The vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has dismissed claims by former Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sheriff that his alliance with Peter Obi would struggle to attract support in Kano and northern Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview with Channels Television on Monday,
Kwankwaso said Sheriff was merely trying to impress President Bola Tinubu and
insisted that even his political opponents acknowledge his influence in Kano.
“My humble self, Ali Modu Sheriff and his friend Bola Tinubu
were all in the APC. We know ourselves very well. Up to now, I communicate with
them, especially Senator Ali Sheriff himself,” he said.
He continued: “I have heard him when he was here, but I can
tell you he was not serious about it. He just wanted to impress our brother in
the Villa, to convince him that he’s working.”
Kwankwaso argued that his political strength in Kano is
widely recognised.
“Even the worst enemies will tell you that Kwankwaso has
Kano,” he stated.
He said he welcomes attempts by opponents to underestimate
him, describing it as politically advantageous.
“I am not one of the politicians who go out there bragging,
most of the time I feel happy when people decide to underrate me or what I can
do because it sends people to sleep while we are working,” he said.
The former Kano Governor expressed confidence that neither
Kano nor northern Nigeria would abandon the NDC alliance.
According to him, “Whether anybody has the capacity to take
votes away from us in Kano, or indeed in northern Nigeria, is just a matter of
patience. By the grace of God, the good people of Kano State, and indeed
northern Nigeria, are completely different from what he was trying to paint
here.”
Kwankwaso also rejected Sheriff’s assertion that Peter Obi
could not secure significant votes in the North, pointing to Obi’s previous
electoral performance.
“Peter is not a new person in terms of running an election
in northern Nigeria. In the last election, he contested himself and got over
two million votes in northern Nigeria. By whatever standard, two million is a
huge number,” he said.
He maintained that Obi remains a formidable political force
across the region, noting that,
“In many parts of northern Nigeria, Peter himself is very
formidable. The people who voted for him that time are still around.”
According to Kwankwaso, the combination of the Kwankwasiyya
Movement and Obi’s supporters would reshape the political landscape ahead of
the 2027 election.
“This combination of Obidients and Kwankwasiyya will spring
a lot of surprises, especially from the young men and women who are not too
worried about some of the sentiments Ali Modu Sheriff and other people are
trying to paint,” he said.
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