Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Rabiu Kwankwaso have reportedly met behind closed doors in France.
The parley held in the French capital, Paris, was reportedly brokered by Kwankwaso’s ally, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, the House of Representatives member who defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the NNPP months before the 2023 general elections.
Africa Today News, New York gathered from reliable sources that Tinubu and Kwankwaso who is also a former Minister of Defence, discussed a government of unity and will hold further talks.
It is also being speculated that Tinubu may broker peace between Kwankwaso and his successor, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
Read Also: Kano: Sanusi’s Dethronement Will Be Reviewed – Kwankwaso
Ganduje was Kwankwaso’s deputy throughout his tenure but the duo fell apart not long after the former became Kano’s helmsman.
Last July, the NNPP leader subtly endorsed Tinubu to emerge as Nigeria’s next leader, describing him as “a strategist.”
‘Bola Tinubu is a strategist. I had reasons to sit with him an uncountable number of times from 1992 till date. I’m so happy with that combination (Tinubu-Shettima); my only worry is the platform (APC),’ Kwankwaso said at the time.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Kwankwaso had earlier disclosed that the incoming government in the state would study and take position on issues concerning the dethronement and creation of four additional emirates in the state if need be.
In a viral video obtained by Africa Today News, New York on Sunday, Kwankwaso pointed out that Allah would guide governor-elect Abba Yusuf to take appropriate action on the controversial issue, noting however that there were more pressing issues bordering on the lives of the people than the appointment or dethronement of traditional title holders.
Sanusi, who became emir in the final term of Kwankwaso as governor, was dethroned by outgoing Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, who was deputy governor at the time the monarch was installed.
Sanusi was removed on March 9, 2020, and also banished from Kano and sent to Loko, a remote community in Nasarawa State, while the expenses of the emirate under him were probed.
Ganduje also split the emirate into five and appointed emirs to take charge of all the emirate councils.