Betrayal Allegation Rocks NNPP As Deputy Minority Leader Accuses Kwankwaso Of Dumping Atiku

The Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Aliyu Sani Madaki, has strongly criticised the leader of the Kwankwasiyya movement, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, over his recent declaration of January 23, 2026, as “World Betrayal Day.”

Kwankwaso made the remark while addressing supporters at his Miller Road residence in Kano, shortly after Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf resigned from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), the party that brought him to power in 2023.

Reacting in a Facebook post, Madaki — a former ally of Kwankwaso who defected from the NNPP in 2024 — said the former Kano governor lacked the moral authority to speak about betrayal.

“Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has declared January 23, 2026, as the International Day of Betrayal. In my opinion, February 23, 2019, is the date that truly deserves that title,” Madaki wrote in Hausa.

The lawmaker, who represents Dala Federal Constituency, accused Kwankwaso of betraying both his political associates and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar.

According to him, Kwankwaso nominated candidates during the 2019 elections but later abandoned them following an alleged agreement with the All Progressives Congress (APC). He further claimed that Kwankwaso undermined Atiku’s presidential ambition in retaliation for losing the PDP primary election held in Port Harcourt.

The exchange follows widespread criticism on social media after Governor Yusuf’s defection to the APC was labelled an act of betrayal by some NNPP supporters. Kwankwaso amplified the sentiment by endorsing January 23 as a symbolic day to commemorate political betrayal.

“As leader of this movement, I support January 23 as a Betrayal Day, and it will be marked everywhere,” Kwankwaso had said.

Governor Yusuf resigned from the NNPP alongside 21 members of the Kano State House of Assembly and all 44 local government chairmen, further widening the political rift between him and his former mentor.