members of the Kano House of Assembly.

Insiders told this newspaper that the governor had already heeded the call to be independent of Mr Kwankwaso’s control in order to personally chart a course for his administration.

“Abba does not want to denigrate Kwankwaso, but he truly wants to be independent. Ninety percent of the commissioners were imposed by Kwankwaso, and Abba is still working with them. This shows he still respects him.

“For a long time, Abba wanted to drop some commissioners who are either incompetent or disloyal to him, but out of respect for Kwankwaso, he reluctantly accommodates them for peace to reign,” said an insider close to the governor.

According to sources, the governor was fed up with his godfather’s alleged meddlesomeness, particularly in the local government affairs.

Our Reporters learnt that the simmering crisis between the duo began to manifest in March this year when Mr Kwankwaso single-handedly appointed the caretaker local government chairmen, allegedly without recourse to the governor for input.

Piqued by Mr Kwankwaso’s alleged interference and taunts of being a lapdog, the governor began to distance from the local government affairs in protest.

On September 19, the governor wielded the big stick and sacked the caretaker chairmen  – a week after the Kano State House of Assembly, allegedly on Mr Kwankwaso’s order, approved a two-month extension to them.

The frosty relation worsened after Mr Kwankwaso recently handpicked the new council chairmen, their deputies, secretaries, councilors and supervisory councilors without the governor’s input.

Sources told reporter that plan is afoot by the internal “Abba Tsaya da Kafarka” campaigners in cohort with some APC leaders, to obtain an order at the Federal High Court in Kano to direct police to eject the elected LG chairmen, and direct the CBN, banks and Federal Ministry of Finance to recognize the list of the chairmen reflected in Justice Simon Amobeda’s election-eve order.

If the above plan failed, the second plan is to sever the 44 local government councils’ umbilical cords from Miller Road by using the Supreme Court local government autonomy judgement as an excuse to abolish the office of the commissioner for Local Government and establish “Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Bureau” under the governor’s office.

With the exception of the governor’s appearance at Mr Kwankwaso’s birthday celebrations on October 21, where the godfather used the opportunity to corner...