KANO – Pressure is beginning to mount on Kano State Deputy Governor, Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo, to resign over his refusal to join his boss, Governor Abba Yusuf, in defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Kano State Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Ibrahim Waiya, had advised the deputy governor to resign, adding that his continued participation in executive affairs without political alignment undermines trust and confidentiality in governance.
But the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has rejected the call for the deputy governor’s resignation, saying that the State Executive Council is a constitutional body that should not be dragged into partisan disputes.
Concern about the fate of the deputy governor had emerged shortly after Governor Yusuf’s defection on Monday. Governor Yusuf and Gwarzo were elected on the NNPP platform.
However, the deputy governor is a staunch loyalist of the former governor of Kano State, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who also heads the Kwankwasiyya Movement, of which Governor Yusuf was a prominent member before switching to the ruling APC.
The immediate-past deputy governor of Niger State, Ahmed Mohammed Ketso, had told LEADERSHIP that Gwarzo would have to navigate a precarious political terrain that could culminate in his impeachment.
Ketso, in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP, said while the governor and his deputy might try to be mature about their relationship, other political actors would come between them, leading to his likely impeachment by the State’s House of Assembly.
The governor moved to the ruling party alongside 22 state lawmakers, eight federal legislators, 44 local government chairmen and 484 councillors.
Earlier, the State House of Assembly had 24 NNPP members and 14 APC members, excluding the two NNPP lawmakers who died recently.
Of the 24 NNPP members, 22 defected along with the governor to the APC, raising the APC’s numbers in the State Assembly to 36, with two vacant seats and two NNPP members. The State Assembly is expected to resume on Monday.
