‘Combination of Obidients, Kwankwasiyya will spring surprises’ – Kwankwaso

The vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has dismissed claims by former Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sheriff that his alliance with Peter Obi would struggle to attract support in Kano and northern Nigeria.

Speaking in an interview with Channels Television on Monday, Kwankwaso said Sheriff was merely trying to impress President Bola Tinubu and insisted that even his political opponents acknowledge his influence in Kano.

“My humble self, Ali Modu Sheriff and his friend Bola Tinubu were all in the APC. We know ourselves very well. Up to now, I communicate with them, especially Senator Ali Sheriff himself,” he said.

He continued: “I have heard him when he was here, but I can tell you he was not serious about it. He just wanted to impress our brother in the Villa, to convince him that he’s working.”

Kwankwaso argued that his political strength in Kano is widely recognised.

“Even the worst enemies will tell you that Kwankwaso has Kano,” he stated.

He said he welcomes attempts by opponents to underestimate him, describing it as politically advantageous.

“I am not one of the politicians who go out there bragging, most of the time I feel happy when people decide to underrate me or what I can do because it sends people to sleep while we are working,” he said.

The former Kano Governor expressed confidence that neither Kano nor northern Nigeria would abandon the NDC alliance.

According to him, “Whether anybody has the capacity to take votes away from us in Kano, or indeed in northern Nigeria, is just a matter of patience. By the grace of God, the good people of Kano State, and indeed northern Nigeria, are completely different from what he was trying to paint here.”

Kwankwaso also rejected Sheriff’s assertion that Peter Obi could not secure significant votes in the North, pointing to Obi’s previous electoral performance.

“Peter is not a new person in terms of running an election in northern Nigeria. In the last election, he contested himself and got over two million votes in northern Nigeria. By whatever standard, two million is a huge number,” he said.

He maintained that Obi remains a formidable political force across the region, noting that,
“In many parts of northern Nigeria, Peter himself is very formidable. The people who voted for him that time are still around.”

According to Kwankwaso, the combination of the Kwankwasiyya Movement and Obi’s supporters would reshape the political landscape ahead of the 2027 election.

“This combination of Obidients and Kwankwasiyya will spring a lot of surprises, especially from the young men and women who are not too worried about some of the sentiments Ali Modu Sheriff and other people are trying to paint,” he said.

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