…Coming election will be an open confrontation of the Establishment Versus The People, we will combat Insecurity in Nigeria
* ‘Nigerian Masses Hate Most of their Governors, Insecurity in the country started in the Northeast like a joke’
* ‘I Flushed Bandits out of Kano State during My Second Term in office as Governor’
* ‘The masses are coming out in 2027 to vote for a change, long overdue’
*“Our responsibility as politicians at this level is to provide alternatives where a new Nigeria is possible. If you do not have opposition, then the masses, the people, have no option. We will guard against election rigging”–KWANKWASO
HE IS THE MAN in the red cap. In a country where political identity is contested, shown as a class or status symbol, Senator Mohammed Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE, FNIQS, has built a movement that is both personal and populist, rooted in one city yet felt across the nation
Born on October 21, 1956, in Kwankwaso, in what is today, Kano State, He comes from a family of deep traditional standing: his father was the village head of Kwankwaso and was later elevated to District Head of Madobi with the title of Majidadin Kano, Hakimin Madobi, by the Kano Emirate Council under the 13th Fulani Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero. His paternal grandfather was Sarkin Fulani Kwankwaso, a lineage that traces back to the daughters and grandchildren of the Sarkis of Kano.
His education was thoroughly Nigerian before it became international. He attended Kwankwaso Primary School, Gwarzo Boarding Senior Primary School, Wudil Craft School, and Kano Technical College before proceeding to Kaduna Polytechnic, where he earned both his National Diploma and Higher National Diploma. He later pursued postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom from 1982 to 1983 at the Middlesex Polytechnic, and subsequently at Loughborough University of Technology, where he received a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering in 1985. In 2022, he was awarded a PhD in Civil Engineering from Sharda University, India. His professional engineering credentials are impeccable: he is a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE) and Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (FNIQS).
His public service career began in 1975 when he joined the Kano State Water Resources and Engineering Construction Agency, rising through the ranks over seventeen years to become Principal Water Engineer before leaving civil service in 1991. His entry into national politics came in 1992 on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), as a member of the People’s Front faction led by General Shehu Musa Yar’adua, where he found himself in company with figures who would define Nigerian politics for decades: Babagana Kingibe, Atiku Abubakar, Bola Tinubu, and others. That same year, he was elected to the House of Representatives representing Madobi Federal Constituency, and his subsequent election as Deputy Speaker of the House in December 1992 brought him to the full limelight of national politics.
What followed was a political journey of extraordinary range and tenacity. He served two terms as Governor of Kano State, from 1999 to 2003 and from 2011 to 2015, and in between served as Minister of Defence under President Olusegun Obasanjo from 2003 to 2007, the first person to hold that office without prior military background in the Fourth Republic. He represented Kano Central Senatorial District in the Senate from 2015 to 2019. He contested the All Peoples Congress, APC presidential primaries in 2015, coming second to Muhammadu Buhari. He contested the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP presidential primaries in 2018, coming fourth to Atiku Abubakar. In 2023, running under the banner of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, he received nearly 1.5 million presidential votes.
His governorship record remains one of the most cited in Northern Nigeria. In his second term alone, he established the North West University, built 230 secondary schools including 47 technical colleges, introduced free education and the first free school feeding programme for primary school pupils in Nigeria, awarded over 2,600 foreign postgraduate and undergraduate scholarships in 14 countries, constructed three flyover bridges, and built thousands of housing units. The Kwankwasiyya movement, built around the iconic red cap, became a civic and political force that transcended party platforms.
In March 2026, Kwankwaso resigned from the NNPP to facilitate a strategic political realignment, passed briefly through the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and in May 2026 formally joined the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, a newly registered party that has emerged as the platform of the OK Movement: the powerful opposition alliance between his Kwankwasiyya base and former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi’s supporters. He serves as the NDC’s Vice-Presidential candidate on the Peter Obi presidential ticket for the 2027 general elections.
In this international media chat with the Editorial Board of Naija Standard Newspaper Inc USA at his residence, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso speaks with the measured authority of a man who has governed, legislated, commanded, and campaigned across every level of Nigerian public life, on insecurity, the 2027 election, the masses, agriculture, education, and his message to Nigerians in the diaspora as REPORTED BY FAVOUR BOLUWATIFE PHILIP/SOUTH WEST CORRESPONDENT, NIGERIA/Naija Standard Newspaper Inc USA
*NAIJA STANDARD: What are your fears about the 2027 election? Do you think the election will make or break Nigeria?
