The outgoing Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has hired a top Northern politician to persuade the President-elect Bola Tinubu to stop further reconciliation and plan to work with an opposition, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
Tinubu met recently with the National Leader of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and 2023 Presidential candidate, Senator Kwankwaso in Paris, France with a view to working together in his planned inclusive administration.
A reliable leaked phone conversation hinted that Governor Ganduje has been quite unsettled by the meeting between Tinubu and Kwankwaso, who has a large followership in Kano and the North.
Ganduje, who is contending with his fading political influence after the ruling APC lost the 2023 Kano gubernatorial election to the NNPP Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf, was heard lamenting, ” Kwankwaso is now his (Tinubu) alternative to us, no problem”.
Ganduje’s distinctive voice could be heard in the audio clip, fuming, ”Now, we are not in power (in Kano). We lost power in his (Tinubu) interest.
”Symbolically, he (Tinubu) should have invited us (for a meeting in Paris) as he did with Kwankwaso.
”He (Tinubu) is making a wrong calculation,” Ganduje lamented.
The emissary, who is a close associate of the President-elect, consoled Ganduje, saying that, ”Everybody knows you are betrayed”.
He told Ganduje that he had opened talks with Tinubu on his behalf, adding that, ”He (Tinubu) called me. I drew his attention to the injustice he did to you. He (Tinubu) told me that it was SLS who arranged the meeting through Gilbert. I asked him whether he called you (Ganduje), he said no”.
Mr Ganduje revealed that he received a security intel that the meeting beteeen Tinubu and Kwankwasi was part of a plan to scuttle the case at the election petition tribunal.
Responding, his emissary said “Yes, that game plan is there”, but warned Ganduje that sensitive issues are not for phone conversation and therefore, ”Let us postpone further discussion till we meet in Abuja”.
