Published by Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
A fresh political standoff is unfolding within the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Kano State, as the party’s chairman, Usaini Isa Mai Riga, has firmly rejected any move to hand over the party’s state structure to former Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. Speaking exclusively to journalists on Monday, May 4, 2026, Mai Riga declared that the current leadership will not surrender the party machinery they built from obscurity, despite the high‑profile entry of the Kwankwasiyya movement leader into the NDC just 24 hours earlier.
The chairman’s defiance signals the first major internal crisis within the NDC following its sudden transformation into a major opposition platform. On Sunday, Kwankwaso and former presidential candidate Peter Obi were formally received into the party by its national leader, Senator Seriake Dickson. Yet, barely a day after collecting his membership card, Kwankwaso’s attempt to assert control over the Kano chapter has hit a brick wall. Mai Riga revealed in an interview with Daily Post that efforts to reach a common ground ahead of Kwankwaso’s entry had collapsed completely, despite two separate face‑to‑face meetings convened to discuss leadership arrangements. “He wants us to hand over the entire party to him, despite the sacrifices and time we invested in nurturing it when it had little or no attention,” Mai Riga said. He maintained that the former governor’s demand for total control is unacceptable and that the current leadership would resist it by every legitimate means. “This will not happen. We will pursue all lawful avenues to ensure that Kwankwaso does not take over the party structure from us,” he declared.
The chairman also disclosed a directive from the party’s national leadership to suspend the planned state congress in Kano, a decision he described as unjust and clearly orchestrated to pave the way for Kwankwaso’s takeover. “We were asked not to hold our congress because there are plans to hand over the party to Kwankwaso. That is why you see me here instead of at the congress venue,” Mai Riga said. He noted with bitterness that similar congresses were allowed to proceed in other states, further fueling suspicions of a coordinated scheme. “We will not allow the rights of party members to be undermined. We will do everything possible because we do not support injustice.” The statement marks Mai Riga’s first public reaction since Kwankwaso’s entry, coming just hours after the former governor arrived in Kano to consult with political allies on leadership and electoral strategy ahead of the 2027 elections.
The disagreement reveals the deep fault lines in the hastily forged opposition alliance. While the national leadership sees Kwankwaso as a heavyweight capable of delivering the North West, the state executives who built the NDC from scratch view his approach as a hostile takeover. Kwankwaso’s camp, known as the Kwankwasiyya movement, commands a massive grassroots following across Kano, but the current NDC leaders argue that political relevance does not grant him the right to sideline founding members. “He wants us to hand over the entire party to him, despite the sacrifices and time we invested in nurturing it when it had little or no attention,” Mai Riga repeated. The chairman also alleged that Kwankwaso has not even formally engaged with the state party leadership, a claim that, if confirmed, suggests a disconnect between the former governor and the local executives who will be critical to any electoral success. Efforts to reach Kwankwaso or his aides for comment were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.
The standoff in Kano is fraught with risk for the NDC. If Mai Riga and his team refuse to yield, the party could fracture, setting off a round of litigations that could cripple its preparation for the 2027 elections. The NDC had hoped to leverage Kwankwaso’s popularity to break the dominance of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the North West. However, if the chairman makes good on his threat to explore all lawful avenues to resist a takeover, the party could find itself fighting legal battles instead of campaigning.
This clash echoes a familiar pattern in Nigerian opposition politics. The ADC, which Kwankwaso and Obi recently abandoned, disintegrated under the weight of leadership disputes, court cases, and factional wars. Peter Obi, who was present during Kwankwaso’s formal reception into the NDC on Sunday, had pleaded with his new party leaders to avoid litigation. He urged NDC members to refrain from going to court, warning that legal battles had crippled previous opposition platforms. Yet, within 24 hours of his plea, the Kano chairman is already threatening to fight back with every lawful means, an ominous sign for a party that has not yet fully settled into its new skin.
Mai Riga’s insistence on internal democracy has drawn praise from some political observers who argue that swallowing a strong grassroots structure like the Kwankwasiyya movement should be a merger of equals, not a total surrender. But his resistance raises a critical question: how can the NDC present a united front against the APC if its own state chapters cannot agree on who controls the party machinery? As the political realignments of 2027 gather pace, all eyes will be on Kano, where the battle for the soul of the NDC is only just beginning. The coming days will determine whether this standoff is resolved through dialogue or escalates into a bruising legal war that could unravel the opposition coalition before it even takes off.
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