Kwankwaso says he will forgive Gov. Yusuf if he returns to him.

Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former governor of Kano State and national leader of the Kwankwasiyya movement, has said he is ready to forgive Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and restore their relationship, despite their recent political rift. Kwankwaso told BBC Hausa that the possibility of reconciliation remains open and that he would welcome Yusuf back if the governor chose to return.

"I still love Abba and I didn’t reject him; he is the one that left. So not just Abba, if anyone who left comes back, I won’t be unforgiving. Look at Ganduje—over the many years we worked together, we fell out several times and got back together. That is how politics works," he said.

The tension between the two leaders began when Governor Yusuf left the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), under whose banner he won the 2023 governorship election, to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The move was met with strong criticism from members of the Kwankwasiyya movement.

Kwankwaso argued that Yusuf’s victory was largely due to the strength of the movement. "We picked Abba to contest under the NNPP and we won, but he left to join the people we defeated. Some say he did so because he feared losing his position, but he knows there was no way we would have been defeated in Kano. If that were the case, we would have lost when he contested under our party," he stated.

The former governor added that the movement had deliberately fielded Yusuf in 2023 to showcase its political influence. "We did not choose him because he was the most senior or the most educated. We chose him because we wanted to test the strength and calibre of the Kwankwasiyya movement at that time," he explained.

Emphasising the need for tolerance in leadership, Kwankwaso said leaders must accept differing opinions and practice forgiveness. "As a leader, you need to have an open heart. You cannot force people to think the way you do because we all come from different backgrounds and have different perspectives. Without forgiveness, we would not have come this far," he added.