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• Kwankwassiyya now breeding ground for young persons with bad altitudes
From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Dr. Yusuf Bello Danbatta is a founding member of the Kwankwassiyya Movement. He was Kano State Commissioner for Economic Planning during the administration of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. He was also the deputy gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections in the state.
In this interview, he speaks on the formation of the Kwankwassiyya Movement and the defection of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to the All Progressives Congress.
What is your impression of the defection of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to the APC and how it will affect Kano politics in general?
I believe what is happening in Kano today is just history repeating itself. This is because this sort of thing happens almost in every election cycle in the state. In 1979-1983, there was a similar case like this when both Aminu Kano and Abubakar Rimi of blessed memories parted ways along the line. It also happened in the aborted Third Republic. And in 1999, it happened between the former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his political godfathers – here, I am referring to the likes of the late Senator Hamisu Musa, Abubakar Rimi, Musa Gwadabe, Dauda Dangalan and many other political godfathers that brought Senator Kwankwaso to power in 1999. So by 2003, they had all parted ways. In 2007, there was a similar crisis between Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau and the likes of the late Amadu Danzago, Alhaji Sule Yahaya Hamma, Naja’atu Bala Muhammad and others. They were the group of people that came together to support Senator Ibrahim Shekarau to become the governor in 2003 and made it possible for him to defeat the incumbent Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. And of course, in 2011, there was a similar instance like this when the Deputy Governor Abdullahi T. Gwarzo parted ways with the incumbent Governor Ibrahim Shekarau because he anointed Mallam Sagir Takai. That parting of ways between them brought us to power and made way for Kwankwaso stepping in for his second term. A similar situation also happened between Kwankwaso and Ganduje between 2015 to 2023. There was a serious disagreement, a heavy political brouhaha between the two leaders that separated the rank and file of Kano State. So this current crisis is not an exception. I saw it coming a very long time ago. I used to tell people that even if you had anointed your own biological son to become the state governor, the logical thing for you to do is to retire to your business and allow him to govern, because it has been established that there can be no two kings anywhere in the world. Any set up that promotes two kings at the same time in the same space is not a good set up. So talking about humanity, when an Emir resigns, he vacates office and leaves the town entirely, because he cannot come back to the palace and start greeting his son. So when a governor vacates office, he is supposed to respect that boundary and allow the governor to perform effectively. You cannot have two governors like in this case, where there is the administrative governor and the political governor. It cannot work! That is why I foresaw the danger for Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf because the setting is just for one person and not two. The governor is the governor. Whoever happens to be the governor for four years or eight years knows how powerful that seat is. So for you to say that you are going to control somebody who is occupying that seat, that is certainly a daylight dream. Even if he is your biological son, one day he is not going to obey you. And I believe that is what happened today in Kano State. Nobody will believe that Governor Yusuf will ever part ways with Kwankwaso. But to be honest with you, I foresaw this thing coming to pass a long time ago. And if I said it then, some people will say that I was saying it because I was no longer a part of the Kwankwassiyya. But I would say “no”, it was not about Kwankwasiyya, that I was being truthful to myself.
Some people say that the Kwankwaasiyya Movement is a dissonance between what it ideologically represents and what is practiced within it. What exactly makes it difficult for its members to operate freely within the framework of the movement?
