Zainab Musa Kwankwaso, the second wife of Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf and a daughter of former Kano governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has reportedly asked an Abuja court to dissolve their 20-year marriage. She is said to have offered to return her dowry.

Daily Nigerian, which says it obtained the court documents, reports that the suit was filed at the Upper Area Court in Gudu, Abuja. It is marked CV/97/26. A civil summons reportedly directs the governor to appear before the court on November 17, 2026.

Zainab married Yusuf on July 29, 2006, while she was working as an aide to her father. The couple have six children. In her filing, she reportedly said the marriage had broken down because of a lack of reciprocal care, love, affection and emotional connection.

She also said she had lost her affection for the governor and developed a deep aversion to the union.

She is seeking the dissolution through khul’i, an Islamic procedure in which a wife asks for a separation, usually by returning the dowry paid at the wedding. According to the court papers, she said efforts to reconcile the couple and restore harmony had failed. She also reportedly said she feared that staying in the marriage would make it hard to meet the obligations Islam places on a wife.

Daily Nigerian further reports that security personnel guarding her quarters at Government House, and those attached to Kwankwaso’s Miller Road residence in Kano, were arrested, questioned and later released by the Kano State Police Command. Her siblings, including her brother Ado Kwankwaso, were reportedly invited by the police over claims that they helped her leave Kano.

The publication cited sources who alleged that pressure was being mounted on the police to charge Ado with kidnapping.

The development comes amid a deep rift between the governor and his political mentor. Yusuf won the 2023 governorship election on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) with Kwankwaso’s backing. Relations soured after he later moved to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Kwankwaso is now the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

Kano State Commissioner for Information, Sanusi Dawakin Tofa, did not respond to requests for the governor’s reaction. Neither Yusuf, Zainab nor their representatives has publicly confirmed the divorce suit, and the claims have not been independently verified.