Rabiu Kwankwaso yesterday dismissed reports that he had entered into an agreement on rotational presidency with Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi regarding the 2027 presidential poll. He also accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of pursuing a political agenda that lacked sincerity.
The trio lost last year’s presidential election to President Bola Tinubu. Kwankwaso represented the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), with ex-Vice President Atiku as the standard-bearer of the PDP and Obi as the Labour Party (LP) candidate. Speaking with the BBC Hausa Service, Kwankwaso described the report as unfounded and malicious.
He insisted that he had not been in contact with either Atiku or Obi. The former Kano State governor accused Atiku’s camp of meeting with clerics and regional leaders to propagate the claim.
He said: “This issue deeply angers me—to hear that respected elders spread lies about something that never happened. “I was told that nearly 45 clerics were gathered and informed about this fabricated story. I did not appreciate this at all.
“They were told that I had agreed to a deal where Atiku would serve for four years, I would serve for another four years, and Peter Obi would serve for eight years.
This is completely false; such an agreement never existed.” Kwankwaso said since leaving the PDP for the NNPP he had found peace and a sense of relief from the “humiliation” he and his supporters endured in the PDP.
He said: “Such lies and deceit are precisely why we left. Myself, Peter Obi, Wike, and others all left. “Now they are coming back, asking us to help those who humiliated us to achieve their goals.”
The strongman of Kano politics said he adopted the principle of political neutrality until the end of this year to allow the federal and state governments to focus on governance without political distractions. He added: “Such deceit is part of what led me and others to leave the PDP.
These actions have destabilised the party.” Kwankwaso alleged that the PDP plans to manipulate regional politics to secure votes from the North. He said: “What have they done for the North? These are the questions they must answer.
We have experienced the worst humiliation from these people. “We loved the PDP and wanted to rejuvenate it to ensure progress, but we were forced out. “Now, the same people who humiliated us are positioning themselves for the presidency.
This is appalling. “We have been deeply hu- miliated by these people, and history must guide us in any future arrangements.” He further said: “Kwank- waso left, Peter Obi left; there is no estimate to those who left.
“Yet they are the same people coming now to the fore expressing interest to be made president. “This is appalling, maybe they are remorseful, or they are thinking they want to seek forgiveness or some- thing related to that, but we have been humiliated by those people.”