*SENATOR KWANKWASO: I would not go that far, but I will say that the election will be between the oppressors and, of course, the oppressed. Those who have seen nothing good about helping the masses, and those who believe that the country can only move if the poor are carried along, and of course the masses themselves. So, there is a synergy between the leaders in this group and the good people of the country.
And I am so happy that today the governors, let me put it this way, even National Assembly members, most of them, both former and of course the present members of the National Assembly, and all the big names that have contributed negatively to the growth of this country are coming together on one hand. And the masses, the people who have been denied what is available and what they should be given, including their security and economy and so on, are on the other side.
So, if you like, the election is not only between the NDC and others, but on the side of NDC you have the voters. And I can tell you, to us it is not anything new. If you look at our elections in Kano, from the recent elections, let us say 2011 to date, you find that at the end of the day, everybody who has big names, people who are ambassadors, who are ministers, who are National Assembly members and so on, at our stage and up to now, they are all packing themselves in one place. And those of us and the voters on one side, and the other side has always been losing. And that is the picture I foresee coming in 2027.
Do not mind the big names, do not mind the governors, thirty-something governors. I do not think they can. Most of them are hated by the masses, by the people. At least from the centre to the governors, even to the chairman of the local government, they are not in a position today to protect themselves. And sometimes I look back and start wondering, why is all this happening in this country? And people are watching helplessly.
The issue of insecurity started like a joke in the Northeast. People were very worried; we were all concerned. From the Northeast, I remember 2011 or 2012, when I was governor a second time in Kano, they did everything possible under the sun to make Kano their base. Of course, we successfully kicked them out. And put in some arrangements on the ground, ranging from the synergy between the military and other security agencies, and even with the people of the state, to all necessary equipment that is necessary to protect the state.
I can tell you, even when the insecurity now is on our doorstep, by the grace of God, Kano is still an island today. And we are so happy that Nigerians have this level of elasticity. The love for the country and peace that they have, I think, is mainly what is keeping us together today.
So, from the Northeast, like a joke, banditry came to the Northwest, almost went around most of the states in the Northwest, came to the North Central, now it is going down to the South. We hear similar stories in Oyo State, in Kwara State, and other states in the South. And this is very dangerous. And anybody who is taking that lightly, I think it is either he is out of his senses, or he does not understand the gravity of the problem. The issue is just like a desert now. People look away and say, oh, it is in the North. And it is going deep into the South. The kind of trees and forests we used to know when we were younger are not what we have in the South today.
So, at this point, I want to appeal to the government to do whatever they can to stop this insecurity, because insecurity affects almost everything. Our farmers in the North, and if care is not taken, in the near future even the South, are not able to go to their farms. We have seen traders, businessmen and women, who today cannot go to the next village to sell or buy items. Many children now are not going to school, maybe because of the bandits in that area, or maybe because people who have been chased out of their villages have taken over the schools in the towns and cities. I think we are dealing with a serious issue. It is not a joke. It is not a story. It is real. And people have to come out, especially the government, support the military, support the security agencies, keep your eyes on them to make sure that they are doing the right thing. I believe that our military and security agents are capable, with political will.
*NAIJA STANDARD: In the 2027 election, is it going to be the people representing the opposition versus the APC government of the Tinubu administration?
*SENATOR KWANKWASO: That is exactly what the situation will be like. You see, President Bola Tinubu, that I used to know, I am sure he remembers. He was a senator when I was Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1992. We had reasons to work together. In fact, we started with the People’s Front together. Together we formed the SDP, and together we worked for General Shehu Musa Yar’adua, together we worked for Moshood Kashimawo Olawale, M.K.O. Abiola and the SDP. And of course, he was governor of Lagos, I was governor of Kano. We worked together to form the APC, which they are now heading. But along the line, we realized that many things have gone wrong, to the extent that we believe that staying there would not help anybody in the country.