Sometimes you can only make a claim to an ideology, but do not know the exact meaning of the ideology. Most of the time, most politicians do not know the meaning of the ideology they profess. A politician can say I have an ideology, this is my philosophy, but in reality he does not practice any of the ideology he claims to observe. When you say Kwankwassiyya ideology, what is the meaning of an ideology? I was among the people that put down our pen and scripted the written document of what is referred today as the Kwankwassiyya ideology. Three of us wrote it: the former Secretary to the State Government, Engineer Rabiu Sulaiman Bichi, one young man who came from Lagos State and myself. Then I was doing my PhD in London. When we drafted the manuscript, I had to send it to one of my friends to vet it, to ensure that at the end of the day that we had a quality document for the party. I was very familiar and conversant with what happened in Kwankwassiyya, how it came to life. This Kwankwassiyya that we are talking about started in 2010. It is not something that predates the present round of democracy. It was during the second coming of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, that was when Kwankwasiyya was formed. It was formed with the likes of Imam Buhari, Dr Dangwani, Rabiu Bichi, Professor Hafizu Abubakar, Engineer Bala Borodo. And by the way why did they form Kwankwassiyya? It was because there was a serious conflict between the group controlled by former Governor Abubakar Rimi and the group controlled by Kwankwaso at that time. The group controlled by Rimi was tagged Garkuwa group of PDP, which meant the pillars and strongholds of PDP. And the others were tagged Kwankwassiyya group. They were those aligned with Governor Kwankwaso. That was how it started. There was no red cap at that time. The red cap was introduced later, during the inauguration of Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in 2011. This movement started with us. I was the first person to open a Kwankwassiyya office in my village. There was nothing like Kwankwassiyya then. This is a product that we built with our energy, our brain and our time.
How did it derail from the original script?
If you take a look at the names that I just mentioned, the names of the founders, where are they today? All the names I have mentioned, where are they? Are there any of them still with the Kwankwassiyya Movement today? No! And this is because the ideology that was adopted at the inception of the movement had been thrown overboard, and is no longer practiced by the members of the movement. So you cannot expect somebody who is very knowledgeable, who is very conversant with the system in Nigeria to be reduced to a mediocre just because he is a member of Kwankwassiyya. A situation where you cannot even decide your political future, you have to wait until you are told what to aspire for is certainly unfortunate. Somebody who is old enough to be the president of this country, somebody who is knowledgeable enough to govern Kano State, somebody who is knowledgeable enough to be Managing Director of a major bank in Nigeria or an Executive Director of a Federal Government parastatal or somebody who has served several ministers as Special Adviser is reduced to nothing once you step down to be a member of the Kwankwassiyya Movement. Instead of promoting the economy and philosophy of the state which was the cardinal goal of the movement at inception, the Movement at the end of the day, has become a breeding ground for young men and women with very bad attitudes.
When you say “bad attitude”, what exactly do you mean?
When I said ‘bad attitude’, I referred to the way and manner these young members abuse leaders in the state. It does not add up. It was never part of the original script.
Are you not blaming Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso for hijacking the ideology of the Movement and making it his personal property?
Kwakwasiyya was never and should never have been the personal property of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. It is supposed to be a platform that will produce leaders in the state. But unfortunately, it was misdirected. There is a benchmark in the Movement and the moment you reach that benchmark, you will have to wait or stop growing. That is the end of you and the highest you can get in the Kwankwassiyya is a ticket to the House of Representatives. The moment you step into the National Assembly and you start “misbehaving” or behaving independently, the leader will say “Oh no! You are not the one; this is not the type of leader we want.” That way, they will bring somebody from your village. Check the Movement correctly, you will see it by yourself, the positions for the senatorial and gubernatorial seats are always negotiable.
Senator Kwankwaso is talking about betrayal by Governor Abba. Do you really think Abba betrayed Kwankwaso in this whole defection arrangement?
