A former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has formally resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the second term he would do so in eight years.
The former governor communicated the decision in a letter addressed to the PDP chairman of Kwankwaso Ward in Madobi Local Government Area of Kano State.
He said he was resigning from the party over “some serious and irreconcilable differences.”
Mr Kwankwaso had been having a running battle with the PDP over the leadership of the North-west zone of the party.
The party had in April suspended the zonal congress in Kaduna after supporters of the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, clashed with those of Mr Kwankwaso at the event.
They destroyed ballot boxes before voting could start, forcing observers and other officials to flee the scene.
The main subject of the dispute was the position of zonal National Vice Chairman.
Also, Mr Kwankwaso is in dispute with a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aminu Wali, who leads a rival faction of the PDP in Kano. Both men presented candidates for the position of zonal vice-chairman.
Mr Kwankwaso had announced his plan to join the New Nigerian People Party (NNPP) following which the Kano chapter of the party dissolved its executive committee and appointed Mr Kwankwaso’s ally as chairperson.
Mr Kwankwaso had in November 2013 first left the PDP alongside the then governors Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers States. They joined the APC after staging a walk out from the PDP National Convention in Abuja.
Mr Kwankwaso, however, in July 2018, rejoined the PDP alongside 14 APC senators and ran unsuccessfully for the PDP presidential ticket for the 2019 election.
Mr Kwankwaso is leaving the PDP with some of his allies, including the PDP governorship candidate in Kano in 2019, Abba Kabir, who earlier announced his resignation from the PDP and has since joined the NNPP.