And it is very unfortunate that despite all the resources that we have in this country, as we sit now, many people are in bushes and forests and so on. Some are being killed, maimed, and so on. Just recently, one of our fine officers, General Rabe Abubakar, was picked with his wife and was killed. And I just went to Katsina to condole the family. And many other military officers were either kidnapped and released later after, of course, huge suffering, and those who have lost their lives. I am not even talking of the civilians in the villages and towns that bandits are picking daily. And many of these bandits are men and women that are known in their villages and towns. These are people with no formal military training. They have not even been to any school. They just get an AK-47 and other guns, go to the village, and terrorize people.
So, as usual, I want to appeal to my senior brother and my good friend to wake up. He is the President, Commander-in-Chief.
*NAIJA STANDARD: You were very close to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua. If he were alive today, what do you think would have been his regrets about the direction the present government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu is going?
*SENATOR KWANKWASO: You see, there are two Yar’aduas. The one I was referring to earlier was General Shehu Musa Yar’adua, of blessed memory. And I think you are now referring to former President Umaru Musa Yar’adua. Well, he was a fine gentleman who had been with us over the years. We were governors together in 1999. In fact, we were even in the People’s Front and the SDP together. So, he is somebody I also knew very well, and he meant well for the country.
Unfortunately, when he became President, he was not well. He was sick, as everybody knew. And he could not do much. He was more concentrated on his health, which is understandable. And I think if he had had the opportunity of being well and had been confronted with the issue of leadership in this country, I believe he would have done his best. Nigeria would have been a better place. But God knows best. Within no time, he died. And his death really created so many problems, even political confusion of who should lead, North and South, and so on, which Nigeria is still suffering from.
We are not yet fortunate enough to zero everything and move forward. And that was why, really, after the 2023 election, I, together with my members of our group, decided that we should sort out that issue by allowing the South to have one more term. And under the leadership of Peter Obi. This government, we can always say they have done their best, but everybody knows that their best is not good enough, because there is no peace in the country. There is no good economy. And life is tough for most of our people across the country.
*NAIJA STANDARD: If after the 2027 election the opposition figures, including yourself, realise that the election has been rigged, what would be the strategy to contend with that?
*SENATOR KWANKWASO: I think we should be positive first that there will be a free and fair election. Two, of course many people want to attempt to rig the election, and that is why you see the two sides, federal government and state government, everybody is happy together because the governors did close to nothing and they are not popular in their states, to the extent that they are looking for a savior and they found it in the federal government, and vice versa. Even the federal government, you go and ask what you have done, what are the achievements, and it is very difficult to show. So, they are relying on governors who they think are very close to the people.
Now, you see, people have no long memory. People find it difficult to remember even what happened yesterday. I was governor in 1999, and I lost the election in 2003. I had the federal government against me, I had the state government against me. Of course, there were 44 local government chairmen against me. But when the window of change came, especially in Northern Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari just came out. And everybody thought that Buhari was the best thing that would happen to Nigeria. And everybody in Kano, in Northern Nigeria, even in the South, came out to support him.
Along the line, of course, I was on the side of General Olusegun Obasanjo, who was the president then. Politics was so murky, so bad, to the extent that people turned it into a matter of religion, ethnicity, and region. So, the election was between the Church and Mosque. We were the Church. Shekarau then was the Mosque. Of course, if you try that in Anambra State, an election between Church and Mosque, you know which one would win. So, along that line, along that confusion, I lost the election, not because I did not perform, and not because the other candidate was popular. So, these are some of the things that are likely to repeat themselves in 2027.
The people, because of the circumstances that we are in now, which are completely different from anything we have seen in the past, will come out not because they want Peter Obi or Kwankwaso specifically, but because they love themselves, they love the country, they love their families, they want to bring change. And that is why democracy is good. Democracy, unlike military and other forms of government where people impose themselves, gives us the power to deal with our friends. We are not going to deal with the military, like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Balewa, Sardauna, and others had to, with people they did not know. These are our friends. We know them. We know their villages and towns.
It is just like 2015, when we realized that we needed change. We came and worked out how to get change, and by the grace of God, we were able to change the government at that time. Somebody losing an election as a governor, I am one of the first to know that experience, in 2003. Even at the centre, ordinarily people would think it is too difficult, it is not even possible, for a president to lose the election. And yet it happened in 2015 in this country. And many people would think they are wiser, they are more powerful, they can do this. No. We are the actors; we are the people. And I can tell you, from what we have seen and heard across the country, the country is ripe for change.
