Hope that the frosty relationship between the immediate past governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso and his successor, Governor Abdulahi Ganduje, would thaw soon dimmed at the weekend, as the Kwankwasiyya Movement, a group loyal to the ex-governor, gave Ganduje a 48-hour ultimatum to stop wearing red cap or be ready to have a date with it in court.
Red cap is the symbol of the Kwankwasiyya Movement and its phenomenon spread like wildfire in the state during the second coming of Kwankwaso as governor of the state.
But the relationship between the duo broke down soon after the 2015 election, as Governor Ganduje was said to have rebuffed attempts by his predecessor, now a senator, to micro-manage him.
Speaking at a press conference in Kano, on Saturday, as part of activities to mark the 60th birthday of the founder of the movement and the sixth anniversary of the group, its chairman, Alhaji Sharu Gwammaja, said the decision was taken because Governor Ganduje had betrayed the movement and had consequently been disowned.
Gwammaja clarified that only members of the movement were allowed to don the red cap and not Governor Ganduje who had ditched his former boss.
According to him, the true meaning of Kwankwasiyya is selfless service to the public, free education for all, promotion of peace and unity, as well as respect for the rule of law.
Effort by Sunday Tribune to contact Gundiyya, an associate of Governor Ganduje, proved abortive, though a source in the governor’s camp described the ultimatum as an empty threat.
The source, who preferred anonymity, said Kwankwasiyya Movement could not appropriate the red cap as its symbol, adding that red cap on white attire belonged to the late Aminu Kano.
The source added that anyone who loved and shared in the ideology of Aminu Kano had the right to be so clad, insisting that no one could claim monopoly of the colour and the cap.