The battle for the political control of Kano State in Nigeria’s North-West between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has been settled with the declaration of NNPP’s Yusuf Kabir as the governor-elect.
Kabir was declared winner of the keenly contested poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday morning.
Kabir scored 1,019,602 votes to defeat his closest contender, Nasir Gawuna of the APC who polled 890,705 votes.
“That Yusuf Kabir of NNPP having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” the Returning Officer, Prof Ahmad Ibrahim declared.
Kabir was backed by former Kano governor and NNPP presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso who has a “cult-like” following with his socio-political movement known as the Kwankwasiyya.
Gawuna was, however, endorsed by the incumbent governor and APC powerbroker, Abdullahi Ganduje whose two-term of eight years end on May 29, 2023.
For years, Ganduje and Kwankwaso have remained arch-political rivals over the control of Nigeria’s unarguably most populated state with a commensurate number of voters, the highest nationwide.
