A strong ally of President Muhammadu Buhari and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano State, Alhaji Danbilki Kwamanda has described the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s meeting with Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Paris, France as causing serious division within the ruling party’s hierarchy.
Kwamanda said Tinubu’s actions could be rated as a betrayal of the North. He warned against any attempt by Tinubu to bring Kwankwaso to the party or offer him any appointment.
He threatened that any attempt to give Kwankwaso special treatment would be resisted by the bonafide APC members in the state.
Kwamanda, who stated this during an interaction with newsmen in Kano yesterday, described the move by Tinubu as a betrayal of the trust and relegation of the commitment of his supporters in the region to the background.
The APC chieftain warned that Kwankwaso has an agenda that would bring APC down if he is allowed into the party.
“He (Kwankwaso) attempted to do similar thing in the past but could not succeed and had to leave for the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which he shattered and left for the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) where he later became its Presidential Candidate in the just concluded presidential contest,” he said.
According to him, “We in the Northwest do not welcome Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to our party APC.
“We do not accept the idea of Bola Tinubu giving him any appointment even as low as a messenger in our dear party.
“Should Tinubu ignore our outcry and appoint Kwankwaso, we are going to disrupt the entire APC in the North and withdraw our support for him.
“If we set the party on fire, not even Tinubu as a president can put out that fire. We are the North and the people are our people.
“We have invested all our efforts, integrity and dignity in the North to mobilize the people to vote for Tinubu, they refused to vote for a fellow Northerner just for him to win in the region and now come and embrace our major opposition.
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“We will not accept that.
“We assure Tinubu that we will turn our backs on him if he decides to ignore our call, we don’t welcome Kwankwaso to our party and don’t give him any appointment. This is our message to all,” Danbilki declared.
He further cautioned Tinubu to steer clear of the antics of Kwankwaso, lest he leads him and the party into a serious crisis as he plans to enhance democracy in the country when he assumes office.
“Kwankwaso is more like a green snake that will lead you and the party into crises and bring you down. Already, he had condemned voting for you in Kano, describing you as an enemy of the North, a criminal and unhealthy individual.
“It will therefore be a mistake to welcome him to the party or give him any appointment in your government,” he added.
On whether Tinubu is working towards rewarding the NNPP presidential candidate for pulling away people from voting for the PDP during the general election as the APC leadership in the state worked to get the percentage of the required vote for Tinubu, Danbilki said Kwankwaso did nothing in favour of Tinubu.
He explained that the PDP in Kano was engulfed in an internal crisis already between the two governorship candidates, Saadiq Wali and Muhammad Abacha, as well as the leadership of the party.
He said with such a crisis the PDP will definitely lose support and votes and had nothing to do with Kwankwaso as wrongly propagated.