Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says it is planning to reach out to former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, to persuade him to return to the party that “nurtured his political career and brought him to where he is today.”

The PDP acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagun, revealed this in an interview with the BBC while responding to Kwankwaso’s recent statement that the PDP is “dead” and cannot achieve any significant success in the future.

He emphasised that the PDP was ready to welcome back all former members who left the party, including Senator Kwankwaso.

“People are entitled to their opinions, but I want to remind him of the past. When they left the PDP in 2015, if the party didn’t die back then, during a time they thought they had weakened it, I don’t see why anyone would claim it is dead now.

“Let’s not forget that the PDP remains the only party capable of winning elections if you exclude the ruling APC,” Damagun said.

He also noted that Kwankwaso’s statement was unjust to himself, because despite his criticisms, Kwankwaso was able to win some political victories using the PDP platform in the past.

The acting chairman further boasted that the PDP, even after 26 years, remained strong under the same name and has governors and senators across all regions of Nigeria. He argued that even if four other parties were to merge, they still would not match the PDP’s strength.

Addressing Kwankwaso’s claims that he was marginalised in the PDP, making him to dismiss any plans to work with the party in the 2027 elections, Damagun admitted that some of Kwankwaso’s grievances were valid.

He explained that during Kwankwaso’s initial efforts to leave the PDP, Damagun himself, then the party’s deputy national chairman for the North, tried his best to reconcile the issues but was unsuccessful.

“That said, there is no party better than the PDP for Kwankwaso. The party nurtured his political career and brought him to where he is today. We still hope he will return to work with us to rebuild our party and confront this oppressive government,” Damagun added.

The PDP chairman stated that, God willing, the party will soon reach out to Kwankwaso despite knowing he was angry, adding that his aspirations might not be achievable in his current party.

“The PDP has always been a party that welcomes back any of its members who left in anger. Whenever they return, we give them opportunities just like everyone else,” Damagun concluded.

The legislative arm of Egor Local Government Council of Edo State has impeached the council chairman, Eghe Ogbemudia, and the vice chairman, Frank Osawe.

The legislators also suspended the leader of the legislative arm, Bosede Omokaro, Majority Leader, Iwinosa Enabulele, and Elliot Inneh Enni, the Chief Whip.

The council’s chairman and vice chairman were impeached for alleged gross misconduct, abuse of office, financial misappropriation, unlawful withholding of statutory allowances of a principal member and three other council members as well as budget padding.

The principal officers of the council were allegedly suspended for inability to collaborate effectively with the local government chairmen, particularly in ensuring timely payment of salaries, the two-month delay in councillors’ salaries, failure to provide effective oversight and neglect of responsibilities.

The motion for their impeachment was moved by Nosakhare Isiegbuwa, seconded by Stella Ogida Osagioduwa and signed by four legislators.

The suspension of the former principal officers of the legislative arm was passed by five members, with one member absent.

The House immediately swore in Kelvin Eguakun, the leader of the legislative arm, as the acting chairman of the council.

Moving the motion for the impeachment, Nosakhare Isiegbuwa, at plenary on Friday, December 27, 2024, said the report submitted by the seven-man panel appointed to probe the allegations of gross misconduct against the chairman and vice chairman found the duo guilty of all the allegations.

In a unanimous voice vote, the councillors impeached the chairman and vice chairman.

According to DAILY POST, the impeachment proceedings were formally documented in the Edo State Government Gazette.

The gazetted document notified the affected officials of the initiation of impeachment proceedings in line with the Edo Local Government Bye-law on Pro-Action Notices, Legislative Privileges, and Impeachment Procedures For Elected Council Officials, 2024.

The impeached council chairman, Eghe Ogbemudia, is the daughter of the late General Samuel Ogbemudia, the former military governor of the old Midwest and Bendel states.

He was also a civilian governor of old Bendel State in 1983. He ruled for three months before the government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari was overthrown by the former military government of General Muhammadu Buhari on December 31, 1983

Credit: Daily Post

The Kano State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has described as laughable Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s claim that he would significantly reduce the party’s votes in Kano during the 2027 elections.

Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State, is the leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement and the ruling New Nigeria People’s Party in Kano.

In a statement on Thursday, the Kano APC Chairman, Abdullahi Abbas, called on Kwankwaso to stop “daydreaming” and instead focus on reclaiming his membership in the NNPP.

Abbas characterised Kwankwaso as a “political refugee,” accusing him of clinging to Kano State, Governor Abba Yusuf, “like a leech” in a futile bid to regain relevance.

“Our teeming supporters in the APC have no cause to worry about Kwankwaso, who has been booted out of the NNPP due to his cluelessness and self-centredness. We expect Kwankwaso to keep wondering why he has become a wanderer in the political terrain,” Abbas said.

“He ran away from the APC because he couldn’t fit into our progressive ideals. His over-bloated ego and domineering posture forced him to abandon the PDP, and he has now become a political refugee because the NNPP refused to accommodate him.”

Abbas further assured APC supporters that the party would not tolerate a repeat of what he described as “vote manipulation and allocation” during the 2023 elections, which he claimed created a false impression of the NNPP’s strength in Kano.

“The APC is already waiting in the wings to not only reclaim Kano State but also save the people from the undue influence of Kwankwaso, who rules from his Miller Road castle,” he added.

The statement was in reaction to Kwankwaso’s remarks during a recent meeting at his residence in Kano, where he claimed to have received former councillors and senior special advisers from the administration of Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.

Reflecting on the 2023 elections, Kwankwaso said, “Despite being a new political platform and starting our campaign late, we achieved this remarkable feat.”

He noted that the NNPP’s efforts sidelined the Peoples Democratic Party, which struggled to secure just 15,000 votes in Kano.

“Now, it’s our turn to diminish APC’s influence. We will work tirelessly to ensure their votes are reduced to less than 15,000 in Kano come 2027,” Kwankwaso declared.