•Gov AbbaYusuf won’t get away with it, the commissioner who led others to quit the cabinet in protest vows•Says in 2023, some left Kwankwaso because of gov, now same person betrayed him•Speaks on the fate of deputy governor
By Bashir Bello
Immediate past Commissioner for Science, Technology and Innovation in Kano State, Dr. Yusuf IbrahimKofar-Mata was the first political appointee to resign following Governor Abba Yusuf’s defection fromThe New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP.
His resignation kick-started a wave of resignations as others loyal to Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso followed suit. Their decision to quit the administration was in protest of the governor’s defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC, which was against the wish of his political godfather, Kwankwaso, on whose back he rode to power.
Kofar-Mata, in this interview, speaks on the development, stating that what the governor committed amounted to political suicide. He is angry and vows that the NNPP will reclaim the mandate from the governor, insisting that the authority to govern belongs to the NNPP.
How do you feel about Governor Abba’s defection?
We view it as betrayal. In fact, we have never seen such kind of betrayal in our lifetime. Because he had spent almost 40 years together with his godfather, especially in politics. So, our leader, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, trusted him so much that he was a custodian of all his credentials and documents, and was also on top of everything.
Kwankwaso decided to look for loyalty and look at what has happened. Therefore, we see the defection of Governor Abba as a total betrayal of the Kwankwassiya Movement and also of the people of Kano State. Because more than one million people voted for Kwankwassiya’s NNPP, not because of Governor Abba, but because of the trust they have in the Kwankwassiya Movement and its leader.
That is why this betrayal is not only for Senator Kwankwaso, who happens to be the leader of Kwankwassiya, not only for Kwankwassiya’s NNPP members, but also for the entire people of Kano State.
But the governor claimed that his defection was for the interest of Kano State. How do you see that?
Which interest of Kano State? He mentioned something like security. He said his defection was not driven by personal ambition but in Kano’s interest…
It is personal interest. If you are talking about security, you want to improve security because you joined the APC? Is it because the person in charge of the Federal Government is in APC? If that is the case, what is happening in other APC states in southern and northern Nigeria? Look at Kaduna, they have insecurity problem. Even recently, some schoolchildren were kidnapped. Look at what is happening right now in Katsina. A lot of villages and hamlets were shut down. You don’t have access to some local governments. And all are APC states. In Kano, we have been enjoying security and peaceful coexistence as a cosmopolitan state. I think Jigawa is only next to Kano.
There is no reason citing insecurity to justify his defection. Most of the APC states are grappling with insecurity. He also mentioned development. As a state, you are entitled to federal allocations, so you don’t have any problem. We view his defection as a total betrayal driven by his own interests. That’s all.
What about the claim that Kano, as an opposition party state, is being isolated?
Kano is isolated? Where? Who isolated Kano? We have been in opposition for quite a long time. During Ibrahim Shekarau’s time, Kano was in opposition for almost eight years. During Kwankwaso’s time, Kano was in opposition because he defected to APC. So, we have most of the time been in opposition. What is his problem with the opposition? During the time of Abubakar Rimi, Kano was in opposition.
And look at the development Rimi inspired in Kano, while Kano was under Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, and Nigeria was ruled by the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, at that time. If it is in the interest of the common people, then let him stay in Kwankwassiya’s NNPP. Let him fulfil all the promises we made in Kwankwassiya. People trusted Kwankwassiya, that is why he got more than one million votes.
As a loyalist of Kwankwaso, how do you feel now that the governor is in a rival camp?
That is the most difficult part. You know, these people, they fought for us when (former governor) Ganduje betrayed Senator Kwankwaso after the 2015 election. So, we had some political rivals. Those political rivals, some of them were not actually in dispute with Senator Kwankwaso, but because he nominated Abba Kabir Yusuf in 2019, that is why some of them opted to leave Kwankwassiya to express their anger or show their dissatisfaction with the situation. How do you see this? He is now among the people who really hated him.
They (people who didn’t want Abba as governor) left Senator Kwankwaso, who was their political grandfather, because of the same Abba. This is total betrayal. I don’t think I have seen something like this in my life. For me, as a commissioner, as a loyalist of the Kwankwassiya Movement, whom I totally agree with the ideology, I had nothing to do except to resign from being commissioner.
I had to show example. That is why I became the first commissioner to resign. Is it not the same APC we are accusing of perpetuating insecurity, underdevelopment in Nigeria, increasing poverty, imposing controversial tax reform, engaging in nepotism, discrimination, and increasing unemployment? How can we join them? We cannot join them, because we saw what APC did during Abdullahi Ganduje’s tenure.
