The All Progressives Congress (APC) says Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State will be the party’s leader if he accepts their invitation to join the party.
At the first gathering of the party's leaders since the Supreme Court affirmed Governor Yusuf's election victory, the APC's national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, said the party plans to absorb the NNPP and make Kano a one-party state.
On what becomes of former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso and the NNPP on whose platform Yusuf won the governorship poll, the APC's spokesperson in Kano, Ahmed Aruwa, told Nigeria Info on Monday that the party does not care.
Aruwa noted that the party only invited Abba Yusuf to join and not the former governor, Kwankwaso.
He stressed that having Yusuf lead the party would encourage the younger generation, adding that Kwankwaso cannot join the party without expecting unrealistic benefits.
“If Kwankwaso likes, he can decide to join APC. This is somebody who contested for the president of Nigeria; you cannot just come overnight and ask him to join a party without giving him any position," Aruwa said.
He claimed that Governor Yusuf, who intends to run for a second tenure, will need a bigger party, like the APC.
On who becomes the party's leader in Kano afterward, Aruwa said, “If Abba joins us, he must be the leader of the party.”
When asked if the governor has been officially invited, Aruwa opined that since the governor appreciated President Bola Tinubu through the media after the apex court judgment, the invite also came in like manner.
“By the time the governor thanked Mr. President and Vice President, they did not send any original letter from his office. He only used radio stations to thank Mr. President. Since he sent that message through the air, we sent him our message through the air too,” he remarked.
The party, however, expressed disappointment at the response of the governor’s spokesperson, Sunusi Bature, who claimed the invitation to join the party was gotten through social media.
Bature told the BBC Hausa Service on Friday that the APC's national chairman, Ganduje, knows the proper channels to get to his principal, being a former deputy governor and governor.
