Peter Obi “never deported northerners” while governor of Anambra -Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso

Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has refuted claims by former NHIS boss Prof. Usman Yusuf that Peter Obi “deported northerners” while governor of Anambra, insisting the incident never happened under Obi and didn’t occur in Anambra at all. “It didn’t happen in Anambra, and it didn’t involve Peter Obi; it happened in Imo State,” Kwankwaso said in a new interview. “I am Rabiu Kwankwaso, and I was the one who handled that situation.”

Kwankwaso revealed he personally intervened with the Imo governor — “a close friend of ours from the North” — who he said was “ignorant or perhaps drunk on power” and intended to execute the policy. “I went to him directly and told him it was nonsense. I made it clear that if he proceeded, we would respond in kind… We laughed, shook hands, and the plan was dropped.” He dismissed attacks on Obi as “all a blatant lie” spread by “worthless individuals” who “spent years wandering aimlessly” abroad.

Calling on young Nigerians to push back, Kwankwaso said: “I appreciate the youth; go ahead and totally shut him down! Expose him… I am giving the youth permission—including the Kwankwasiyya, the Obedients, and the OK supporters… Completely dismantle the arguments of these senseless, useless people!”

The remarks come after Prof. Yusuf told Trust TV that “the Muslim north… will interrogate Peter Obi’s tenure,” alleging Obi “deported” northerners in 2002 and made them carry ID cards. Yusuf claimed it was “the same Kwankwaso that have had to fly to Awka” to intervene — a claim Kwankwaso now directly denies, saying the issue was in Imo and Obi had no role.