The former governor of Kano State, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, on Monday formally ditched his three-month-old honeymoon with the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
While rejoining the leading opposition party, the senator representing Kano Central was welcomed by the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party PDP), Atiku Abubakar and the national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, among other bigwigs.
The former minister of education had dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) after he fell out with Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, accusing him of exclusion in party affairs.
READ: It Is Official; Shekarau Dumps NNPP For PDP, Writes INEC To Take Note
Before his defection from the APC, Shekarau, alongside some aggrieved APC stalwarts like Senator Barau Jibrin, representing Kano North senatorial district, and Sha’aban Sharada, who represents Kano Municipal at the lower chamber, formed a group known as G7.
In what appeared to be a historic alliance, the two former governors — Rabiu Kwankwaso and Ibrahim Shekarau — forged an alliance for the first time in their political history to confront the ruling APC in the state. But things had really fallen apart between the duo.
Barely three months into the alliance, Shekarau’s loyalists and associates felt shortchanged, alleging the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) did not carry them along in contests for political positions. By this time, the disquiet in Shekarau’s political base, known as the Shura Council and Advisory Committees, became louder.
Shekarau’s spokesman, Dr Sule Ya’u Sule, confirmed earlier that there were grumblings from Shekarau’s loyalists, as the senator would eventually reiterate.
Amidst the internal accusations and counter-accusations in the NNPP, the presidential candidate of the PDP was said to have advanced to co-opt Shekarau and his aggrieved allies into the PDP.
Shekarau’s decision to pitch his tent with the PDP as the 2023 general elections draw Nigeria indicates that “Mallam” as he is fondly called by his admirers has traversed through three political parties.
It can be recalled that Shekarau rejoined the ruling All Progressives Congress prior to the 2019 general election when the PDP handed over its Kano State structure to his then political enemy, Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, upon defecting to the party.
READ: Shekarau Claims Tenancy In Abuja, Landlord In Kano
Shekarau got an automatic senatorial candidature that landed him in the ninth senate to represent Kano Central.
Hitherto, the former Kano governor had had stints with the APC, NNPP, and now PDP in the last three years of his political trajectory.
The senator, who said he had written to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw his senatorial contest from NNPP, hoped he would be re-elected in the coming elections. This is despite the fact that no one senator representing Kano Central has been re-elected since 1999.
