• ‘Why crossovers to APC may distort Tinubu’s view of governance’
• Kachikwu blames opposition parties for failure to form coalition before 2023 elections
• Says Atiku’s coalition dead on arrival
With the country in the throes of high-profile political defections, fresh suspense emerged yesterday over the anticipated switch of Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, leader of the Kwankwasiyya movement.
This came as his ‘son’ and Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf declared he was ready to follow Kwankwaso wherever the latter’s political journey turned.
Recall that Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa recently abandoned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Yusuf made the disclosure during a meeting with 484 councillors from the state’s 44 local government areas. While he refrained from disclosing the Kwankwasiyya movement’s next political steps or confirming whether it would remain in the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), he expressed confidence in Kwankwaso’s guidance.
“As our revered leader who has attained various heights in his political career and respect as a political icon nationwide, who, when you meet for advice, such advice yields positive results, we would not ignore such a person. Therefore, wherever he goes, we are ready to follow,” Yusuf affirmed.
Kwankwaso, who was the NNPP presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, has yet to confirm or deny the defection rumours. However, Yusuf’s remarks have added weight to speculation surrounding the move.
In response to allegations by former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr Abdullahi Baffa Bichi, accusing Kwankwaso of receiving N2 billion monthly from the state treasury, Governor Yusuf dismissed the claims as baseless. He suggested the former SSG might be suffering from a mental condition and questioned why such accusations were being made after Bichi had benefited from Kwankwaso.
Yusuf condemned what he termed “petty politics” and lamented the rise of media trials and personal attacks on respected individuals and traditional leaders. He vowed to take action against local radio stations propagating insults.
“There is a beneficiary of this government that was removed from his position that I watched on social media falsely saying that this government within two years has stolen 10 times more than what Ganduje had stolen in his two terms. Why didn’t he say this when he was in office? You can condemn us, our government, and others, but we will not tolerate you insulting our leader,” Yusuf stated.
The governor emphasised that his administration operates on trust and accountability, rejecting any claims of looting or misuse of public funds. “This government will not accept oppressing the poverty-stricken. You should all be committed to the service of the people,” he added.
WHILE Kwankwaso’s defection remains in the precincts of speculations, Oseloka Obaze, a close associate of Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, has resigned from the party.
Obaze announced his decision in a letter addressed to the LP chairman in Ochuche Ward 406, Ogbaru Council of Anambra State. A former United Nations diplomat and former secretary to the Anambra State government under Obi’s administration, Obaze has been a key political adviser and chieftain of the party.
In the letter, Obaze cited dissatisfaction with the party’s April 5, 2025, governorship primary election in Anambra as the primary reason for his resignation.
“By virtue of this letter, I hereby tender my resignation from the Labour Party,” he wrote. “The processes, conduct, and outcome of the Labour Party governorship primaries held on April 5, 2025, in Awka, were fraught with outright irregularities, bordering on fraud and criminality.
“It was not in tandem with either the party’s Constitution and espoused core values or true tenets of democracy. As such, I hereby disassociate myself henceforth from the Labour Party.”
Obaze also highlighted the ongoing leadership crisis at the national level of the Labour Party, specifically the unresolved conflict between Julius Abure, the factional chairman, and Nenadi Usman, the caretaker committee chair.
He expressed disillusionment with the party’s failure to address these internal challenges. However, Obaze did not disclose which political party he would join next, leaving his political future uncertain.
This is not the first time Obaze has left a political party. In 2022, he resigned from the PDP, just a week before Peter Obi also left the PDP for the Labour Party.
HOWEVER, Dele Momodu, former presidential aspirant and publisher of Ovation magazine, raised concerns that the wave of political defections to the APC may be giving President Bola Tinubu a skewed perception of his administration’s performance.
Speaking on Soni Irabor Live, a programme on News Central over the weekend, Momodu criticised the lack of ideological consistency among Nigerian politicians, stating that this culture of party-switching fuels public discontent.
“If you are joining a new party, you should be able to tell us what that party has done for the people, but everywhere you turn in Nigeria, people are crying. I have never seen this level of bitterness,” he said.
Momodu expressed concern that the defection of governors and other political figures to the APC may obscure the realities faced by ordinary Nigerians from President Tinubu.
