Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is a former water engineer who has governed Kano State twice and leads the Kwankwasiyya movement, one of the strongest grassroots political followings in northern Nigeria. He came fourth in the 2023 presidential election as the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and is Peter Obi’s running mate on the NDC ticket in 2027.12
Early life and career
Kwankwaso was born in Kano on 21 October 1956. His father was a district head in Madobi. He trained at Kaduna Polytechnic and took a master’s degree in civil engineering at Loughborough University in 1985. He spent about seventeen years at the Kano State water resources agency, rising to principal water engineer.1
Early politics
He was elected to the House of Representatives for Madobi on the SDP platform in 1992 and became Deputy Speaker before the military dissolved the National Assembly in 1993.1
Governor of Kano State
Kwankwaso was elected governor for the PDP in 1999. He founded the Kano University of Science and Technology in Wudil, but his first term was marked by opposition from groups who objected to his style of government, and he lost re-election in 2003. President Olusegun Obasanjo then appointed him Minister of Defence (2003–2007).1
He won the governorship again in 2011. In his second term he founded Northwest University, introduced free school meals and uniforms in primary schools, and sent thousands of students abroad on state scholarships, a programme his supporters regard as his signature achievement.1
National politics
In 2014 he joined the APC and came second in its presidential primary, behind Muhammadu Buhari. He was elected senator for Kano Central in 2015, returned to the PDP in 2018, and in 2022 moved to the NNPP, whose presidential candidate he became. In the 2023 election he won about 1.5 million votes and carried Kano State, finishing fourth. His son-in-law Abba Kabir Yusuf won the Kano governorship for the NNPP the same year.1
2026: the NDC ticket with Peter Obi
Kwankwaso briefly joined the ADC coalition in 2026 before moving with Peter Obi to the National Democratic Congress, which named him Obi’s running mate on 30 May 2026.13 He has said Obi signed an agreement to serve one term, after which the presidency would return to the North in 2031.2
Controversies
A 2004 government white paper based on a commission of inquiry indicted him over his first term in Kano. In 2015 a pensioners’ group petitioned the EFCC over the alleged use of about ₦10 billion of pension funds; he was questioned in 2021 but has never been charged and calls the allegations politically motivated.1 His relationship with his former deputy and successor, Abdullahi Ganduje, became one of the most bitter rivalries in Kano politics.
Personal life
Kwankwaso is married to Salamatu Rabiu Musa and has six children. He is a Muslim and cites the Kano politician Aminu Kano as a major influence.1
