Kwankwaso deceived me, never honoured our agreement – Shekarau

A former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, has described his predecessor and the 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, as a deceiver who should not be trusted.

He launched the attack on Mr Kwankwaso on Thursday, days after his controversial return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the NNPP.

Speaking in an interview with Channels Television on Thursday, Mr Shekarau ruled out the speculation of personal interest as the reason for his latest defection.

Mr Shekarau, a serving senator, had spent his last three months echoing the new Nigeria’s mantra of Mr Kwankwaso’s after his defection from ruling the All Progressives Congress (APC) in May.

The ex-governor has alluded his exit from both the APC and the NNPP to the exclusion and non-accommodation of his supporters in the scheme of things.

He used the medium to call out his former ally, Mr Kwankwaso, whom he said did not only betray him but also manipulated him for his political gains.

“I think that (betrayal) is the least you can call it. It’s outright disregard, outright manipulation.

“I’ve told you earlier, that our guiding principle – that of myself and my political associates – is the protection of our image, the protection of our names, protection of our integrity. And you cannot have any integrity protected if there is not going to be sincerity if there is not going to be trust and truth.

“The question we asked him was if you knew that we came in late – we came in on the 18th of May – and you were saying that when we came him we came late, you claimed that we came late, but you still agreed that a committee be set up. The idea of the committee even came from him. If you’re not being deceitful, why did you allow us to set up a committee? And the committee worked for three months and yet, in the end, you’re telling us nothing was done because we came in late. Everybody knows that by the 18th of May NNPP had not filed even a single name to INEC,” he explained.

Apart from the senatorial slot given to him on the NNPP platform, the ex-governor said Mr Kwankwaso never honoured any of their gentlemen’s agreements.

Mr Shekarau, who represents Kano Central in the Senate, said he joined the PDP because the party is not a one-man show unlike his former party, NNPP.

He also noted that there was no condition attached to his membership in the main opposition and promised to contribute his quota to its success come 2023.