By Suleiman Anyalewechi
President Bola Tinubu may have failed in his last minute efforts to dissuade the All Progressive Congress, APC, Kano State gubernatorial candidate in the 2023 general elections Dr Nasir Gawuna, from ditching the party.
This followed the surprise resignation of Gawuna from his position as the Chairman of the Board of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, FMBN.
The Source reports that concerted efforts had, in the last couple days, been made by the President through some powerful Kano stakeholders to convince Gawuna, who served as Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s Deputy between 2015 and 2023 to shelve his planned defection bid.
His resignation as the Chairman of the FMBN
Board is generally perceived as a clear indication that the over three-time Chairman of the densely populated and swing Nasarawa local council of Kano, is irreversibly committed to making a switch.
There are growing speculations linking him to the Kano State gubernatorial contest, having been allegedly recruited by the Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso-led Kwankwasiyya movement.
Gawuna, according to sources, is billed to defect from the APC to the ADC any moment from Tuesday March 31,2026.
But in his letter of resignation dated March 27, 2026, Gawuna attributed his decision to an earlier Presidential directives for persons interested in political contests to resign their positions on or before March 31, 2026.
“My resignation is in strict compliance with the President’s directive requiring all political appointees to step down in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act”, Gawuna stated.
He expressed his appreciation to President Tinubu for the opportunity given to him to serve the country.
“I am profoundly grateful to His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the confidence reposed in me to serve.
“It has been a privilege to contribute to the growth and development of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and our great country”,he added.
Instructively, if all political calculations in the new realignment order in Kano go as envisaged, Dr Gawuna and Governor Abba Kabiru Yusuf are likely to face each other in an interesting re-match in 2027 from reverse political camps.
In 2023, while Kwankwaso floated Governor Yusuf on the platform of the NNPP, his erstwhile Deputy, successor and bitter political rival former Governor Ganduje, backed his then Deputy, Gawuna on the platform of the APC.
However, the battle of 2027 will see Governor Yusuf who earlier in the year defected to the APC/Dr Ganduje camp confronting Gawuna who will most likely be sponsored by the Kwankwasiyya Movement
Gawuna’s potential exit is said to be causing a serious nightmare in APC, with President Tinubu believed to be greatly disturbed about the likely consequences on his electoral fortune in the all-important Kano State.
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