How KWANKWASO Groomed Son-In-Law To Be Governor

•The Story Of KANO Governor Elect, ABBA YUSUF

Abba Yusuf is the new Kano State governor-elect. He is a seasoned politician and the son-in-law of Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate of New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP.

Abba Yusuf won the March 18 governorship election with 1,019, 602 votes to defeat Yusuf Gawuna of the APC, who scored 890,705 votes. Gawuna is Gov. Ganduje’s Deputy.

Yusuf’s victory comes 4 years after contesting against Gov. Ganduje in 2019 in a fiercely fought election.

Abba Yusuf’s victory has been seen as a victory for Kwankwaso whose supremacy had been challenged before now by 2 of his former loyalists Gov. Ganduje and Ibrahim Shakarau.

Not only did NNPP win considerable votes during the Presidential elections, it won the governorship. The NNPP, in addition to the victory at the governorship poll, also won 23 State Assembly seats, as well as 2 Senate and 17 House of Reps seats.

Abba Yusuf is the candidate of Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso. They have both come a long way.

He was appointed as Personal Assistant to Kwankwanso, when he was then Kano State Governor, and later Special Assistant

(Administration) between 1999 – 2003.

Abba worked again with Kwankwaso from 2003 to 2006 when the former Governor of Kano State was appointed Minister of Defence.

He served as the Special Assistant to the Special Adviser to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Darfur/Somalia until 2007.

Abba was also appointed by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as the Chairman, Governor Board of the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), Ondo State from 2009 to 2011.

During Kwankwaso’s second tenure in office, Abba was appointed as the First Principal Private Secretary (PPS) to the governor; and subsequently the state’s Commissioner for Works, Housing and Transport.

The closely contested 2019 governorship election in Kano between the PDP and the ruling APC brought Abba Gida-Gida to the limelight.

Kwankwaso’s anointed candidate governor contested against the incumbent Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje in an election that was declared inconclusive, but lost after a rerun.

Abba Kabir Yusuf, the governor elect of Kano State was born on January 5, 1963, in Kano State’s Gaya Local Government Area. He is the son-in-law of Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, a former Kano State Governor and NNPP leader. From 2011 to 2015, he was the Commissioner of Works, Housing, and Transport in Kano State during Kwankwaso’s administration. He ran for governor under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019 but lost to Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of the APC.  He went to court to contest the outcome, but his case was dismissed at every level.

Abba Kabir Yusuf is from the Sullubawa Clan of the Fulani Genawa Clan. His maternal grandmother is Walin Zazzau Sheikh Umarul Wali Ibn Galadiman Zazzau Malam Ahmadu, while his paternal grandmother is Zainab in Malam Saidu. Limamin Huggalawa family of Bichi, and his maternal grandmother Khadijat Naja’atu is related to Gwani Mukhtar, the head of the Fulani Jihad in the Kanem-Bornu Empire. He was born in Kano State, Nigeria, in the Gaya Local Government region.

His wife’s name is Hajiya Maryam Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. He has 4 children namely: Muhammad Kabiru Abba Yusuf, Fatima Abba Yusuf, Aisha Abba Yusuf, and Khadija Abba Yusuf.

He attended Dawakin Tofa Government Secondary School before transferring to Lautai Government Secondary School in Gumel, where he graduated in 1980.

Abba Kabir Yusuf received his National Diploma (ND) in Civil Engineering from the Federal Polytechnic Mubi in 1985 and his Higher National Diploma (HND) in Civil Engineering from the Kaduna Polytechnic in 1989. Afterward, he graduated from Bayero University in Kano with a Postgraduate Diploma in Management and a Master of Business Administration (MBA).

Until the result of the Presidential elections was released a few weeks back, many were in doubt as to who really controlled Kano politics. Some felt it was Governor Ganduje. Others believe it was Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso. There are those who will argue that Shekarau was the political godfather of Kano. But the outcome of the presidential elections in Kano has shown that Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso has an upper  hand. Kwankwaso won Kano with 997,279 votes.

The presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, won the presidential election in Kano State. Kwankwaso, a former Governor of Kano, got 997,279 votes, beating the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, to a distant second position.

Tinubu polled 517,341 votes to come distant second, in spite of the fact that the incumbent governor of the state, Abdullahi Ganduje, belongs to Tinubu’s party. The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, came third with 131,716, while the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, got 28,513 votes to come fourth.

From the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Collation Officer for Kano, Lawal Suleiman, Kwankwaso won in 38 out of the 44 local government  areas of the state. With the result, he has confirmed himself as the political leader in Kano.

Before now, he shared the control of Kano politics with Shekarau. But with the result he has been able to establish himself as the authentic leader and with Kano numbers (next to Lagos) he can trade. A source close to Kwankwaso says he is happy because what Buhari was then to the North is what Kwankwaso is now to the North. His performance across the North also suggests this

Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso is the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party NNPP and  he was so sure he would win the 2023 Presidential elections. Within political circles, he is considered to be a strong candidate, and he has a huge followership across the country, especially Kano.

