Former presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, on Monday made a surprise appearance at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, where he attended the Nigeria Forest Economy Summit 2025.
The summit, held at the Banquet Hall of the State House, was organised by the Presidential Committee on Economic and Financial Inclusion (PreCEFI).
Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State and one of the leading contenders in the 2023 presidential election, was spotted among participants at the event.
However, he neither delivered a speech nor addressed State House correspondents after the programme, leaving many to speculate about the motive behind his visit.
The summit featured a keynote address by Vice President Kashim Shettima, who raised concerns over the alarming rate of deforestation in Nigeria.
Represented by the Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Ibrahim Hadejia, Shettima described the environmental degradation as an “economic emergency.”
“More than 90 percent of Nigeria’s original forest cover has been depleted, and over 400,000 hectares lost annually,” the Vice President stated.
He warned that the continued loss of forest land poses a serious threat to national economic stability, food security, and climate resilience, calling for urgent policy actions to reverse the trend.
Kwankwaso’s presence at the summit comes amid ongoing speculations about his political future and possible alliances ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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