Revealed: How Kwankwaso traded Kano governorship seat for ministerial slot under Tinubu

Abass Onilewura, a chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), has accused Rabiu Kwankwaso, the flagbearer of the party in the February 25 presidential election, as the brain behind the sacking of the lone governor of the party, Abba Kabir Yusuf in Kano by the tribunal.

On Wednesday, September 20, the Kano State governorship election tribunal sacked Yusuf of the NNPP as governor of the state and declared Nasir Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 18 governorship poll, Vanguard reported.

Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay-led three-man panel then withdrew the certificate of return issued to Yusuf by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

But Onilewura, in his reaction on Thursday, September 21, alleged that Kwankwaso sold NNPP out to the APC to negotiate for a ministerial slot under President Bola Tinubu.

He argued that the alleged involvement of the former governor of Kano State in anti-party activities resulted in the party's big loss at the governorship election tribunal in the state.

His statement reads in part: “Our investigation also showed that the continuous engagement of Kwankwaso with APC at some point gave room for them to discover loopholes which were later used against the Kano governor to secure victory for the opposition."

It was earlier reported that the Kano state commissioner of police, Usaini Muhammed Gumel, has disclosed that about 50 persons were allowed into the Kano tribunal on Wednesday, September 20.

Gumel said the tribunal secretary relayed the information to the police authority, adding that the force did not order the restriction.

Some journalists were not allowed to enter into the court as a result of the restriction.