The meeting, which took place in Abuja on Thursday, reportedly focused on forging a political alliance ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The President General of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Yerima Shettima, has condemned the recent meeting between former Kano governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and former Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai.

The meeting, which took place in Abuja on Thursday, reportedly focused on forging a political alliance ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate for the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the 2023 elections, met with El-Rufai, an All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart, in what appears to be a strategic move aimed at consolidating support and influencing the political landscape. 

Shettima alleged that the meeting between Kwankwaso and El-Rufai was purportedly targeted at President Bola Tinubu, and it potentially reshaped the alliances and strategies among key political players leading up to 2027.

Kwankwaso, in a recent post on X, said, “I was pleased to make a cordial visit to my former colleague, H.E. Nasir El-Rufai, at his residence in Abuja today.”

Recently, El-Rufai has embarked on a series of political visits in recent weeks. He also paid a courtesy call on former President Muhammadu Buhari at his Daura country home in Katsina State.

However, Shehu Sani, the former Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the 8th National Assembly, described Atiku and El-Rufai’s visits to Buhari, as a plot to unseat Tinubu in 2027.

Shettima while reacting to the Thursday meeting between Kwankwaso and El-Rufai, told Leadership, “Well, El-Rufai has the fundamental right to relate and visit whoever he chooses. However, the visits which are being embarked upon by the opposition party members certainly have political undertones.

“Recall that El-Rufai also visited the Social Democratic Party (SDP) sometime ago, so the recent visits to former President Muhammadu Buhari and lately to the 2023 Presidential candidate of the NNPP, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso certainly has political motives apparently to possibly unseat the incumbent president. But whether such visits and perhaps many more to come will yield political results, only time will tell,” he said.