2023 Governorship Election: Why APC Lost Kano to Kwankwaso's NNPP, Former Youth Leader Aspirant Reveals

• The defeat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano state in the 2023 governorship elections is a major loss for the ruling party
• Ahmad Abba Dangata, a former APC youth leader aspirant, said his party lost the election due to an internal crisis
• The young APC chieftain gave some suggestions on what the ruling party needs to do to reclaim the state from the NNPP

Kano - One of the major upsets witnessed in the 2023 governorship elections was the defeat of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano state.

The governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Abba Kabir Yusuf, defeated the APC's flagbearer, Nasir Yusuf Gawuna.

Yusuf polled 1,019,602 votes while Gawuna came second with 890,705 votes.

Given the voting strength of Kano state, the APC's loss to the NNPP is considered huge as it may continue to jeopardise the chances of the ruling party in the state in subsequent elections.

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Kano 2023 governorship election: Why APC lost to NNPP - Dangata

Chatting with Legit.ng, Ahmad Abba Dangata, a former APC youth leader aspirant, said his party lost the election due to an internal crisis.

Dangata said an unresolved internal crisis made some of the APC chieftains, including Kawu Sumaila, Kabiru Alasan, and Shaaban Sharada, defect to other parties before the election.

He said the ruling party's loss cannot be blamed on the candidate.

"In Kano state, APC lost the election, not because of the incompetence or incapacity of its candidate Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna," he said.

How APC can reclaim Kano, Dangata advises

Speaking further, Dangata said the only way the APC can reclaim the state from the NNPP is for its leadership to recognise all the stakeholders in the state, not just some selected few.

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He added that the Kano state government, currently headed by APC's Abdullahi Ganduje, also has to listen to, and address, the daily complaints of the masses, especially the youth, civil servants and retired workers.

Dangata also noted that the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, can reach out to Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the NNPP leader, and form some kind of alliance with the party.

Observers fault INEC's declaration of Yusuf as governor-elect in Kano

In another report, Civil society domestic election observers in Kano have faulted the declaration of NNPP's Yusuf as the winner of the March 18 governorship election in the state.

The observers asked the electoral umpire to review the declaration and conduct supplementary elections in the affected areas of over 270 000 cancelled votes in line with relevant electoral laws for the peace and progress of the state in particular and Nigeria at large.

They made their observation public during a press conference on Thursday, March 22, in Kano.

Source: Legit.ng