Ibrahim Shekarau. |
The Presidency and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress
(APC) have kick-started an intensive lobby to win over former two-term
governor of Kano, Ibrahim Shekarau.
This is to suppress the strength of former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Shekarau defected to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in January
2014) joined the Goodluck Jonathan government and was later appointed
Minister of Education.
Shekarau and former Governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, both
founding fathers of APC, decamped after accusing the APC of giving the
party’s structures in their states to governors who had decamped from
the PDP.
One of them, Kwankwaso, a Minister of Defence during the Olusegun
Obasanjo administration, joined the APC with other aggrieved PDP
governors on November 23 2013.
But he went back to the PDP last week in bid to remove incumbent Kano Governor Abdullahi Ganduje from power next year.
Ganduje was Kwankwaso’s deputy for eight years (1999-2003 and 2011 to
2015) but the two fell apart shortly after the 2015 election.
A source, who confided in PRNigeria on Sunday, revealed that as part
of efforts to get Shekarau on board, pending corruption cases against
him may be re-examined and stepped down for safe landing.
He said: “As part of the grand plan to bring Mallam Shekarau back
into the APC fold, top government officials in Abuja and Kano are
currently pleading with him.
“Governor Ganduje and some National Executive Committee members of
the party have been co-opted in the bring-back-Shekarau arrangement.”
It is unclear if former Lagos Governor Bola Tinubu, who had been
leading the President Muhammadu Buhari’s reconciliation team to woo back
ex-APC, is also in talks with Shekarau.
Meanwhile, Kwankwaso and Shekarau, met in Abuja Saturday night.
The meeting was held at the latter’s Asokoro residence and was prelude to an extended meeting with other PDP leaders.
The leadership at the national level are said to have ceded 51
percent stake in the party structure to Kwankwaso, while Shekarau and
other stakeholders hold 49 percent.
Aside being a serving senator, Kwankwaso has in his political kitty,
nine members of the House of Representatives (who defected with him),
Kano deputy governor, Hafiz Abubakar, about ten members of the Kano
House of Assembly and millions of Kwankwasiya members spread across
Nigeria.
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