Bola Tinubu, the party's presidential candidate, is in danger as a result of a new crisis the All Progressives Congress (APC) is dealing with in Kano State.

This time, there is a heated argument between a number of House of Representatives members, including the party's deputy governor candidate Muritala Garo and the majority leader of the chamber, Ado Doguwa.

According to Naijacrawl, earlier in the week, Garo claimed that the majority leader assaulted him after he allegedly interrupted a meeting of state stakeholders.

Doguwa, however, had also refuted the assertion, claiming that Garo is in charge of seizing control of the government while excluding members of the National Assembly.

The deputy governorship candidate, who hails from a well-known Garo family, was the commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs, a role that gave him the opportunity to amass significant power in the state, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Additionally, he is rumored to be wed to Atiku Abubakar's daughter.

Garo also indicated interest in contesting the governorship election; however, Governor Umar Ganduje settled for Nasiru Gawuna. To appeal to the young Garo, he was offered the running mate slot.

On the other hand, Doguwa has been in the House of Representatives since 2003, and he is one of the lawmakers expected to indicate interest in the speakership of the 10th Assembly if he is elected.

This latest row may indicate a major problem in the party considering that Doguwa won the 2019 elections after a rerun, and he faces the battle to return to the House.

It will be recalled that during the primaries, the Kano APC almost collapsed due to an internal crisis that led to several politicians decamping to the NNPP. To stem the flow, Ganduje suspended his senatorial ambitions by allowing two senators from the state to return during the primaries.

However, the crisis in the state appears to have returned, and both Atiku and Rabiu Kwankwaso are waiting to pick from the fallout of the crisis.

Kano and 2023 race

For years, Kano State remained the largest voting state, and the votes from the state decided the outcome of several presidential elections. In 2019, Buhari won Kano State with 1,464,768 (78.9 percent) of the total votes cast, beating Atiku, who polled 391,593 votes.

With Buhari out of the picture, Kwankwaso and his NNPP are among the favorites in the state, alongside Mr. Atiku of the PDP.

For months, Tinubu has prioritized the state ahead of the elections. Aside from Lagos and Abuja, Tinubu has spent more time in Kano than any other state since he declared to run for president.

In his timetable for campaign activities, he is going to have two rallies in Kano State, one in January and another before the grand finale in Lagos State.

During a press briefing on Thursday at the National Assembly, Doguwa said that despite the side talks, Rabiu Kwankwaso remains powerful in the state, adding that APC will lose the state if the crisis is allowed to linger.

“Before becoming the running mate, he (Garo) was the commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs. I am sure you journalists know what we call those ministries in the State. We call them the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. This is someone who got the opportunity to serve in a ministry that has a stupendous amount of money.

“His last wife now is the daughter of Atiku Abubakar. When he was not given the ticket, I visited him, and he told me that since you had messed me up, I would rather become an in-law to the president than a deputy governor, who would make me just like a messenger. "He has no interest in working for the APC; he is working to become an in-law to the next president,” he said.

In the press briefing, Doguwa also praised Kwankwaso, stating that he would be ready to reconcile with the former governor of the state if he was willing to reach out to him.

He explained that his grievance with Kwankwaso is a personal one, not a political one. He stated that a single phone call from the ex-governor would resolve the crisis between the duo.

Doguwa stressed that if the leadership of the party is not ready to intervene, APC should forget Kano.

For Tinubu, the bickering between Messrs. Doguwa and Garo could cost the party 5,927,565 votes in the state.