We saw how they neglected the education and health sectors, and so on and so forth. We cannot agree with them, because we are playing politics based on ideology, not based on personal interest. If we are doing this because of personal interest, I will remain in the government. But we had to resign because of the people’s mandate. The people are with Kwankwaso, and that is why we must remain with him. We want to contribute much to the people. Look at what has happened. It is the most terrible thing that has ever happened in Kano State.
Did you just say the people are with Kwankwaso? What does this imply?
Of course, Kwankwaso lost election in 2003, but he returned to power in 2011. That was the first time in the history of Kano State. It is because he belongs to Kano people. In 2019, we didn’t have local government chairmen, we didn’t have anything, but we won the election.
We repeated it in 2023 when we also won the election. These three scenarios are clear indications that Kano people are with Kwankwaso. And insha Allah, in 2027, we will do the same. Still, the people of Kano will come massively because they don’t like betrayal. We believe the people will come out massively and reclaim their mandate. In 2027, insha Allah, Kwankwassiya will come back to power.
But there is another issue the governor cited as a reason for defecting from the NNPP, which is internal crisis?
We don’t have internal crisis. He is the one who brought crisis. He is the one who refused to fulfill the promises we had made. He is the one who departed from the group’s goals, the Kwankwassiya goals. We have our ideology. Being a governor in Kwankwassiya is just like a club captain. You don’t own the club, you are only the monitor or the chief representative of the group. Of course, maybe later he will contest against the Kwankwassiya. If he wants to contest in 2027, definitely he will contest against Kwankwassiya’s NNPP.
Tell us more about the Kwankwassiya…
We, Kwankwassiya, are a political movement. Whenever Kwankwaso moves, we move together. Now we are in NNPP. In 2027, we will come out massively and vote for Kwankwassiya’s NNPP. I hope you understand.
What about the talks around the internal crisis at the national level, which has to do with the logo, the changing of your logo?
No, we don’t have crisis. Recently, we concluded congresses from the ward level to the local government level all over Nigeria. We had state congresses, regional congresses and national congress. We did it successfully in the presence of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, officials. We didn’t have logo problems. And three months ago, there was a by-election in Kano. We contested, and you saw our logo. I hope you understand. We don’t have problem. Even right now, next month, February, there will be a by-election in Kano. You will still see our logo on display. We don’t have a single court case.
We don’t have any problem. He (Abba) created the problem because he wanted to have a shallow reason and to go away with our mandate.
Do you mean the logo with fruit baskets or which logo?
It no longer exists because we already had congresses. We already changed that one, and we all agreed. The party doesn’t belong to one person. It belongs to all members. INEC accepted our new logo.
Our new logo is contained in the book. We believe that with education, we can uplift our society. If we lift the people of Nigeria, the people will also lift the country. We are living peacefully in Kano. In fact, we can say that NNPP is the most peaceful party in Kano because of Kwankwaso. Look at the APC, they have different camps: Barau Camp, Ganduje Camp.
Will it be right if one says you people in Kwankwassiya are putting up a structure to reclaim power?
Of course. We already have structure. Our structure started in 1950 from Northern Elements Progressive Union, NEPU, the political party of Malam Aminu Kano. We moved to the SDP, DPM and PDP. So, anytime we are moving, or if some government policies warrant it, we move together because Kwankwassiya is an ideology. It’s a movement. We already have structure. Nothing affected us right now. We have everything on ground. What we will do, we will remain with the people, and we will reorganize ourselves. And insha Allah, by 2027, we will reclaim our stolen mandate.
How do you intend reclaiming the mandate?
Governor Abba left with it. That is why we are going to reclaim it from him. People voted Abba as governor not because of himself. He didn’t have anything that would attract you to vote for him. People voted for Kwankwassiya because of our ideology. Anybody under Kwankwassiya can win election anyday.
I heard you in a video saying you are not happy with the activities of some persons…
The people who failed our system are our lawmakers, members of the State Assembly from the NNPP. They were given the mandate without even participating in primary election.
They got their tickets through consensus. Nobody spent a single kobo. In fact, we did everything for them and even gave them money. Instead of them to caution Governor Abba and remind him of where he came from, they all went together with him, especially the Speaker.
The Speaker was entrusted with all affairs of the State Assembly. He was nobody, but he was made because of the membership of Kwankwassiya. Unfortunately, they connived with the governor and took our mandate. It was unfortunate that this happened in this political dispensation.
In all of these political developments playing out, the Deputy Governor seems to be lying low?
To me, he is not keeping low profile. They got a joint ticket together with Governor Abba. He is still doing his work. You know, he is deputizing. If they need him, they will assign some responsibilities to him. He is still with Kwankwassiya’s NNPP as Deputy Governor.
Should he resign?
Why should he resign when the mandate was given to both of them together? He will not resign.
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