By Okoi Obono-Obla
Kwankwaso’s Gamble and the Wobbling ADC:
The ADC is a knocked engine, set to disintegrate. Presently, the Party is embroiled in messy litigation that threatens to sound its death knell. Two factions have scheduled separate national conventions at different venues and on different dates. Most importantly, the Court of Appeal, in an appeal filed by Senator David Mark—one of its factional chairmen—ruled that the status quo bellum ante should be maintained pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, another factional chairman, until the substantive suit is resolved.
The gravamen of the substantive suit is whether it was proper for the coalition members to move into the Party, supplant its leadership, and replace the democratically elected executive that was in charge.
Against this backdrop, Kwankwaso is making another political gamble by considering defection to the wobbling ADC. His first gamble was in 2014, when he defected from the PDP to the APC and challenged PMB for the presidential nomination ticket, disregarding the unwritten agreement between Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and PMB upon which the 2013 merger was hinged. He lost badly in that contest. In 2018, he left the APC and returned to the PDP.
Kwankwaso, once seen as a natural successor to PMB in Northern Nigeria, now faces another uncertain path. His move to the ADC, a party teetering on the brink of collapse, may either revive his political fortunes or further diminish them.
Conclusion: Kwankwaso’s political journey reflects a pattern of bold gambles, but his latest move into the fractured ADC may prove to be the riskiest yet.
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