The Kano State Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rabiu Sulaiman-Bichi, has decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
His defection comes two days after the Supreme Court affirmed Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of the APC as the duly elected governor of Kano State.
The PDP and its governorship candidate had challenged Ganduje’s election. Sulaiman-Bichi is one of the closest political associates of former governor of Kano, Rabiu Kwankwaso. He had worked with the former governor in different capacities.
During the first tenure of Kwankwaso as Kano governor, 1999-2003, Sulaiman-Bichi was the managing director of Kano State Urban Planning and Development Board (KNUPDA) and also the commissioner for land matters.
He was also the secretary to the Kano State Government during the second tenure of Kwankwaso (2011- 2015) and in the early part of Ganduje’s tenure before he voluntarily resigned due to the Kwankwaso-Ganduje feud.
Kwankwaso nominated him to chair the state interim committee of PDP when he returned to the party, from APC.
Sulaiman-Bichi was also the returning officer of PDP during the governorship and presidential elections in 2011 and 2019. He also served in the same capacity for APC in 2015 for Messrs Ganduje and then presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari.