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Kano Central Senator Rufai Sani Hanga has begun consultations with key stakeholders in his constituency ahead of a possible defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to a post on his official social media page, Hanga recently met with his coordinators across the 15 local government areas of Kano Central to discuss the matter.
He has also held closed-door meetings with the APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, and the Governor of Kano State, Abba Kabir Yusuf. At the weekend, he was also presented to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa by the Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin.
Insiders told the Daily Sun that his defection was imminent, although it might require him to resign as the Senate’s Deputy Minority Whip, a position reserved for a member of the opposition in the upper chamber.
Reacting to the development, the spokesman for the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Dr Habib Saleh Mohammed, told the Daily Sun that both the NNPP and the Kwankwasiyya Movement would “not lose sleep” over Hanga’s reported realignment.
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Mohammed recalled that the NNPP ticket was handed to Hanga by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso without a contest and argued that Hanga’s three-and-a-half-year performance in the Senate had not justified that extraordinary political trust.
He attributed Hanga’s proposed defection to his inability to secure a renewal of the senatorial ticket, adding that the decision to field another candidate in his place was not made in bad faith but “in the overall interest of the party.”
According to him, the senator was duly consulted while the decision was being taken, adding that he did not oppose it at the time, likely because he was eyeing the position of the running mate to the party’s governorship candidate.
Mohammed said that once that ambition did not materialise and the position was not given to him, Hanga decided to embark on his current political move.
