The Kano State House of Assembly stated on Wednesday said the potential defection of Governor Abba Yusuf from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has become necessary due to escalating legal disputes within the party.
The Majority Leader and representative for the Dala constituency, Lawan Hussaini, told reporters that it is politically risky for the governor and other elected officials to remain in the NNPP.
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He noted that the party is currently “bedevilled” by a leadership crisis that could jeopardise their mandates as future elections approach.
“There is an existing court judgement that recognises a specific faction of the NNPP,” Mr Hussaini explained.
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“We cannot remain in the party and risk a repetition of the legal disaster that occurred in Zamfara State.
“This is why there are growing calls for Governor Abba Yusuf and our leader, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) or another stable political platform”, the lawmaker stated.
Mr Hussaini added that the State House of Assembly was actively engaging with and persuading both the governor and Mr Kwankwaso to reach a consensus on a strategic exit from the NNPP.
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Mr Hussaini is concerned that if the NNPP’s internal leadership crisis and factional court cases are not resolved, a court could eventually rule that the party’s candidates were not validly nominated.
This would mean that even if Governor Yusuf and other elected officials win elections under the NNPP, they could be removed by the courts—just as the APC was in Zamfara.
In the 2019 general elections, the APC swept nearly all positions in Zamfara, including the governorship and state assembly seats.
However, the party had failed to conduct valid primary elections due to intense factional infighting.
Just days before the inauguration, the Supreme Court ruled that because the APC did not hold valid primaries, it technically had no candidates in the eyes of the law.
The court declared all votes cast for the APC as “wasted votes.” It ordered that the candidates with the next highest number of votes who had met the constitutional requirements be declared the winners.
READ ALSO: Defection: Kano governor secures majority support as Kwankwaso opens loyalty register
This resulted in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) unexpectedly taking over the governorship under Bello Matawalle, and almost the entire legislative body, despite losing at the polls.
Governor Yusuf’s planned defection, originally anticipated for early January, was reportedly rescheduled to allow for further consultations.
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