Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso
A former governor of Kano State and presently a Senator who was reputed to have given Buhari over 2 million votes in 2015. He is a grassroots person whose red cap insignia gives palpitation to his political opponents at least in Kano where majority of the tricycle operators dot their tools of trade with his red cap posters.
However, he is seen as another fundamentalist with his strength at a local level though after dumping the APC for the PDP from where he had been in the past, there were gatherings across many states to prove his reach. He has the capacity to break the block vote f Buhari from Kano but how he can make inroads into other regions to win a presidential election on the strength of his political popularity is worthy of questioning.
Like other candidates not favoured by Wike for the job, he may not be considered as Wike who also threatened hellfire and brimstone should the convention not hold in his state already has a preferred candidate that is definitely not Kwankwaso. Though it is not clear if he has enough financial muscle to sponsor his campaign and contest, he manifestly has the capacity mobilise that having been long on the turf and is well connected especially among northern leaders who may see him as a good alternative to Buhari in protecting the interest of the region.
From the home front, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is doing everything to run him out of Kano and might with his power of incumbency, beat back on Kwankwaso’s support base. When he wanted to have a triumphal entry into Kano to test his popularity which many know is on the high side, he was stopped by Ganduje who took over power from him.