There is palpable confusion among members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State following the dropping of Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso’s name from the Kano Central Senatorial District.
Daily Trust Newspaper reports that the party submitted the name of the state commissioner of works Alhaji Abba Yusuf to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its candidate for the seat, despite Yusuf’s earlier withdrawal for Kwankwaso.
Kwankwaso had accepted to contest for the Senate seat after losing APC’s presidential ticket to General Muhammadu Buhari.
After the convention, a meeting of APC elders was held at the Kano Government House, where Yusuf, who won the party’s senatorial ticket for Kano Central and a son-in-law to Kwankwaso, reportedly accepted to relinquish the ticket to the governor.
Daily Trust gathered that following the agreement, the party at the state level agreed to submit Kwankwaso’s name to INEC for the seat. But a source privy to the list said it was Yusuf’s name that was submitted.
“We were all surprised that it was the commissioner of works’ name that was submitted by the party and not Kwankwaso’s,” the source who is an APC stalwart said.
When contacted, APC chairman in Kano State Alhaji Haruna Umar Doguwa said for now, Yusuf remained the candidate of the party for the Kano Central Senatorial seat and not Kwankwaso.
“Abba Yusuf is our candidate for Kano Central and not Kwankwaso. We did that in line with the INEC guideline concerning replacement of candidate. You can only withdraw a candidate after submission and there is a stipulated period for that and that was why we submitted Yusuf’s name,” he said in a phone interview.
On Yusuf’s withdrawal from the race, Doguwa said: “Yes he has, but we in the party did what the law said. He was quick to announce his withdrawal because there is a stipulated period for that.”
However, Kwankwaso’s media aide Malam Halilu Dantiye said he was not aware of the replacement of the governor.
“I’m not aware of the replacement of His Excellency with anybody. All what I know is that he is our candidate for Kano central senatorial district,” he said via telephone.
