Senator Rufai Sani Hanga, who represents Kano Central in the Senate, has explained why his relationship with former Kano State Governor and Kwankwasiyya leader, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, broke down.
Hanga said their disagreement grew after he began carrying out empowerment programmes for people in his constituency and became more active politically.
Speaking in an interview with Dan’uwa Rano TV, the senator said Kwankwaso became unhappy after he organised a large empowerment programme where he distributed vehicles, rice, fertiliser, grinding machines and other items.
According to Hanga, he held the event at a venue linked to Kwankwaso after the former governor had agreed to attend.
He said the venue was filled with cars, bags of rice, fertiliser, livestock and other items. Moving everything to the venue, he said, took about one and a half days.
Hanga recalled that Kwankwaso looked unhappy when he arrived at the event.
The former governor then asked those at the venue to take a break for prayers and left. Hanga said Kwankwaso did not return afterwards.
The empowerment programme continued in the presence of several political leaders, including former Kano Deputy Governor Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo, Wada Sagagi, Batayya, Nasiru Gawuna and some National Assembly members.
Hanga said Kwankwaso later confronted him over the programme, accusing him of organising it because people were praising his performance as a senator.
“He said, ‘You came distributing things because people are praising you, saying Kano Central has never had a senator like you. You could not even bring the items to us to distribute. You gave me 50 bags of rice, 50 bags of fertiliser and three cows. Am I hungry, or do I not have them? That is why I refused to come back after prayers,’” Hanga quoted Kwankwaso as saying.
The senator said he apologised and promised to address the misunderstanding between them.
However, he said Kwankwaso had earlier sent people to him to request that certain individuals should benefit from his empowerment programmes.
Hanga alleged that Kwankwaso also sent Sunusi Surajo Kwankwaso to ask him to provide a vehicle for someone from Shanono, which is outside his senatorial district.
He said he eventually bought the vehicle after being told that the person’s car had been damaged in an accident during one of Kwankwaso’s political campaigns.
“I told him that whoever he wanted us to assist, we were ready to do so,” Hanga said.
The senator said the incident made him feel that the respect between them was no longer the same.
“That was when I realised disrespect had set in. He has treated others this way, but he had never done it to me until that moment. I told myself that since he started acting this way towards me, it was a mark of disrespect and things would not end well between us,” he said.
Hanga further claimed that Kwankwaso was uncomfortable with the size of his empowerment programmes and his growing popularity.
The senator also said his failure to secure a ticket to return to the Senate was connected to his worsening relationship with Kwankwaso, whom he referred to as the “Jagora” (leader) of the movement.
Disrespect had set in — Hanga reveals why relationship with Kwankwaso broke down