I don’t believe that. Governor Abba has not and did not betray Kwankwaso by defecting because we have to define the meaning of betrayal. Does Kwankwaso own Abba? No! Is he his own product? No! Is he his own son? No! Governor Abba, from what I heard, was more or less a colleague or better put, a junior colleague to Kwankwaso because they were not of the same rank. Kwankwaso was a superior officer to Abba during their working days at WRECA. They found something in common and they decided to work together. They became associates and then Kwankwaso became the Governor of Kano State and said okay, Abba please come and help me handle my personal affairs and Abba did that extremely very well. I can vouch and tell everybody that Abba is very good at administration. He is a good administrator. I know that because I have worked with him very closely. I know how he handles files and administrative issues. So, the issue of betrayal is not even there; because politics in Nigeria is nomadic. Politicians cross lines, cross roads and cross rails. A Nigerian politician can enter into alliance with any other political party depending on his interest. That is our way. I just gave you a history that this thing started in 1979, up to 2023. In each and every election cycle in Kano State, you have people that are cross- carpeting. Some win, some lose, right! This is happening. When Ganduje wanted to be governor of Kano state what happened? Kwankwaso formed R-APC in 2015, that is Reformed APC. He started fighting Ganduje. Let me take you back also: Kwankwaso was the sitting governor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and he willingly created a crisis between President Jonathan and Kano State Government, a crisis which denied most of the indigenes of Kano State the opportunity to serve at the federal level (as Managing Directors, and Executive Directors). But at the end of the day what happened? The same Kwankwaso did cross carpeting with the governorship seat, all the commissioners and with every member of the National Assembly to where? To the APC! So if it is a practice or a way of life, I believe Kwankwaso, himself, started this practice of defecting. Abba was a Commissioner for Works, I was Commissioner for Land. So we all cross-carpeted to APC and the seat was actually for PDP. Again in 2018, Kwankwaso was a sitting senator, elected under the APC, but he also defected with the mandate of the APC to PDP. Defection, cross carpet is a normal culture in Nigeria and you cannot in all sincerity, accuse Governor Yusuf of betrayal.
Do you think it is right for somebody elected on a platform to defect to another party with the people’s mandate?
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I think it is a very abnormal practice in Nigerian politics. But what I have mentioned earlier is that the system has accepted it as the norm. You know, a norm can be something good and bad, but once it is accepted by the people, it becomes normal.
Some people blame the Judiciary, arguing that the judges have not been able to make a clear statement on this issue. Do you think the same?
Firstly, the Judiciary has to be blamed. But also the National Assembly and the state assemblies have to be blamed too because they become the mouthpiece of any executive in power and by so doing they have failed to perform their duties. The judicial system in Nigeria is also quite weak because often they dance to the tune of the executive. Despite all of these, you see alignment happens in politics and when it happens you cannot tag it as a betrayal or cheating or whatsoever. It is just that everybody is looking for his own way out.
What are the chances of Governor Abba in 2027? Is it now brighter with his defection to the APC or will he suffer the consequences of losing Kwankwaso’s influence and followership in the state?
I still don’t believe in the so-called political large followership of Kwankwaso in Kano State. Yes, I know that Kwankwaso is a very formidable force in Kano politics and Ganduje is also a very strong force. You cannot take away this fact from these two leaders. And so is also Mallam Shekarau. So I think for now Abba has no choice but to join APC. My reason is very clear and simple: we have two formidable opposition parties in Nigeria. We have the PDP and ADC. Personally, I cannot advise Governor Abba to join the PDP, because of our lingering crisis. We have so much litigation. You can see how Governor Adeleke of Osun State had to go and pick the Accord Party ahead of his re-election bid in 2026. And only God knows when the judicial system will settle the dispute in PDP. The ADC is just an emerging party. They are also struggling now to be on their feet and there is a serious pressure from the side of the Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, he is not alone in this. It is not about Abba moving to the APC alone with his followers. There are those in the Kwankwassiyya Movement who do not have anything to do with Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. They joined the Movement because of Abba. He has his own followers. Also, I believe Abba has performed remarkably well during these two years. I am from the opposition. Yes, but I have to speak my mind. In terms of infrastructure, you can testify that Governor Abba is doing well. You can see the precision in his work and you can see the quality of his job. In terms of education and other aspects he is also doing well.
You just said that the ADC is a new party …
Yes, it is a new party. They are trying to pick themselves up. So I cannot recommend them at this stage for this kind of movement or defection.
But don’t you think Governor Abba is defecting into difficult terrain? He has gone to rejoin his worst political enemies, persons he had fought so bitterly with, in the last eight years?
