Crisis Rocks NDC As Leaders Accuse Kwankwaso Of Party Takeover
A new wave of crisis has erupted within the National Democratic Congress (NDC) following allegations by senior party officials that former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, attempted to take control of the party’s structure in Kano and excluded non-Kwankwasiyya members from participating in its nomination process.
The accusations were contained in a statement jointly signed by the NDC North-West Vice Chairman, Mohammed Rabiu Serina, and the party’s Kano State Chairman, Hussaini Isa Mariga.
The duo claimed that repeated interventions by the party’s National Leader, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, and the National Working Committee (NWC) failed to resolve the dispute.
According to the officials, the crisis began after Kwankwaso joined the party and sought full control of its Kano structure, a move they said was resisted by existing party leaders, who had built the platform before his arrival.
They disclosed that Dickson subsequently brokered a political arrangement under which Kwankwaso and his supporters were allocated 60 per cent of the party structure in Kano, while the original party leadership retained 40 per cent.
The party leaders, however, alleged that despite accepting the arrangement, Kwankwaso later refused to honour the agreement during the nomination process, effectively shutting out party members outside the Kwankwasiyya movement.
They claimed that all available nomination forms for the State House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate and governorship positions in Kano were reserved exclusively for Kwankwaso’s loyalists.
According to them, neither the state chairman, the North-West vice chairman, nor other longstanding party officials were given access to nomination forms.
Serina said several attempts were made to persuade Kwankwaso to accommodate other aspirants, including a proposal that only a limited number of state and federal legislative tickets be made available to non-Kwankwasiyya members, but the request was rejected.
The party officials further alleged that Dickson personally met Kwankwaso on two occasions to seek a compromise, while the NWC also constituted a delegation to engage him in discussions aimed at preserving party unity and inclusiveness.
They said the interventions were motivated by concerns that several influential politicians who joined the party independently of Kwankwaso were being denied opportunities to contest.
Hafsoh Isiaq is a graduate of Linguistics. An avid writer committed to creative, high-quality research and news reportage. She has considerable experience in writing and reporting across a variety of platforms including print and online.
