The Kano State Police Command has arrested three persons, including an orderly attached to Zainab Kwankwaso, the second wife of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, over her alleged disappearance from the Kano Government House.
According to reports, Zainab, identified as the daughter of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (and in some accounts as a niece of the former governor), left the Government House without the knowledge of her husband or her security aides and travelled to Abuja.
The state Commissioner of Police, Dr Ibrahim Adamu Bakori, ordered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding how she was able to leave the Government House and travel to Abuja.
Sources indicated that there had been tensions within the governor’s household, with Zainab seeking to end the marriage. She had earlier moved out of the Government House on October 28, first going to her father’s residence on Miller Road in Kano before proceeding to Abuja by air without her police orderly or other security personnel.
Her orderly reportedly raised the alarm after noticing her absence, leading to the involvement of security officials and subsequent police action. Security personnel assigned to her quarters and others linked to the movement were among those questioned. Some reports also noted that family members, including her brother Ado Kwankwaso, were invited for questioning over allegations that they assisted her departure.
The development coincides with reports that Zainab has filed for divorce at an Upper Area Court in Gudu, Abuja, in a suit marked CV/97/26. The court has reportedly summoned Governor Yusuf to appear on November 17, 2026. In the petition, she is seeking dissolution of the marriage through khul’i and has offered to return the dowry. The couple married on July 29, 2006, and have six children.
The events are unfolding against the backdrop of a prolonged political disagreement between Governor Yusuf and his former political mentor and father-in-law, Senator Kwankwaso. Yusuf was elected on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) before later defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Efforts to obtain official comments from the Kano State Government, the police beyond the confirmation of the arrests and investigation, or from the Kwankwaso family were not immediately successful in available reports. The investigation continues.
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