And our job, our responsibility as politicians at this level, is to provide alternatives. If you do not have NDC, if you have only APC, then the masses, the people, have no option. It is either you come and vote for the same people or you stay at home. What we are saying is: give them an alternative. Look at us, look at our projects and programmes, look at our credibility, look at our capacity, look at our antecedents and make up your mind. If everybody in Nigeria says they want the system as it is today to continue, so be it. We are democrats. But at least we will go home and sleep knowing that we have done our responsibility, and that responsibility is to offer this alternative.
*NAIJA STANDARD: If your party wins the 2027 election, what should Nigerians expect in the first 100 days of your leadership?
*SENATOR KWANKWASO: We will go and tackle the major issues from day one. In fact, before even day one, we will do all the preparations, all the contacts, all the logistics, at least on paper, so that we do not waste any time. Day one, we look at the issue of insecurity in the country. We have to save lives. Now, if we are sitting here in the environment of Abuja and forget what is happening in our towns and villages and forget the number of people that are in the forests now, living with snakes, scorpions, and all other reptiles, then we have a problem. The idea of being president or vice president or minister or anybody in government is just not to go and get money or to eat well or to sleep in the biggest hotels. No, you are there for service. And that is why when we say NDC, we say service. Service to people, service to humanity, service to Nigeria.
Now, the issue of insecurity is number one on our agenda. We have to have peace. It is only when you have peace that you start talking of farmers, because you cannot go to the farms with insecurity. Our farmers, in addition to security, also need many other things, including sound government policy. This administration made a huge mistake. When Buhari came, he decided to seal our borders. So many people were killed because of one or two bags of rice, thinking it was being smuggled from our neighbouring countries. Many of them were killed by customs officers and other security officers. Now, there is a big disadvantage at the time. But every disadvantage has its advantages. Results began to come out that everybody in the country was moving directly to the farm. From the air, you could see almost every square metre in the country being cultivated.
Results had started coming in. We were feeding the people. Of course, the prices at that time were high. Why? Because the inputs that government would have subsidized were not subsidized. But when the cries came, rather than helping the farmers with fertilizer, herbicides, tractors, and other farm inputs, the government decided to do the easiest thing and import food. Then food was coming from everywhere, and coincidentally from countries where agriculture itself was being subsidized. So, their food was cheaper than ours. Prices crashed. Now I can tell you, all those who went to farm last year sold their products at half price. In fact, the prices crashed. Fertilizer was once equivalent to one bag of maize. Now one bag of fertilizer will buy you three bags of maize. You cannot farm like that. Everybody has lost.
So, you have to look at the farmers, not only to protect them from the bandits and criminals, but to support them. Statistically, we have about 70% of our citizens in the agricultural industry. 70 is a huge number. And then you look at education. That is where I come in. I believe, just like Peter Obi, we believe in education. Because without education, I would not know where I would have been today.
You go around, especially in Northern Nigeria, and you get 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10-year-olds begging. From poor families. They are not eating throughout the day. They do not even know where to go and get food or when. They do not have any place to sleep. Rainy season, you find them like lizards around people’s houses. These are human beings. These are Nigerians. With good care from government, these children would have been very important people in the country, contributing to our economy as engineers, as doctors, as historians, as everything. Unfortunately, government is just looking away. What do you hear? Trillions, billions, millions being spent on almost nothing. In fact, many of them are going into some people’s pockets.
You begin to wonder, you have taken that much, what are you going to do with it? No matter the number of houses you have, you can only sleep in one room. Even if you have 10 beds in the room, you use only one. So, all these things people are not taking into consideration. And the biggest mistake politicians are making is competing with businessmen in terms of money. Competing with traditional rulers. Competing with the clergy. And you see that is why in Kwankwasiyya we believe that everybody should stay where he is. If I am a governor, a politician, a governor, I stay there. I would not go looking for a traditional title. I would not take one. Even though I am from a royal family myself, my parents, my grandparents. I would not go and pretend I am an imam, a cleric. No. The time they take to revise and recite the Quran, for example. I cannot compete with them. Their parents, their grandparents, were so knowledgeable in that area and they inherited it. So be it. They stay there.
