Former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau has resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and is poised to return to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), marking another twist in his long history of political realignments.
Shekarau announced his defection on Sunday at his Mundubawa Avenue residence in Kano, which was decorated with APC posters, after consultations with his Shura committee of supporters who endorsed the move.
The decision comes days after APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda publicly invited him and fellow PDP chieftain Bello Hayatu to join the ruling party.
Shekarau served two consecutive terms as governor of Kano from 2003 to 2011.
In 2003 he made history by unseating incumbent Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, becoming the first challenger in the state to defeat a sitting governor. He was reelected in 2007 but his attempt to install Salihu Takai as successor failed in 2011, when he handed power back to Kwankwaso.
His political journey has been defined by defections, often driven by power tussles in Kano politics and his rivalry with Kwankwaso. A founding member of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), under which he governed, Shekarau defected to the PDP in 2014 after the ANPP merged into the APC.
That move followed Kwankwaso’s own entry into the APC, with Shekarau saying the party structure in Kano was being ceded to his rival.
After the PDP’s loss in 2015, he remained in the party until September 2018, when he rejoined the APC as Kwankwaso simultaneously returned to the PDP.
Shekarau won the Kano Central senatorial seat in 2019 on the APC platform. Ahead of the 2023 elections, friction with then-Governor Abdullahi Ganduje led him to defect to the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), then headed by Kwankwaso.
He stayed three months before returning to the PDP in August 2022, alleging the NNPP failed to honour an agreement to field his supporters.
Although he backed Atiku Abubakar’s 2023 presidential bid, many of his supporters voted for the APC’s Bola Tinubu-Kashim Shettima ticket, contributing to Atiku’s poor showing in Kano.
Now, Shekarau is set to rejoin the APC to bolster President Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign — aligning with the candidate who defeated Atiku in 2023.
