FORMER Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has dismissed allegations that he is secretly working for the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election, describing those spreading the claims as people telling lies to confuse Nigerians.
Kwankwaso said only “foolish people” would believe the allegation that he is indirectly supporting Tinubu, insisting that his political camp is fully committed to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
The former governor spoke on Wednesday night during an interview with Global TV monitored by News Point Nigeria, where he reacted to recent comments made by Sanusi Bature, spokesperson to Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf.
Bature had alleged that Kwankwaso, a former national leader of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), worked for Tinubu during the 2023 elections and had recently sought a direct meeting with the president, although the meeting did not happen.
Reacting to the claims, Kwankwaso strongly denied having any political arrangement with Tinubu.
“I think only foolish people would believe that. We are not working for anybody. We are only working for NDC,” he said.
Kwankwaso, however, acknowledged his personal relationship with the president, saying Tinubu remains his senior brother and friend, but stressed that friendship does not translate into political partnership.
“Bola Tinubu has been my senior brother and good friend up till now. But that doesn’t mean we shall pull all our political ideologies together with him,” he said.
“He is doing his own and I am doing my own.”
The former Minister of Defence also said he believes President Tinubu may not be fully aware of the true condition of the country because those surrounding him are allegedly shielding him from reality.
According to Kwankwaso, many of the people around the president are responsible for worsening the nation’s problems instead of helping to solve them.
“Normally under the current circumstances, the president may not see what is happening. And unfortunately, most of the people around him are actually the ones creating the problems,” he said.
“So, in those circumstances, it is difficult to see who will advise him or tell him the obvious situation. What they normally tell and what they are doing is to pick governors. I think going by the number of governors now, APC is number one.”
Kwankwaso also spoke about his political alliance with Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, following their move into the Nigeria Democratic Congress on May 3.
According to him, leaders of the coalition from the six geo-political zones met and agreed that the presidential ticket should be zoned to the south, after which they settled on Obi as the preferred candidate.
“When we joined the NDC, we invited all our leaders from the six geo-political zones and we sat down and looked at the situations. We then decided to come together and work as a family,” Kwankwaso said.
“The party, in its own wisdom, decided to zone the presidential ticket to the south. We looked around across the zones and we realised that Peter Obi is the best candidate. That was our assessment at that particular time.”
Responding to questions about his influence across northern Nigeria and his ability to mobilise support for Obi in the North-East and North-West, Kwankwaso said the coalition still has enough time to convince Nigerians before the next general election.
“I can’t start telling our viewers that I am popular. I think it’s up to the people out there to tell. We are just in the field, working very hard,” he said.
“We are trying to convince the people, even those who are going about telling lies to try to take advantage of our differences in the country, which should be our strength, we are working on that.”
“And I am happy to say that we are very lucky because from now till January 16, 2027, we have about eight months, which is enough time.”
“Those who are telling the lies, the lies will come out and people will also identify those who are telling the truth and are serious.”