Bagwai/Shanono bye-election: A setback for Kano APC

BY IBRAHIM ADAM

The bye-election in Bagwai/Shanono, Kano State, may look like a routine legislative contest on the surface, but make no mistake, it was a political statement echoed again.

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) did not just win. It humiliated the All Progressives Congress (APC) in one of its supposed strongholds, with Ali Hassan Kiyawa of NNPP defeating his APC rival by an astonishing 11,000-vote margin.

This was a rejection of everything the APC represents in Kano today. In Bagwai/Shanono, in Barau’s own senatorial district, the voters rose up and said no. No to a stale brand of politics. No to a party that has failed to connect with the grassroots. No to a system that feeds the elite while ordinary citizens struggle to get by.

The reason is clear: the NNPP under Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf is showing the people that politics can deliver. In just two years, Yusuf has shifted attention back to the issues that matter. We are talking education, health, infrastructure, and grassroots empowerment. This is governance that people can see, touch, and feel. And voters are responding by voting massively for NNPP, even in constituencies where APC once claimed unshakable dominance.

Compare this with APC’s record: broken promises, corruption scandals, and governance that often feels like an afterthought. The party’s arrogance, built on the assumption that Kano is an APC fortress, has now been exposed. Bagwai/Shanono proved that no constituency is safe when the people have tasted better governance.

The embarrassment for the APC is compounded by the fact that this was a fresh election caused by the death of one of its own lawmakers. Instead of consolidating its grip, APC lost the very seat it once held. This was not just a defeat; it was a symbolic burial of the APC’s claim to Kano’s soul.

The Bagwai/Shanono outcome is bigger than one by-election. It is a warning shot. The people of Kano are shifting, and they are shifting decisively toward the NNPP. If APC does not reinvent itself, which it will likely not do, it risks becoming irrelevant in the very state it once called its crown jewel.

The verdict is in: NNPP is the party to beat, and APC has every reason to be afraid.

Ibrahim Adam, special adviser to Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf on information, writes from Kano