By Ayodele Oni
As political realignment towards 2027 intensifies, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is already counting possible loses of the party in Kano state, following defection of former Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Kwankwaso on Monday led several of his followers to the ADC in Kano where he was received by chieftains of the party.
APC chieftain, Alwan Hassan, maintained that it was a big loses for the party to have lost the former Governor to the opposition.
He warned that the ruling party risks losing Kano State in the 2027 elections without engaging the support base of Kwankwaso, declaring that the party has “already lost Kano” by allowing the former governor to join the opposition.
Speaking on Channels Television, Hassan alleged that “political termites” around President Bola Tinubu blocked Kwankwaso from seeing the president despite waiting in Abuja for two nights, and warned that many ministers and governors in the APC do not have the president at heart.
Hassan was emphatic that the APC has already lost Kano State. “We’ve lost Kano. We’ve already lost Kano. For us allowing Kwankwaso to join the opposition, we’ve lost Kano.
“I don’t think the governor has the strength to defeat Kwankwaso. I don’t think anyone in Kano has the strength to defeat Kwankwaso in Kano.”
He explained that Kwankwaso has a “cult followership” in Kano and that the state’s 3.5 million votes are enough to win elections in Nigeria.
“If we consolidate and if we had spoken to Kwankwaso, it was a 3.5 million vote Kano — that’s enough to win elections in Nigeria,” he said.
Hassan alleged that Kwankwaso was prevented from meeting President Tinubu by people around the president with vested interests.
“I’m aware and informed that he stood in this town on standby waiting to see the president and some people blocked him.
“I’ve said this so many times — we can’t win Kano without Kwankwaso either in the APC or we partner with him in another party.”
When asked about reports that Kwankwaso was offered the vice presidential slot as a condition for joining the APC, Hassan dismissed the claims.
“Nothing. There was nothing discussed like that between Kwankwaso and the president.
“I’m telling you that they blocked him from seeing him. Those months of talks never happened. The talks didn’t happen with Kwankwaso and that is where we made it wrong. That is why we got it wrong.”
He clarified that while talks happened between the APC and the NNPP at the party level — which resulted in Governor Abba Yusuf joining the APC — direct talks between Kwankwaso and the president never occurred.
Hassan warned that many APC governors do not genuinely support President Tinubu.
“A lot of those governors are not real. A lot of them are murmuring inside their stomach. They don’t like the president.
“He has given them a lot of money because of subsidy removal. I’m telling you, they can work against the president. That’s what he doesn’t know. They’re not sincere people.”
He accused the president of investing heavily in governors who cannot be trusted.
“He’s investing so much on the governors. I don’t know whatever it is that is making the president imprisoned and not knowing what he needs to know.
“In Lagos, he was better than this politically. He’s investing so much in people that are not supposed to be trusted. A lot of these governors do not have him 100% at heart.
“I’m telling you, once they see the opposition getting set, they join the opposition either directly or indirectly.”
When asked why governors still join the APC despite not being loyal, Hassan gave a stark answer.
“It’s for a better betrayal. If they’re in the opposition, they feel the government will go for them. Nobody wants to fight the government.”
He explained that the governors have received substantial funds from the federal government following subsidy removal.
“He’s already invested so much. He’s given them so much money by constitution. They must get that money because subsidy is removed. They have so much money to work against us,” Hassan warned.
Hassan compared the current situation to what befell former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
“This was the same thing that happened to Jonathan. We used a lot of Jonathan’s people to win elections against him. That is exactly what is happening today. I’m telling you, it’s the pattern.
“A lot of ministers, a lot of governors in this government, in our party do not have the president at heart. They don’t like him for who he is. They like him for what he is.”
Hassan noted that despite having significant northern representation in the federal cabinet, none of the ministers is actively campaigning for the president.
“Nobody is out there among the ministers in northern Nigeria. 27 ministers out of 47 are from the 19 northern states. None of them — none of them has the faith to go out and campaign for the president. It’s time already and nobody’s saying anything.”
When asked about the threat posed by the African Democratic Congress, Hassan dismissed the opposition party as irrelevant.
“You have said the ADC is not a factor. What then is making you afraid?” the interviewer asked.
“It is our own selves and the way we treat our own people that is making me scared of the election. The sabotage will come from within. Yes.”
Hassan also alleged that the president is being poorly advised on Borno State.
“The foreign affairs minister just resigned yesterday and he’s going for the contest. The president is being ill-advised on somebody else.
“That person he’s being ill-advised on is someone that the president sacked from NNPC last year. That is what the party is bringing in. Someone that goes to EFCC every day for corruption trials, corruption allegations. We want to put him in front because he’s looking for shield.”
He compared the situation to how Governor Bala Mohammed allegedly sought the governorship position to gain immunity while facing EFCC allegations.
“We’ve become safe haven for corrupt individuals,” Hassan lamented.
Hassan contrasted the handling of Rivers State with Kano State, noting that Minister Nyesom Wike’s position in the cabinet gave him leverage that Kwankwaso lacks.
“In the case of Rivers, it was a different scenario. That is the same approach I had wanted him to take in Kano. Wike is a minister in his cabinet.
“Kwankwaso is not a minister in his cabinet. That’s the difference. He can easily call on Wike and say come to me, but Kwankwaso doesn’t have that leverage of being in the same cabinet with the president.”
Despite his warnings, Hassan said it was not too late for the APC to correct course.
“It’s not like it’s late for us. It’s 10 months to elections and in politics, five minutes matter.
“I’m just saying this for the president to wake up. The people around him and the people he’s talking with are the wrong people. They give him wrong advice.”
When asked what will happen if Kwankwaso is fielded as the NNPP gubernatorial candidate in Kano, Hassan was blunt.
“We lost. We lost. We lost. We will lose.
“The federal government has done everything for Kano. The president has given 28 federal appointments in Kano. That speaks volumes.
“But it does not speak volume on the electorate. It doesn’t speak volume on the electorate,” he added.
Hassan’s stark warnings paint a troubling picture for the APC ahead of the 2027 elections.
His allegations that ministers and governors are disloyal and that “political termites” are sabotaging the president’s efforts to build alliances suggest deep internal divisions within the ruling party.
The comparison to the Jonathan administration — which lost power in 2015 partly due to internal defections — is particularly significant, as it suggests the APC may be following a similar trajectory.
With 10 months to the elections, Hassan’s call for the president to “wake up” and reassess the people around him reflects growing anxiety within some quarters of the party about the path to 2027.
The failure to engage Kwankwaso directly, if Hassan’s account is accurate, represents a significant strategic error that may cost the APC dearly in Kano — a state with substantial electoral weight in any presidential contest.
