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• Kano officials accuse ex-governor of high-handedness, aspirants demand primary results
By Chinelo Obogo
Trouble is brewing within the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) as former Kano State governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who is the party’s vice-presidential candidate, has threatened to quit the opposition party, even as senior party officials accuse him of attempting to hijack its structures in the state and shut out rival aspirants from its nomination process.
The crisis, which has defied reconciliation attempts by the party’s National Leader, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, is festering as controversy over the party’s failure to release primary election results more than 10 days after the exercise was conducted nationwide is also escalating.
When Kwankwaso joined the NDC, Dickson reportedly brokered a power-sharing deal that gave the former governor and his Kwankwasiyya movement 60 per cent of the party’s Kano structure, with the original party leadership retaining 40 per cent. It was a compromise designed to accommodate him and his group without displacing the people who built the platform but that agreement has allegedly collapsed.
NDC North-West Vice Chairman, Mohammed Rabiu Serina and Kano State Chairman, Hussaini Isa Mariga, alleged in a joint statement that once the nomination process began, Kwankwaso abandoned the agreement entirely. They claimed that all nomination forms for the governorship, Senate, House of Representatives, and State House of Assembly seats in Kano were allegedly taken by Kwankwaso’s loyalists, leaving long standing party members, including Serina and Mariga themselves, without access.
Serina said he made another proposal that only a handful of legislative tickets be set aside for non-Kwankwasiyya members but was also turned down. Dickson was also reported to have met Kwankwaso personally on two occasions to seek a resolution, while the National Working Committee sent a separate delegation but were unsuccessful.
Responding to what it described as a clear breach of the agreement, the Kano NDC leadership replaced several Kwankwasiyya-nominated candidates and issued a revised list. Among those approved under the new list for federal constituencies were Isma’il Idris Sani in Kumbotso, Nasiru Ali Ahmed in Nassarawa, Kabiru Ishaq Sa’id in Kano Municipal, and Dayyabu Jamilu Ibrahim in Doguwa/Tudun Wada, with further changes made to State House of Assembly tickets in Dala, Tarauni, Kumbotso, Ungogo, and Dawakin Kudu. The revised list was copied to Dickson, Kwankwaso, and the NDC North-West Zonal Chairman. But the replacements were rejected by Kwankwaso who has threatened to leave the party if the changes are allowed to stand.
Meanwhile, a group of NDC stakeholders led by Co-Convener, Uche Uzomba, has demanded answers over the party’s silence on primary election results 10 days after. The group which held a press conference on Monday, said the NDC must remain committed to the values of transparency, accountability, and internal democracy that it has consistently promoted, warning that every day of silence makes the party look no different from those it has criticised.
The stakeholders demanded to know why the results had not been released, what steps were being taken to protect the integrity of the process, and when members could expect a final announcement. They urged the leadership to either publish the results immediately or offer a full explanation for the delay.
