Just days after Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC), the former governor of Kano state, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is reportedly under intense pressure to leave the party.
This is as political alignments continue ahead of the 2019 general election even though President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to declare any interest in re-election.
Daily Trust reports that the pressure for Kwankwaso to leave the APC comes from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The report quotes a credible source as saying that the PDP wants the former governor to return to the party which he belonged before defecting to the APC.
“I can remember that Senator Kwankwaso and some PDP bigwigs, including the party’s national chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, and Abdul Ningi had met in Kaduna and Abuja respectively and discussed politics,” the source allegedly said.
“Kwankwaso came second to President Muhammadu Buhari during the APC’s primaries ahead of 2015 general elections and he has a towering image in many geo-political zones and therefore an asset for the PDP,” another source privy to the issue also said.
It was learnt that the PDP is also considering the chances of fielding Kwankwaso to make the 2019 presidential contest fierce should Buhari seek re-election.
The report added that the chairman of PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Walid Jibrin, who was asked to comment on the development, said in a text message: “Like Atiku, PDP will welcome Kwankwaso back to the party and all others who left are welcome.”
In his own position, the deputy national publicity secretary of the PDP, Barrister Abdullahi Jalo, said it would be better for Kwankwaso to return to the party now.
Also speaking about the development, Alhaji Sharu Garba Gwammaja, a follower of the former governor, said: “I am in total support of Kwankwaso’s return to the PDP since from all indications he cannot get what he wants in the APC.
“He should, therefore, dump the party and the best political party he can join to play his politics perfectly is the PDP.”
There were initial reports that Dr Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso’s posters recently flooded Dutse, the capital of Jigawa state.
The report quoted Daily Sun as stating that residents of the northern town woke up to see posters and billboards with the inscription: ‘Kwankwaso for President 2019 Insha Allah’.
