An Open Letter to Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf: When power moves too soon, by Engr. Bello Gwarzo Abdullahi, FNSE
Your Excellency,
The political landscape of Kano State has never been hospitable to the faint of heart. Your recent decision to defect from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) has therefore not been perceived as a routine political realignment, but rather as the opening movement of what increasingly resembles a gathering political storm.
To those unfamiliar with the internal logic of Kano politics, this move may appear to strengthen the APC ahead of future electoral contests.
That conclusion, however, reflects a serious misreading of political reality. Kano is populated by rugged, politically conscious, and deeply informed actors—men and women who value inclusiveness, insist on democratic sustainability, and fiercely defend their inalienable right to determine their political direction.
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Kano voters do not tolerate being taken for granted, and history consistently shows that when the chips are down, they outmanoeuvre those who underestimate their intelligence or resolve.
Whoever advised Your Excellency to defect at this moment has done you a grave disservice. The timing is profoundly flawed. The APC in Kano is not a united house patiently awaiting your arrival; it is a party burdened by unresolved rivalries, suppressed ambitions, and a bottled-up rage that is neither imaginary nor harmless.
That anger may be restrained for now, but it is strategic, patient, and unforgiving. When it erupts, it will do so at the most inconvenient moment.
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The warning signs are already evident. How many of your core supporters have been successfully registered or meaningfully accommodated even in Gwale Ward? What explains the mounting political tension and disturbances in Dambatta, Dawakin Tofa, and Kano Municipal? These developments are not isolated incidents or administrative lapses; they are symptoms of deeper resistance.
In Kano, political outcomes are always preceded by discernible patterns.
There is also the matter of internal power dynamics within your new political home. What should be inferred from the tone, body language, and subtext of Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s remarks at the event marking your defection? Beyond Ganduje, what calculations are being made by other major APC stakeholders—particularly Senator Barau Jibrin and others whose political ambitions neither begin nor end with your success?
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Permit a brief personal recollection to underscore the Ganduje factor. In 1996, when I and others were employed by the then National Electric Power Authority, a send-forth was organised by the Ministry of Works, Housing, and Transport.
Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje was then the Commissioner. As he spoke, he appeared detached—almost indifferent—yet unmistakably observant. I remarked to my colleagues afterwards that anyone who underestimated that man did so at his own peril. Ganduje is neither careless nor naïve; he plays the long game.
That Ganduje will not take your defection lightly is beyond dispute. This is the same Ganduje who nearly lost his second-term bid to you, under whose watch the APC again lost Kano to you in 2023, and whose eventual resignation as APC National Chairman was widely associated with his declining influence in the state—largely due to the ascendancy of the NNPP.
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To believe that such a political actor would simply step aside, surrender party control, and generously accommodate all who follow you at the expense of his own political base is, respectfully, the height of political illusion.
There is also a moral dimension that cannot be wished away. Leaving the NNPP at a time when opposition forces are most energised—when supporters believe they are defending not merely a party but a political alternative—raises serious ethical questions.
Politics is not only about power; it is also about trust, timing, and shared sacrifice. Many who stood with you did so not for personal gain, but for what the NNPP represented in the face of entrenched dominance.
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Your Excellency, Kano politics has a long memory. It rewards foresight and punishes complacency. The streets, the wards, and the grassroots are watching closely. The rage is real, the calculations are ongoing, and the consequences—political and moral—will not be abstract.
History will judge not just the move, but the moment.
Respectfully,
Engr. Bello Gwarzo Abdullahi, FNSE.
Email: bgabdullahi@gmail.com
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