The problem we have is when a governor or a president starts competing with Aliko Dangote and others, wanting everything to come to them. You do not need the money. You do not need anything. You see, if you go to any occasion, you go to the high table not because of your bank account. You go there because of what you represent. Maybe you are a governor, a minister, a very senior person in the party. A businessman will go there based on the fact that he is a multi-billionaire. But when people start competing, meaning you are a governor, a president, and you want to keep everything for yourself to be rich, big problem. And while all that is happening to somebody, he is looking for 10,000 naira for medication. He does not have anything to eat. So, these things only help in creating what we are seeing now. Jobless people, people who can easily be recruited to be Boko Haram, to be bandits, because they have nothing to do. They cannot go to school. So, nobody is justified in being in those things, but we have to look at the other side of the coin as well.
*NAIJA STANDARD: Many Nigerians in the diaspora are afraid to come home. They are scared of what they are reading about in this current administration. What is your message to them, as a leader of the opposition and a voice of the masses?
*SENATOR KWANKWASO: You see, if you have a problem, running away from it cannot solve the problem. You have to come. And that is why I am in politics. I was a civil servant in Kano. I started very early. Immediately after my technical school, I joined the civil service of Kano in 1975. And I was there all through until 1991, when I left. And my mind was not in the civil service. My mind was not even in the traditional institution where I come from. My mind was on politics.
So, when I was leaving the civil service, our friends, our leaders at that time, did not tell me not to go into that gamble. Stay here, you will be the managing director, you are a young man, you are an engineer, you are this, you are that. I said no, because you should not stay either here in the country or outside the country, abusing those who are in government or blaming them, while you are there and you have a stake to come and contribute. So, it does not serve you.
And you see, many people now believe that the quality of our politicians today is not the best. And I agree with them. Then why should you stay in America, or stay in Britain, or stay somewhere, and blame those who are here? Because there must be governors, there must be presidents, there must be this, there must be that. Now if you are good and you are not coming, and the bad one is going and staying and holding on, then why are you blaming him? So, my belief is that everybody, in this country and even beyond, should come and contribute. You do not have to go to be like me, going to rallies, contesting elections. You can come, ranging from voting, influencing people to vote, participating to be a councilor, to be a chairman, to be whatever. You see, the system is such that a lot of things have been taken care of. The salary of a councilor was designed in such a way that a professor should come and be comfortable with it. Now if a professor refuses to come, and somebody who just has the minimum requirement of secondary education becomes the councilor in your ward, why are you blaming him?
State assemblies are very important institutions. We want people from all over the world to come and be in the state assembly so they can checkmate the governors. It is not right to stay away and then accuse those who came. So, people should come and contribute. And good people have so much to contribute to in this country.
I can tell you, I lived in the United Kingdom, UK for about 10 years, from 1981, most of the time, to 1991. I know how difficult it is to live in Europe and America and other developed countries, which people appreciate now. Very difficult, even the weather itself is enough to remind you of your village. Here you go out in a shirt and enjoy the weather. Most of the time in the year, it is just like that. Even the food we eat in our villages and towns, you go there and you do not find it. And these are things that are very essential to everyday life.
And we saw our friends who had been there for a couple of decades, then they came back. You ask them, where is your house? They do not have one, because in those developed countries, big salary. But on the other hand, taxes, expensive things are taken away. You spend a couple of decades there, you come back, and you are looking for a place to live in Nigeria. So, I support people going out to get knowledge like I did, to get experience, to work in some places. But at the end of the day, my advice is people should come back home. There is no place without any challenge.
And I can tell you, despite all these issues that we are enumerating, that we are trying to sort out, there are still opportunities in Nigeria. Legal things that we can do legally, earn a living, have a good life, and contribute to the economy. So, my message to my brothers and sisters who are in the diaspora, especially those in the United States, is to please come back. And with some policies we see now that are not very friendly to foreigners, including Nigerians, I think they should all come. Not only come, if they can, join politics. Join in supporting, voting, giving resources to your councilor, to those who you think will represent your interest. Everybody knows the interest now. The interest is there under the NDC. So, an invitation to all of you.
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