Buba Galadima, a senior figure in the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), has asserted that former President Muhammadu Buhari played a decisive role in ensuring the 2023 gubernatorial victory of Abba Kabir Yusuf in Kano State was not overturned by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Speaking on Arise News, Galadima, who serves as the NNPP’s Secretary of the Board of Trustees, detailed a narrative that links the 2023 outcome to the disputed 2019 election and alleged personal conflicts within the state’s political landscape.
According to Galadima, the NNPP’s 2023 electoral success faced a familiar threat of being stolen, as he claimed occurred in 2019 when the party’s victory was allegedly given to the APC’s candidate, Umar Ganduje, who was then incumbent governor. He stated that President Buhari, who had previously been “the architect” of the 2019 result, this time intervened to protect Yusuf’s mandate. Galadima alleged that Ganduje had previously insulted Buhari, referencing a derogatory Hausa song “Abuna abu,” which he said described a notorious drunkard. This perceived disrespect, Galadima claimed, led Buhari to refuse further assistance to Ganduje’s efforts to nullify the 2023 result.
The NNPP chieftain traced the subsequent legal journey, noting that while the election tribunal initially ruled in the party’s favour, the judgment was allegedly nullified following the abduction of judges to Abuja. He said the Court of Appeal later ruled against the NNPP under intimidation, but at the Supreme Court, a majority of the panel refused to “cause a blood bath in Kano” and recognized Yusuf’s 2023 victory as rightful. Galadima framed this final court decision, coupled with Buhari’s alleged intervention, as divine justice correcting the 2019 outcome.
Galadima used the account to criticize Governor Yusuf for what he described as Yusuf’s shift from relying on divine intervention to seeking validation from President Bola Tinubu’s administration. He warned that such a move forsakes “the ability of God to do justice” and renders any future electoral victory “temporary.” The statement positions the 2023 Kano result as a pivotal, providential correction to past electoral manipulation, while also highlighting deep, personal rifts within the state’s former ruling coalition and questioning the current governor’s political alliances. The narrative underscores persistent skepticism among some political actors regarding the integrity of electoral and judicial processes in Nigeria.
