Presidential aide Abdulaziz Abdulaziz says there is nothing wrong with President Bola Tinubu?s recent meeting with the 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People?s Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso.

?Politicians talk; it?s not a sin talking across lines,? he said on Channels Television?s The Morning Brief programme on Monday.

?So, the presidency or friends of the president talking to Kwankwaso or the other way round should not be seen as anything strange or looked at with disdain or any suspicion. After all, it?s politics and people align, re-align and shape their political positions.?

Abdulaziz, Senior Special Adviser to the President on Print Media, said Kwankwaso and Tinubu have a longstanding relationship of more than three decades, both as senators and governors, and their recent meeting should not ignite any suspicion.

He said, ?There Is nothing strange about Kwankwaso talking to the APC or the president or the president talking to him. After all, there is a very longstanding relationship between the two.

?President Tinubu is somebody who has relationships dating back. He has been in the game for a very long time. Both men were elected as members of the National Assembly during the botched transition of 1993.

?Also, both of them were elected governors in 1999. So, they have had this long political association that you wouldn?t see anything strange if they are now closing ranks and reuniting under any arrangement.?

?How Tinubu Gets Opposition Govs To Join APC?

The presidential aide added that the recent defections of two opposition governors to the president?s party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), were based on the president?s relationship with them and not by coercion.

So far in 2025, two governors dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the APC ? Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State and his Delta State counterpart, Sheriff Oborevwori. At the moment, the APC controls 23 states, the PDP rules 10 states, whilst the Labour Party (LP), the New Nigeria People?s Party (NNPP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) control one state each.

Abdulaziz described Tinubu as a consensus builder who believes in engagement and relationships across party lines to widen his political influence and chances.

He said, ?As a person, he is a consensus-builder; he believes in talking to people. His doors are quite open. I can?t remember Nigeria having a president as approachable as President Tinubu because his network of friends and associates has remained largely intact since he?s been in office, and he maintains friends. That gives a hands-on regarding what?s happening in the country.

?A lot of people who are decamping, some politicians will come out and say the Federal Government is coercing members of the opposition into the APC fold. I can tell you it?s not true because I believe that politics is like a give and take.

?But in this case, most of these people, especially governors and high-ranking politicians who are joining the APC on account of the president?s approachable politics and engaging relationship that he has (with them).?

Kwankwaso As The New Bride?

With the 2027 election less than two years away, Kwankwaso, who commands a cult-like following with his red-capped socio-religious group known as Kwankwasiyya, has seemingly become the new darling now desperately courted by political parties ? from the ruling APC to the PDP, the Labour Party and the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Kwankwaso?s last Monday meeting with Tinubu at the Aso Villa widened the optics that the president is seeking an alliance with the former Kano governor to trounce the ADC opposition coalition that has his closest rivals, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, and win a re-election in 2027.

Historically, since Nigeria?s return to democracy in 1999, the northern region of the country, especially Kano, has always had the highest voter turnout at presidential elections, making it a darling of politicians jostling for the Aso Rock top job.

For instance, in the 2023 presidential election, Kano, a major battleground state, had about 1.7 million cumulative votes. NNPP?s Kwankwaso scored 997,279, APC?s Tinubu polled 517,341 votes, PDP?s Atiku got 131,716 votes, while Obi of the Labour Party got 28,513 votes. Interestingly, of the 44 local government areas in Kano, Kwankwaso won in 38 of them.

At the 2023 presidential election, Kwankwaso secured 1,496,687 total votes and came in distant fourth in the election won by Tinubu, who garnered 8,794,726 total votes. Atiku came second with 6,984,520 while Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes.

At the moment, Kwankwaso?s godson, Abba Kabir of the NNPP, is Kano governor, but the APC controls two of the three senatorial districts in the North-West state. (Channels TV)

Update news