A former chairman of Ungoggo Local Government Area in Kano State, Hon. Sule Musa Kadawa, has defected from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), leading more than 2,000 supporters into the ruling party.
The development is seen as a significant shift in the state’s evolving political landscape.
The defection, held at a rally in Ungoggo, drew a large turnout of party loyalists and community leaders allied to Alhaji Abdussalam Abdulkarim Zaura, popularly known as A.A. Zaura, a key political figure in Kano Central and the APC’s senatorial candidate for the 2023 general elections.
Kadawa said he was convinced to join the APC because of Zaura’s consistent engagement with local communities, support for empowerment initiatives, and reputation for accessible leadership.
“Zaura’s good conduct and generosity, as well as the support he has always given to our communities, are among the qualities that made us identify with him,” Kadawa stated.
He pledged to work with the party’s leadership in Ungoggo and across the state to consolidate support ahead of forthcoming elections, saying, “We are ready to unite with all APC supporters in Ungoggo and Kano as a whole to strengthen the party,” he added.
Zaura welcomed the defectors, describing their entry as a reflection of renewed confidence in the APC and a step towards stronger grassroots cohesion across Kano Central.
Kadawa’s move adds to a widening pattern of defections from the NNPP in recent weeks, signalling shifting loyalties ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Just days earlier, no fewer than 500 members of the NNPP from Fagge and Ungoggo LGAs announced their defection to the APC, where they were formally received by the Managing Director of the Hadejia-Jam’are River Basin Development Authority, Rabiu Bichi.
Similarly, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Jibrin Barau, recently received over 1,000 members of the NNPP and the Kwankwasiyya movement into the APC, declaring that the opposition party had lost momentum in Kano State.
These waves of defections, political observers say, reflect rising internal discontent within the NNPP and renewed strategic mobilisation by the APC to reclaim influence at the ward and local government levels.
Zaura, who has consistently championed empowerment and humanitarian initiatives in the state, was the APC’s senatorial candidate for Kano Central in the 2023 elections and remains one of the party’s most visible figures in the zone.
Some party loyalists at the event hailed Kadawa’s move as a major boost to the APC’s consolidation efforts in Ungoggo, describing it as evidence of renewed confidence in the party’s leadership both at the state and local levels.
