“Only foolish people believe such things,” Kwankwaso reacts to reports of working for Tinubu’s reelection

Former Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has denied allegations that he is secretly working for President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Kwankwaso, who spoke during an interview with Global TV on Wednesday night, said rumours linking him to Tinubu’s political camp have persisted since his time in the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).

The former governor was reacting to claims by Sanusi Bature, spokesperson to Kano governor Abba Yusuf, who alleged that Kwankwaso was indirectly supporting Tinubu’s re-election bid.

Bature had claimed that Kwankwaso worked for Tinubu during the 2023 election and recently sought a direct meeting with the president, which allegedly did not hold.

Rejecting the allegations, Kwankwaso said, “I think only foolish people would believe that. We are not working for anybody. We are only working for NDC.”

He added, “Bola Tinubu has been my senior brother and good friend up till now. But that doesn’t mean we shall pull all our political ideologies together with him.

“He is doing his own and I am doing my own.”

Kwankwaso, a former minister of defence, also argued that the president may not fully understand the realities facing the country because those around him are not telling him the truth.

“Normally under the current circumstances, the president may not see what is happening. And unfortunately, most of the people around him are actually the ones creating the problems,” he said.

“So, in those circumstances, it is difficult to see who will advise him or tell him the obvious situation. What they normally tell and what they are doing is to pick governors. I think going by the number of governors now, APC is number one.”

On May 3, Kwankwaso and former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi joined the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), where discussions on a possible joint presidential ticket have been ongoing.

While Bature described any alliance between the two politicians as unsustainable, Kwankwaso defended the partnership, saying the coalition backed Obi after zoning the presidential ticket to the south.

“When we joined the NDC, we invited all our leaders from the six geo-political zones and we sat down and looked at the situations. We then decided to come together and work as a family,” he said.

“The party, in its own wisdom, decided to zone the presidential ticket to the south. We looked around across the zones and we realised that Peter Obi is the best candidate. That was our assessment at that particular time.”

Kwankwaso also expressed confidence that the coalition still has enough time to win support across the country before the 2027 election.

“We are trying to convince the people, even those who are going about telling lies to try to take advantage of our differences in the country, which should be our strength, we are working on that,” he said.

“And I am happy to say that we are very lucky because from now till January 16, 2027, we have about eight months, which is enough time.”