By Ekuson Nw’Ogbunka
Abuja
Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has revealed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu personally reached out to him on multiple occasions urging him to return to the All Progressives Congress (APC), long before what he described as the “OK Mandate” became a political possibility.
In a statement issued in May 2025, the former Kano governor said Tinubu contacted him directly and through intermediaries, assuring him that any conditions for his return would be met without hesitation.
According to Kwankwaso, the president told him, “All terms will be fulfilled; all conditions will be like pupils in your hands.” The overtures, he said, were aimed at luring him back to a party he helped build but left over what he called its departure from principle and justice.
Kwankwaso said he rejected the offer outright, telling Tinubu he would rather quit politics entirely than rejoin the APC. He described the party as one that has inflicted immense hardship on Nigerians since leaving power in 2015.
The NNPP national leader said his refusal was rooted in conviction, patriotism, and concern for citizens struggling under current economic and security challenges. He argued that both the Buhari and Tinubu administrations have failed to address insecurity, hunger, youth unemployment, and corruption.
He stressed that politics should be about service and integrity, not positions or power-sharing. “I cannot in good conscience return to a party whose ideology is now based on personal interest, betrayal of the masses, and governance by propaganda,” Kwankwaso stated.
The former senator declared that the APC had lost its moral ground and historical relevance to rescue Nigeria from its current woes. He said his political journey has always focused on building a better future for young people and the downtrodden.
Kwankwaso said he is now working with like-minded patriots across the country to form a broad-based movement to challenge the status quo in 2027. The movement, he explained, will seek to uproot the politics of deception and replace it with one of hope, vision, and action.
He said the coalition would galvanize Nigerians across ethnic, religious, and regional lines to end the Tinubu government peacefully through the ballot box. “Nigerians are watching. The suffering is real. The hunger is real. The insecurity is real. And in 2027, they will speak loud and clear,” he warned.
Concluding, Kwankwaso said his loyalty remains to Nigeria, not to political parties that have failed her. He said the goal of the emerging movement is not only to defeat the APC in 2027 but to rebuild the country from what he called years of failed leadership.
