Buba Galadima: Tinubu won’t get Kwankwaso’s support due to FG’s role in Kano emirship tussle

Buba Galadima, a chieftain of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), says Rabiu Kwankwaso, ex-presidential candidate, will not align with President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 election.

Galadima spoke on Monday during an appearance on ‘Politics Today’, a Channels Television programme.

He alleged that the former Kano governor and the NNPP had been treated unfairly by the Tinubu administration.

The politician also accused the presidency of backing Aminu Ado-Bayero, the dethroned emir, against Muhammadu Sanusi II, the reinstated monarch.

“Why can’t we Nigerians look at issues dispassionately?” Galadima asked.

“How can Kwankwaso be a friend of the APC with what they are doing to us in Kano? Appointing two emirs in one town?

“There is a federal government emir and a state emir. Who’s got the responsibility to appoint emirs and pay them their salaries?

“They have their emirs. They have no fewer than 40 pickup vehicles filled with mobile police guarding the emir (Ado-Bayero).

“In some localities in Kano, people are being killed and their handsets taken while the police are tied down. Are they not ashamed?

“He is a federal government appointee because it is the federal high court that has ruled halfway to suggest so. I’m not making an accusation. I’m making a statement.”

Galadima insisted that his party would play a decisive role in 2027.

“We are the people who will determine who will be the president of Nigeria in 2027,” he said.

EMIRSHIP TUSSLE

Kano’s emirate has been enmeshed in political and royal battles for over a decade.

Sanusi, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), replaced Ado Bayero in 2014 but was dethroned six years later by Abdullahi Ganduje, the then governor.

In May 2024, Abba Yusuf, governor of Kano, restored Sanusi to the throne, but the decision has faced legal challenges.

Galadima said the federal high court has no role in deciding chieftaincy matters.

“In the first place, was it not Tinubu who canvassed for Sanusi to become emir? Let him come out and tell me he didn’t, and I will give him instances,” he said.

He also accused the federal government of destabilising Kano through security agencies, alleging that it is shielding dethroned emir Bayero to gain political advantage ahead of the 2027 poll.

He added that no emir has ever influenced the emergence of a Nigerian president.

Galadima also dismissed suggestions that Kwankwaso may align with the APC.

“Let anybody come out and tell me that he met Kwankwaso and persuaded him to join the APC,” he said.

“I assume that if anybody talks to him about that, I ought to know. He is the strongest political iroko in this country today because he dared the APC and defeated them in Kano.”