The meeting between President-elect Bola Tinubu and Rabiu Kwankwaso, presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has continued to generate dust, especially among leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano.
During the week, Tinubu and Kwankwaso met for about four hours in France, discussing a wide range of issues, including the possibility Kwankwaso joining the incoming cabinet.
Responding, a Kano APC leader, Abdulmajid Kwamanda said Tinubu must not give any appointment to Kwankwaso, not even that of a messenger.
“We in the North West do not welcome Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to our party APC. We do not accept the idea of Bola Tinubu giving him any appointment even as low as a messenger in our dear party. Should Tinubu ignore our outcry and appoint Kwankwaso, we are going to disrupt the entire APC in the north and withdraw our support for him,” Kwamanda had told reporters.
Moments after Kwamanda spoke, the audio of the phone call between Ganduje and an ally of Tinubu from Katsina, Ibrahim Masari, leaked. Masari was interim VP nominee to Tinubu before he was replaced by Kashim Shettima.
In the leaked tape, the governor was heard lamenting being treated unfairly by the president-elect in meeting with Kwankwaso.
The governor had started the conversation by saying there is noise all over Kano over the meeting between Tinubu and Kwankwaso.
Ganduje said even though Masari had told him of the possibility of such a meeting, there was nothing he could have done about it.
“But at that time, you could have spoken with him (Tinubu). You can (sic) call him and talk to him,” Masari said.
The governor was then heard saying “what could I have told him? Now he (Tinubu) is seeing Kwankwaso as an alternative to us? No problem. Because we don’t have a government? And it’s even because of him (Tinubu) we lost the government in any way.
“Even if he sees him (Kwankwaso), he ought to have called us too. Or don’t you understand, even if symbolically.”
In the audio, Masari, was then heard pacifying Ganduje and urging him not to be angry over the development.
He asked the governor to remain calm until he visited Tinubu on Thursday and until they met in Abuja.
“And all these things are from God. And the calculation that he is doing is not even accurate… And this man, how did he end up with Jonathan?” Ganduje said.
The governor left Kano for Abuja late Friday and will hopefully be meeting Masari over the weekend before the former would meet with the president-elect, who is due to return to the country any moment from now.
