KANO, Nigeria (AP) \u2014 Former Kano State governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has dismissed speculation that he is secretly working to advance President Bola Tinubu\u2019s re-election bid in 2027, calling the claims \u201cfoolish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking in a televised interview Wednesday night, Kwankwaso said rumors of his alignment with Tinubu have circulated since his time in the New Nigeria People\u2019s Party (NNPP). The allegations resurfaced after Sanusi Bature, spokesperson for Kano Governor Abba Yusuf, suggested Kwankwaso had indirectly supported Tinubu in 2023 and sought a direct meeting with the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kwankwaso, now a member of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), rejected the claims outright. \u201cOnly foolish people would believe that. We are not working for anybody. We are only working for the NDC,\u201d he said. While acknowledging Tinubu as a \u201csenior brother and good friend,\u201d Kwankwaso stressed that their political paths remain separate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former defense minister argued that Tinubu may be unaware of Nigeria\u2019s challenges because advisers around him are \u201cactually the ones creating the problems.\u201d He added that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) remains dominant largely due to its control of state governors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kwankwaso recently joined forces with former Labour Party candidate Peter Obi under the NDC, with discussions ongoing about a possible joint presidential ticket. He said the party zoned its ticket to the South and concluded Obi was \u201cthe best candidate\u201d from that region. Kwankwaso emphasized that his popularity in the North would help Obi galvanize support across the country. \u201cWe are just in the field, working very hard,\u201d he said, noting that the coalition has \u201cenough time\u201d before the 2027 election to convince voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kwankwaso\u2019s remarks come amid growing speculation about alliances ahead of the next presidential race, with opposition figures exploring coalitions to challenge the APC\u2019s dominance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KANO, Nigeria (AP) \u2014 Former Kano State governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has dismissed speculation that he is secretly working to advance President Bola Tinubu\u2019s re-election bid in 2027, calling the claims \u201cfoolish.\u201d Speaking in a televised interview Wednesday night, Kwankwaso said rumors of his alignment with Tinubu have circulated since his time in the New Nigeria […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":31703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3699,2,2096,4,3,1138],"tags":[17204,2647,663,14327,17205,2605,12415],"class_list":["post-31701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-business","category-economics","category-featured","category-naija-news","category-politics","tag-2027-nigerian-election","tag-apc","tag-bola-tinubu","tag-nigeria-democratic-congress","tag-nnpp","tag-peter-obi","tag-rabiu-kwankwaso"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Rabiu-Kwankwaso-1.webp?fit=1600%2C900&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31704,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31701\/revisions\/31704"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}