He controls the popular Kwankwasiyya Movement, and members are always in red caps. The fact that he is a seasoned politician who understands the game will help. He has been in the corridors of power since 1999. He was the Governor of Kano state from 1999 to 2003 and 2011 to 2015. After he lost his re-election in 2003, he was appointed the first Minister of Defence of the Fourth Republic with no prior military background from 2003 to 2007, under the administration of former president Olusegun Obasanjo. He was later elected to the Senate in 2015, serving one term under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) representing Kano Central Senatorial District.

He is currently the National leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party. Kwankwaso enjoys widespread support in Kano and North-Western Nigeria; he has been viewed as a charismatic populist. In 2011, he was re-elected governor of the state and went on to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014. In 2015, Kwankwaso unsuccessfully contested the presidential primaries nomination under the opposition All Progressive Congress, but lost to Muhammad Buhari. In 2018, he returned to People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and contested the presidential primaries losing out to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) for the 2023 general elections.

Let’s tell you more. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso was born on 21 October 1956 in Kwankwaso, a village located at Madobi, to a Sunni Muslim Fulani family. His father was the village head of Kwankwaso with the title of Sarkin Fulani, Dagacin Kwankwaso; he was promoted to the District Head of Madobi with the title of Majidadin Kano, Hakimin Madobi by the Kano Emirate Council of Emir Ado Bayero.

He attended Kwankwaso Primary School, Gwarzo Boarding Senior Primary School, Wudil Craft School and Kano Technical College before proceeding to Kaduna Polytechnic where he did both his National Diploma, and Higher National Diploma.

Kwankwaso was an active student leader during his school days and was an elected official of the Kano State Students Association. He also attended postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom from 1982 to 1983 at the Middlesex Polytechnic; and Loughborough University of Technology where he received a master’s degree in water engineering in 1985.He also bags his PhD in water engineering at Sharda University India, in 2022.

He joined the Kano State Water Resources and Engineering Construction Agency of the Government of Kano State in 1975. He served there for 17 years in various capacities and rose through the ranks to become the principal water engineer.

In 1992, Kwankwaso made his entry into politics on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He was a member of the People’s Front faction of the SDP led by General Shehu Yar’adua and other popular politicians such as his former boss Senator Magaji Abdullahi, Babagana Kingibe, Atiku Abubakar, Bola Tinubu, Tony Anenih, Chuba Okadigbo, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila, Abubakar Koko and Lamidi Adedibu amongst others.

In 1992, he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives representing Madobi Federal Constituency. His subsequent election as Deputy Speaker in the House brought him to the limelight of national politics. During the 1995 Constitutional Conference, Kwankwaso was elected as one of the delegates from Kano, as a member of the People’s Democratic Movement led by Yar’adua. He later joined the Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN) in the political transition program of General Sani Abacha.

He joined the PDP in 1998 under the platform of People’s Democratic Movement in Kano led by Mallam Musa Gwadabe, Senator Hamisu Musa and Alhaji Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila. In 1999, he contested the PDP primaries alongside Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Mukthari Zimit, Alhaji Kabiru Rabiu. The Santsi/P.S.P. were behind the candidature of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje but they lost to Kwankwaso in the primaries.

He was elected for his first term as the governor of Kano State from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2003. His first tenure as the governor of Kano State was very eventful because of several other groups who were opposed to his governorship and his attempt at supporting Yoruba President, Olusegun Obasanjo. In 2003, he lost re-election to his rival Malam Ibrahim Shekarau.

He was re-elected for a second term in office as Governor of Kano State from 29 May 2011 to 29 May 2015. During this time, he set out to rejig the political structure of Kwankwassiya: building roads, hospitals and schools and sending residents to study abroad. In August 2013, Kwankwaso was amongst 7 serving governors who formed the G-7 faction within the Peoples Democratic Party. In November 2013, Kwankwaso, alongside 5 members of the G-7, defected to the new opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In June 2014, he was at loggerheads with long-time Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero over his appointment of Waziri (Vizier) of the Kano Emirate Council. On 6 June 2014, Ado Bayero died and a succession crisis loomed amongst the royals.

On 8 June 2014, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the suspended Central Bank governor and Dan Majen Kano (Son of Emir-Maje) emerged as the new Emir of Kano. His accession led to widespread protests from supporters of Sanusi Ado Bayero son of the late Emir and Chiroman Kano (Crown Prince), and allegations that Kwankwaso supported Sanusi because of the 2015 presidential election.

In October 2014, Kwankwaso used his large political following in Kano to contest the APC presidential primaries. The presidential primaries results held in Lagos were: Muhammadu Buhari with 3,430 votes, Kwankwaso with 974 votes, Atiku Abubakar with 954 votes, Rochas Okorocha with 400 votes and late Sam Nda-Isiah with 10 votes. Coming in second, Kwankwaso endorsed the winner Muhammadu Buhari.