Kano State deputy governor Abdullahi Tijani Gwarzo yesterday announced his defection from the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Director-General of the Campaign Organization of the Deputy Governor, Farouk Hassan, confirmed the exit of the deputy governor from the ANPP yesterday.

Mr Hassan said the deputy governor withdrew his membership from the ANPP after consultations with various interest groups and that the decision followed the failure of the leadership of the party in the state to provide the desired enabling environment for the contestants, not because the governor was supporting a particular contestant.

"The deputy governor and the campaign organization were not worried about the support the governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, has been rendering to a specific gubernatorial aspirant," he claimed.

He however described as "worrisome', the issue of the principle of equity, justice and fair play that had been continually preached had not gone beyond rhetoric. Following this development, he (the deputy governor) declared his withdrawal from ANPP. He lamented the party's loss of focus and moral justice, saying that the leadership of the party violated the Electoral Act 2010 and the party's constitution in respect of the conduct of primaries as it failed to comply with all the procedures for primary elections where delegates were not elected by the people, but were picked by the party officials to favour a particular governorship contestant.

Similarly, a chieftain of the party, and the immediate past director-general of the Kano State Pilgrims' Welfare Board, Sani Lawan Kofa Mata, has also dumped the ANPP. Mr Kofa Mata's grouse against the party is what he called the highhandedness of the party's leadership, the lack of internal democracy and the undue interference of the state governor, Mr Shekarau, in the party affairs. Mr Kofar Mata was contesting the governorship seat until he was persuaded to switch gears and contest the seat of the Kano Central Senatorial District instead, which he also lost to Aminu Ibrahim Abba.

In fact, we asfounding members of the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) joined the party at its formative stage based on the belief that it was the best political platform that will promote social justice, equity and fair-play at every level of governance," Mr Gwarzo said.

"However, trends in Kano ANPP in the last few months proved that the party has abandoned the noble cause it stood for. It has in fact derailed and has allowed individual's interest to override collective interest and has institutionalized actions that portray injustice and dictatorship.".