Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has insisted that Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf and former governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje remain his political protégés despite recent tensions within Kano politics.
Kwankwaso remarked on Wednesday while addressing members of the Kwankwasiyya movement at his Miller Road residence in Kano.
His comments appeared to be in response to recent remarks linked to Governor Yusuf, who reportedly questioned why a 69-year-old politician would refer to a 63-year-old man as “his boy”.
Speaking before a large gathering, Kwankwaso joked about the controversy, saying, “I was made to understand that a few don’t want to be referred to as my boy,” a statement that drew laughter from the audience.
He then spoke more directly in Hausa, insisting that both men rose politically under his guidance.
“If it is not out of disrespect, will Abba Kabir Yusuf say he is not my political son? If it is not out of disrespect, will Abdullahi Umar Ganduje say he is not my political son?” he said.
The audience responded with loud applause as Kwankwaso defended his role as a political mentor to the two prominent Kano politicians.
Ganduje had previously admitted to working side by side with Kwankwaso but clarified that theirs was not a political godfather-son relationship.
In an interview with the BBC, he said he was invited to serve as Kwankwaso’s deputy during their first tenure after losing in the primaries. He added that the decision to align during the second tenure was Kwankwaso’s own choice.