Former Chairman, Kano Municipal Council, Faizu Alfindiki, has dismissed former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, as a “fading electoral force,” arguing that historical voting records in Kano do not support claims that the NDC leader can decisively deliver votes in presidential elections.
Alfindiki, who made the remark on Tuesday in Kano while addressing APC social media influencers, said recent political discussions surrounding a possible alliance between Kwankwaso and Peter Obi should not create panic within the ruling All Progressives Congress, insisting that Kano’s electoral history tells a different story.
According to him, former President Muhammadu Buhari consistently dominated Kano elections based on personal popularity rather than political structures controlled by Kwankwaso.
“In 2003, Buhari secured about 1.6 million votes in Kano, yet Kwankwaso, who was governor under the PDP, could not deliver the state to Obasanjo,” Alfindiki stated.
“The same thing happened in 2007 when Buhari again recorded massive votes while the PDP controlled the government.”
He further recalled that in 2011, Buhari polled around 1.6 million votes in Kano despite the presence of then Governor Ibrahim Shekarau on the ballot, arguing that Kwankwaso still failed to deliver Kano to former President Goodluck Jonathan.
“Even Kwankwaso himself benefited from Buhari’s political momentum in 2011 to reclaim the governorship,” he said. “Without Buhari’s northern base, the story of that election could have been different.”
Alfindiki also pointed to the 2019 elections, where Buhari reportedly secured over 1.4 million votes in Kano while Kwankwaso-backed PDP candidates lost all three senatorial seats to the APC and failed to win any House of Representatives seat in the state.
He added that Kwankwaso’s own performance in the 2023 presidential election further weakened claims about his electoral dominance in Kano. “As a presidential candidate, he scored below one million votes in his own state. That clearly shows the limits of his political reach,” he said.
The APC chieftain accused Kwankwaso of exaggerating his past influence after the former governor claimed on national television that he delivered 1.9 million votes to Buhari in 2015. “Nobody denies Kwankwaso’s relevance in Kano politics, but history does not support the idea that he controls presidential voting patterns in the state,” Alfindiki added.
He stressed that the APC remains confident ahead of the 2027 elections, maintaining that the party’s structure in Kano and across the North remains stronger than what he described as “media-created political alliances and exaggerated personal influence.”
