Rabiu Kwakwanso has proven his mettle again that he has Kano State under his firm grip, following the declaration of Abbas Kabiru Yusuf, the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, as the governor elect by the Independent National Electoral, INEC.
Yusuf, according to INEC defeated his closest rival, Nasir Yusuf Gawjna of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the governorship race after scoring 1,019,602 votes to his opponent’s 890, 705 votes.
The APC candidate was backed by the incumbent, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje who did all in his part to ensure that his candidate succeeds him as governor.
The governor was once a politcal ally of Kwakwanso, who, three weeks ago failed to win the presidential election. The former governor and Minister of Defence had helped Ganduje to be governor to succeed him, but no sooner the incumbent came to office than he parted ways with his predecessor.
The former governor later defected to the ANPP under whcih he contested the presidency on February 25, but lost to Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC, after coming a distant fourth in the keenly contested election.
The declaration of the governorship candidate of the ANPP as winner by the electoral umpire, is seen my close watchers of Nigeria’s commercial city, as a victory for Kwankwaso whose political machine, Kwakwasinya has played a critical role in who becomes the governor of the state since 2007 when he ruled the state.
Meanwhile, the state government has imposed a dawn-to-dusk curfew across the state, to stem prevent breakdown of law and order following the announcement of the governorship results by INCE.
A statement by the state commissioner for information and internal affairs, Malam Muhammad Garba, early hour Monday, said the decision become necessary to avert violence, noting that some hoodlums are already planning to unleash mayhem.
