Chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Buba Galadima

A prominent chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Buba Galadima, has dismissed any possibility of a political alliance between his party’s leader, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and President Bola Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress.

Speaking in an interview with channels television on Monday, Galadima pointed to the ongoing Kano Emirate crisis as proof that there could be no friendship between Kwankwaso and the ruling party.

“How can Kwankwaso be a friend of the APC with what they are doing to us in Kano?” Galadima asked. He condemned what he described as a situation where the Federal Government had effectively appointed two emirs in one city, using the police to prop up one, while insecurity continues to worsen across the state.

According to him, more than 40 police vehicles are currently stationed to guard Emir Ado Bayero, while ordinary residents in Kano are left at the mercy of armed criminals. He accused the security agencies of being tied down to political battles instead of protecting citizens.

Galadima was emphatic that the NNPP would not play second fiddle in the 2027 elections. Rather, he insisted the party would emerge as the kingmaker that would determine Nigeria’s next president.

“We are the people who will determine who will be the President of Nigeria in 2027,” he declared confidently.

Dismissing rumours that Kwankwaso had been in talks with Tinubu, Galadima described the former Kano governor as an immovable political force. In his words, Kwankwaso is the “strongest political Iroko” in the country, having defeated the APC in Kano despite the ruling party’s federal might.

Galadima also revisited the origins of the Kano Emirate tussle, accusing Tinubu of playing what he called “double politics.” He alleged that the President had previously supported the emergence of Muhammadu Sanusi II as emir, only for the Federal Government to now work against his reinstatement by the NNPP-led Kano State government.

The NNPP stalwart further alleged that Abuja was deliberately using the police and the courts to destabilise Kano in the build-up to 2027, warning that the strategy was aimed at weakening Kwankwaso’s Kwankwasiyya Movement, which continues to enjoy massive grassroots support across the North.

Galadima’s remarks underline the NNPP’s determination to assert itself as a major power broker in Nigeria’s political space. With Kwankwaso’s influence in Kano and beyond, the party is positioning itself not as a junior partner to Tinubu’s APC or Atiku’s PDP, but as a force that could decide the balance of power in the next general election.