“I’m not sure that the president actually knows what is going on. If you see all the governors decamping to your party, won’t you think you are the greatest thing that happened to Nigeria? You can’t blame the man if he feels that way,” he remarked.
The former presidential aspirant also highlighted constitutional issues surrounding political defections, noting that the Nigerian constitution mandates elected officials who defect to vacate their seats; a rule he said is rarely enforced.
“We’ve thrown our constitution into the Atlantic Ocean long ago. Any man who is tired of his political party should be ready to forfeit everything and take it in good faith,” Momodu said. He criticised the ease with which politicians switch allegiance, describing it as a troubling feature of Nigeria’s political culture.
“You can wake up with APC, and in the evening, you are in the PDP, then the following morning, you are back to APC,” he noted. Momodu’s comments align with recent remarks by Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former political adviser in the presidency, who described the APC as a “political refugee camp” overwhelmed by defectors seeking political office or fleeing prosecution.
MEANWHILE, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Mr Dumebi Kachikwu, has criticised opposition political parties for missing the opportunity to form a strong coalition to challenge the ruling APC. Kachikwu lamented that the dismal performance of former President Muhammadu Buhari should have united opposition leaders to chart a path forward for Nigeria, but personal ambitions and arrogance prevented meaningful collaboration.
Speaking on the speculated failure of a coalition among himself and other presidential candidates such as Mr Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Mr Omoyele Sowore of the African Alliance Congress (AAC), Kachikwu dismissed such claims, attributing them to media speculation.
“I can tell you categorically that there was never any conversation along those lines. Those conversations were just in the realm of the media’s speculation. What happened in the last election is that everybody felt that he was the best and could go it alone,” Kachikwu said. He criticised the opposition, particularly the PDP, for failing to unite and work with other political parties.
“The PDP failed the rest of the opposition because they believed that by choosing a Northern candidate, that was all that was needed for them to win the elections. And because of the arrogance of that strategy, they didn’t deem it fit or necessary to work with other opposition parties. They believed that they had already won the election because they were fielding a Northern candidate,” he stated.
Kachikwu further argued that many so-called opposition parties were not serious contenders. “Some people were just there because of the name of being candidates but did not even run a race. Some people never left their houses. So, when we speak of opposition, it is a loose term, a very, very broad term.”
The former ADC presidential candidate also took aim at the media, accusing it of marginalising less prominent candidates and shaping public perception against them. “When I won my elections, the very next day, all over the media, what was portrayed to Nigerians was that there were four leading candidates—Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and Rabiu Kwankwaso,” Kachikwu explained.
He argued that this focus by the media sidelined other serious candidates, damaging their chances. “That was a disservice from the media to Nigerians because it made everybody, even in the montage on TV or newspapers, ignore these other people and focus on these four. We had to fight and do all sorts of things just to get noticed,” he lamented.
Looking ahead to 2027, Kachikwu expressed scepticism about the viability of a coalition, citing the involvement of “disgruntled politicians” such as Atiku Abubakar and Nasir el-Rufai. He described these figures as individuals primarily concerned with their personal interests.
“This coalition is already dead on arrival. If you look at the people who are leading the coalition, they are disgruntled politicians; people who have moved from party to party and care only about having things go their way or being in charge. If you accept the turn-by-turn politics of North and South and acknowledge that Buhari has served eight years, then any coalition that does not prioritise a Southern candidate is dead on arrival,” he asserted.
Kachikwu accused some Northern politicians of arrogance in their approach to coalition-building, suggesting they were intent on reclaiming power. “It is the arrogance of the Northern politicians leading the coalition saying, ‘We want to take our power back because the power belongs to us.’ You can understand this when you see states like Delta collapsing their structures into the APC because of this attitude,” he said. He predicted that the coalition would face significant resistance if it ignored the sentiment that the South deserves the next presidency.
“A lot of people are saying that Nigeria will not have another Jonathan situation. Buhari was a wasted presidency for eight years, and everybody tolerated it. Nobody from the North said anything about it, and the rest of the country was forced to suck it up. So, how come two years into this man’s administration, no matter how bad it is, considering that he started from a foundation laid by Buhari, you are saying, ‘This man has to go,’ and you are looking at fielding Northern candidates to remove him? No, nobody is going to accept that,” Kachikwu said.