The 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has said his party is willing to consider rejoining the All Progressives Congress, but only under what he called “strong promises.”
Kwankwaso made the remarks when he hosted Buhari Bakwana, a former political adviser to ex-Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, along with APC members from all 44 local government areas of Kano State, at his Miller Road residence in Kano.
He told the delegation that he and other key politicians were instrumental in establishing the APC in 2013, stressing that they endured intense political persecution at the time for their role in building the party.
“Nobody in the country will tell me the burden we took in creating APC. We were the ones who led the creation of the party, and we were the first set of seven governors to declare support for it. ICPC, EFCC, and the police were all used against me then, just to stop our plans,” he said.
The NNPP leader said any discussion of a merger or return to APC must spell out tangible benefits for his party. “If you are asking us to join APC, you must tell us what NNPP will gain. We have gubernatorial candidates in all the states and full structures nationwide. What will you offer them if we join?” he queried.
Kwankwaso, who also recalled the frustrations of past alliances, accused both APC and PDP of betraying agreements.
“Eight years of APC under the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari gave us nothing, not even appreciation. In PDP, we asked for just a zonal party chairman, but they refused. We left peacefully and today we are strong and have integrity,” he said.
However, Kwankwaso made it clear that while the NNPP is open to fresh negotiations, it would only do so under firm assurances, warning that the party would not tolerate being exploited and abandoned after any agreement.
