Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the former governor of Kano State and National Leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), said he was in Ibadan to open the party’s new state office. There was suspicion over his visit to Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State today.
Kwankwaso said that the inauguration is part of the NNPP’s attempts to make its structure stronger and bring people together in Oyo State before the 2027 general elections, according to The Nation.
Around 1:15 p.m., he got to the Oyo State Government Secretariat in Agodi, Ibadan, with political friends and party leaders. Governor Makinde met him there. The governor then took him to a meeting behind closed doors that lasted almost three hours.
There were no details about the meeting, but insiders said that it might have included talks on political alliances before 2027.
Dr. Ajid Ahmed, the National Chairman of the NNPP, and Najipo Johnson, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, went with Kwankwaso.
After the meeting, he told reporters again that his main goal was to open the NNPP state office and strengthen party unity in Oyo.
He also said that his relationship with Governor Makinde stretched beyond party lines.
He said, “I’m in Ibadan with the national chairman of our party, NNPP, Dr. Ajid Ahmed, and other party officials to open our office here and talk about important issues that affect our party in Oyo State.”
“But before going to the party office, I thought it would be nice to stop by the governor’s office first. He has always been a friend of ours. This visit is more about being friends than politics.
Kwankwaso said that Makinde was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and that he had strong ties to the party before he left.
“We actually started the PDP in 1998. I was elected Governor of Kano State in 1999 as a member of the PDP. Later, I became Minister of Defense.
“I also went back to Kano under the PDP and worked in a number of national and international roles, such as being an envoy in Darfur and Somalia,” he remembered.
The NNPP leader went on to say that he later joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) before joining the NNPP, where he is currently the national leader.
After the office opening and party meetings, Kwankwaso said he and his staff would go back to Abuja.
Political analysts think the visit was part of a larger set of talks and changes that would happen before the 2027 general elections, but both presidents said it was more personal.
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