A major crisis was averted on Friday as security details at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, in their wisdom, didn’t allow the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, to physically meet the immediate past Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
Both were in the Villa to see President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Ganduje was Kwankwaso’s deputy when he was Kano governor.
Politically, they don’t see eye to eye.
The crisis between the duo deepened after the election of Abba Yusuf as Ganduje’s successor on the platform of NNPP on March 18.
Abba Yusuf was sworn in on May 29 and since then, some buildings have been demolished.
Speaking to State House correspondents, Ganduje, who was obviously angry, said he would have slapped Kwankwaso if he had met him in the Villa because of the damage allegedly done by the Abba Yusuf administration barely two weeks it assumed office.
“I know he (Kwankwaso) is in the building but we have not met. Probably if we met, maybe I could have slapped him,” Ganduje said.
The former governor stated that less than 72 hours after the inauguration of Abba Yusuf on May 29, four properties erected based on a public private partnership arrangement were demolished by the government.
Ganduje, who expressed disappointment over the ill-motivated moves by the current administration, which can hamper proper development in the state, said that he had also briefed the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba Alkali.
While declining to disclose the President’s response on the matter, Ganduje disclosed that “inside information has it that even the governor is unhappy with the level of destruction that has infuriated a lot of residents as some of their members have been affected”.
Kwankwaso was in a meeting with Tinubu when Ganduje threatened to slap him.
