Former Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso held a private meeting with President Bola Tinubu on Monday at the president’s official residence in Abuja
The meeting came shortly after Kwankwaso attended the opening session of the Nigeria Forest Economy Summit 2025 at the State House Conference Centre.
This marks the second publicly known meeting between Tinubu and Kwankwaso in just over two years. Their last encounter occurred on June 9, 2023—barely two weeks after Tinubu’s inauguration—making Kwankwaso the first presidential candidate to visit the new president at the time. Following that meeting, he told reporters they discussed issues of politics and governance, hinting at possible collaboration without disclosing specifics.
While the details of Monday’s meeting remain undisclosed, the visit comes at a politically sensitive time, only weeks after the African Democratic Congress (ADC) unveiled a broad-based opposition coalition aimed at challenging the ruling APC in the 2027 elections.
Kwankwaso, 67, is a key northern political figure and founder of the influential “Kwankwasiyya” movement. A two-term governor of Kano State, former Minister of Defence under President Obasanjo, and 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), he remains a dominant force in northern politics. Despite finishing fourth in the 2023 polls, Kwankwaso secured a decisive victory in Kano, where the NNPP also clinched the governorship and a majority in the state assembly.
Though the NNPP is not officially aligned with the ADC-led coalition, opposition leaders continue to court Kwankwaso as efforts intensify to unite rival parties ahead of 2027.
Presidency sources contacted for comment declined to reveal details of the closed-door discussion, with one insider noting that the meeting, held at the president’s residence, was off-limits to most aides.
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