Defection plan: Kwankwaso, Governor Yusuf part ways

Kwankwaso

The rift between Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) leader Senator Rabiu Kwakwanso has deepened.

In reaction to the governor’s readiness to defect from the NNPP to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kwankwaso opened a loyalty register for political office holders to ascertain their allegiance and fidelity to his leadership.

The former governor began taking stock of his loyalists in Kano at the time Yusuf was celebrating his 63rd birthday in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

With the governor were top government officials and party chieftains.

Kwakwanso, who shunned the ceremony, was busy in his Kano residence with “engagement meetings” with NNPP stakeholders, particularly members of the Kwakwansiyya Movement.A source said moves and counter-moves by Yusuf and Kwankwaso have polarised the party and divided members of the NNPP in the National Assembly.

The governor has already secured the support of the 40-member House of Assembly, led by Speaker Jibril Isma’il Falgore, and all the 44 local government chairmen.

However, NNPP federal legislators have not openly indicated their willingness to defect to the APC along with the governor.

There are 21 House of Representatives from Kano state, out of which 13 are in NNPP. Nation