Immediate past Governor of Kano State, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, is reported to have defected from Nigeria’s governing All Progressives Congress (APC), to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
A serving Senator and one of the APC Presidential aspirants in the build-up to the 2015 General elections, Kwankwaso is said to have defected with 10 Kano State lawmakers.
His defection may not be unconnected with his ordeals in the APC as well as his plan to jostle for the ticket of the PDP ahead of the 2019 presidential election in Nigeria.
The PDP, which lost power to the APC in the last election in 2015 after ruling Nigeria for 16 years, held its special national convention in Abuja last Saturday and resolved to recapture power come 2019.
Besides Kwankwaso, who has been at loggerheads with his successor, Umar Ganduje, another top chieftain of the APC and former Vice President of the country, Atiku Abubakar, is also thought to be considering the option of dumping the party for the same PDP, ostensibly to gun for its presidential ticket.
In March last year, the leadership of the APC in Kano chapter had initiated moves to suspend him over what it termed anti-party activities.