For the first time since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999 and barring any 11th-hour compromise, each of the three leading politicians in Kano State will enter the battlefield with one thing in mind: to win the election for his anointed candidate and retire the other two from the political scene.
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Senators Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and Ibrahim Shekarau, have taken turns to rule the state since 1999 for two terms each and now have their horses in the race, with each hoping to be the first to single-handedly “anoint” a successor.
This is so because it is the first election circle where each of the political heavyweights will belong to different political parties. The norm since 1999 has always been two of the trio teaming up against the other, but the dynamics have now seen Ganduje as the leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Kwankwaso as the leader and presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and Shekarau as the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
For the APC, Ganduje had to surmount some dissenting voices to anoint his deputy, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, as the gubernatorial candidate, while it was an easy ride for Kwankwaso to re-anoint his in-law and former commissioner, Abba Yusuf Kabir as the gubernatorial candidate, just as it was in the 2019 election when he was in the PDP.
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