A chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Buba Galadima, has said former Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kankwaso, was a victim of Sharia.
Galadima told Arise TV’s The Morning Show on Thursday, monitored by our correspondent, shortly after the United States Congress received a bill seeking to punish Kwankwaso and some groups as a result of the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
The report seeks to punish individuals in Nigeria who aided Sharia law in the country, which is believed to have motivated Islamic extremism, leading to the death of thousands.
Reacting, Galadima said, :I think that is most unfair to Kwankwaso and his integrity as a peaceful Nigerian. What we see is the intrigues of election 2027.”
According to him, Kwankwaso’s political ambition has put him under the radar of those seeking to eliminate him from the 2027 contest.
He said, “We know, we were told, there were rumours all over that Kwankwaso is going to be arrested if he refuses to defect to the APC, and that EFCC and ICPC will look for him. Surprisingly, the matter came offshore in the US. And we wonder, from where did they get that story?”
In response to claims that Kwankwaso established Sharia in Kano during his tenure as governor, Galadima recalled the intricacies that led to the Implementation in the state.
“Kwankwaso was victim of Sharia because he was governor in 2023, and Kwankwaso decided, as a principled politician, to go for General Olusegun Obasanjo as President when other northern governors found it expedient to tell their people to vote for them as governors and vote for Buhari as President. Kwankwaso stood his ground, despite the fact that Obasanjo is a Christian, that whoever wants to vote for him must also vote for Obasanjo. That cost him his re-election as governor of Kano State.
“Kwankwaso is one of the people who, despite the volatility of Kano politics, has protected all minority groups and minority tribes in Kano.”
He said Sharia was not promulgated by Kwankwaso but by the Kano House of Assembly under pressure.
“People should remember that Kwankwaso was reluctant and was about the last governor in Nigeria to implement Sharia law. Shekarau used that platform of Sharia, that he was coming to do Sharia and that Kwankwaso was not doing Sharia according to the dictates. That was how Shekarau became the governor of Kano State.
“How can anybody in their right senses accuse Kwankwaso, who is a loser in the Sharia debacle… Look, you accuse Kwankwaso. How about those who started it? They were not mentioned. This is politics being played by people who fear Kwankwaso running for President or Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, so they have to eliminate him technically by using newspaper houses,” he said.