I don’t think so. I can only give you one example of what had happened in the past. Who would have imagined that Senator Mallam Ibrahim Shakarau and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso would sit under one roof or be in one political party? This happened in 2022 when Shekarau voluntarily resigned from APC and joined NNPP and was issued the senatorial ticket of the NNPP. These are two leaders that have been fighting for a very long time. But because of their common interest at that time, they decided to work together to form an alliance to defeat APC at that time. Now there is a common agenda, a common goal to pursue. What is the common goal? The common goal is to return President Tinubu for a second term and to return Governor Abba for a second term. Ganduje is not looking for a governorship position. Bara’u is looking for governorship, but there is a workable formula that will benefit all of them. For example, the status quo can be maintained. If that status quo is maintained, it means that Bara’u goes back to the Senate, all the House of Representatives members get back to their seats. This thing has happened before. It happened in 2014 when we joined APC. One of the conditions given to all of us was to maintain the status quo. The status quo was maintained unless a sitting member was unable to meet certain requirements or the yearnings from his constituency was quite unbearable – that if it became evident that even if you field him as a candidate, he may not make it. That was what happened in 2014.
There are already APC aspirants for these elective positions and now you are coming with NNPP people for the same elective offices. How are they going to balance and carry all these people?
That is why I talked about sharing formulas, that is why I said that for the elective positions, there is need for special consideration for people who defected with Governor Abba to the APC, especially for those currently holding elective positions. There is need for them to retain their positions while for commissioners and political appointees, the government has a wider scope to accommodate them. Both Abba and Ganduje’s group can be accommodated within Kano and Abuja.
Do you think Kano people, not those that sleep in the corridors of power, do you think this sort of Kano people are comfortable with a Tinubu administration coming back for the next four years?
To be candid, we Kano people are not comfortable. And when I say that we are not comfortable, I mean we from Kano, we from the North and we as Nigerians. Even you interviewing me, you are not comfortable with the system because of the hardship, the hunger, the level of insecurity and the economic downturn in the country. All of these are quite unbearable for the common man in Nigeria. But if you look at the side of the opposition, who do you have? I dislike Tinubu, I do not want to vote for Tinubu, you say okay fine. Then who are we going to vote for? When you look at the opposition, who do we have there? Now in ADC that’s coming up, who do we have to look at? We have to look at the angle, if there is any person better than Tinubu, so be it. But there is nobody better than him, so Tinubu should go for a second term because the devil you know is better than the angel you do not know. I used to say this. All politicians are the same. They wear a very white gown, but their inside is dark. Only a few of them you can see some light. When they remove their agbada, you will see a small light. But most of them, the moment they step in, they turn out to be something else. So my wish is for Nigerians to be wise, it is not all about the harsh economy, I want them to open their eyes wide enough. If there is a better candidate, better than Tinubu, they should go for that candidate. But if at the end of the day, Tinubu is better than all the other candidates fielded by the political parties, then they should go for Tinubu. I say this in good faith because I believe in consistency and I think sometimes Nigeria needs consistency in governance and I certainly think that the lack of consistency is one reason Nigeria is unable to get it right.
You talked of other parties and their troubles. Kano PDP seems to have disappeared from the radar of serious political parties. Are you not concerned?
Seriously, I am concerned about our party, not only in Kano State but in Nigeria because PDP was the biggest party in Africa in those days and still PDP is very strong because anywhere you go in Nigeria, the 774 local government areas in Nigeria, PDP is there. But Nigerians are wary about the developments in PDP, notably the issues of litigation, the way and manner in which our leaders cannot sit down and reconcile their differences. This is one of the most terrifying scenes ever in the history of political parties in Nigeria. A former governor that passed through the ranks- from a local government chairman to Chief of Staff, to a Minister, to a two-time governor, all under the PDP turns his back and uses a sword and knife to stab the same party. I am talking about the regrettable posture of Nyesom Wike in the party.
When a sitting Senator from somewhere else will start fighting for relevance in the PDP. Go to any state in Nigeria, you will see that so many of our leaders are fighting for relevance. Why can’t they come together and sit down on the table and resolve their differences? Who is Wike? Bring him in, bring Kabiru Turaki and get them to talk. They were colleagues under Jonathan. Let them sit down and sort things out themselves so that we can politically confront Tinubu head on. The way things are, we are now a laughing stock in the political cycle. People are laughing at us because all these court judgments can be sorted out outside the court. PDP leaders must let go of their personal egos and resolve the problems of the party in the interest of the party.
