The vice-presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has made his first public comments following reports suggesting that he threatened to leave the party over internal disagreements.
Kwankwaso addressed the speculation on Monday night through a post on his official X account, where he highlighted ongoing political consultations and party activities in Abuja.
“This evening, I hosted a highly productive meeting with the NDC candidates from Kogi State at my residence in Abuja. We had robust deliberations on the way forward and concrete strategies for our collective victory,” he stated.
Although the former Kano State governor did not directly address the reports of a possible defection, his remarks appeared to downplay claims of an impending exit from the party.
Meanwhile, the Kwankwasiyya Movement has dismissed reports alleging that its leader intended to leave the NDC over disputes related to candidate selection.
Speaking on Monday, the movement’s spokesperson, Habibu Sale Mohammed, described the reports as “mere rumours,” insisting that neither Kwankwaso nor the movement had indicated any intention to abandon the party.
“The Kwankwasiyya Movement, and neither its leader, is complaining,” Mohammed stated.
He explained that the party’s primary elections were successfully conducted on May 29 in line with the Electoral Act and the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to him, consensus candidates were adopted during the exercise, and the names of the candidates were submitted without complications.
Mohammed further noted that the national leadership of the NDC remained the appropriate authority to respond to external speculation regarding internal party matters.
The rumours emerged amid reports of an internal crisis within the Kano State chapter of the NDC.
The state executive committee recently revised its list of local candidates in a move aimed at enforcing a 60/40 power-sharing arrangement between the newly integrated Kwankwasiyya bloc and the party’s pioneer structure.
A document signed by the Kano State Chairman of the NDC, Hon. Hussaini Isah Mairiga, confirmed that the adjustments were made to address what was described as a breach of the original agreement.
Under the arrangement, 60 per cent of elective tickets and party positions were allocated to Kwankwaso’s camp, while the remaining 40 per cent were reserved for members of the party’s founding structure in the state.
The revised list, which has reportedly been forwarded to NDC National Leader Senator Seriake Dickson and the party’s North-West Zonal Chairman, replaced several aspirants aligned with the Kwankwasiyya Movement with alternative candidates across both state and federal constituencies.
The latest development comes only weeks after Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and the NDC’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, defected from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to the National Democratic Congress to form the party’s joint ticket ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Despite the ongoing speculation surrounding the candidate selection process in Kano State, the Kwankwasiyya Movement has maintained that there is no crisis warranting Kwankwaso’s departure from the party.
