Zainab Musa Kwankwaso, daughter of former Kano State Governor and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has reportedly filed for divorce from her husband, the incumbent Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, offering to refund the dowry as part of the proceedings.
According to court documents obtained by Daily Nigerian, Zainab instituted a civil suit, marked CV/97/26, at the Upper Area Court in Gudu, Abuja, seeking the dissolution of her marriage to the governor.
Yusuf has reportedly been summoned to appear before the court on November 17, 2026.
Zainab married Yusuf on July 29, 2006, in a union that has produced six children. She is the daughter of Senator Kwankwaso and was reportedly working as an aide to her father at the time of the marriage.
The divorce suit comes amid an escalating political rift between Yusuf and his former political benefactor and father-in-law, Kwankwaso.
Yusuf was elected governor in 2023 on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), largely on the strength of Kwankwaso’s political influence and support. However, his subsequent defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) triggered a bitter fallout between the two former allies.
The disagreement, which reportedly began about a year ago, has since widened, with the political differences said to have strained their family relationship.
In a further development, Zainab reportedly left the Kano Government House on October 28 for her father’s residence on Miller Road, Kano, before travelling to Abuja by air.
She was said to have made the journey without her police orderly or other security personnel.
The reported divorce proceedings have added a new dimension to the political crisis between the Kano governor and his estranged political mentor, whose relationship was once regarded as central to the NNPP’s political fortunes in the state.
The circumstances surrounding the breakdown of the marriage have not been independently established.