the All Progressives Congress, APC, will make sure that
President Goodluck Jonathan doesn't win the 2015
presidential election the same way Malawi former
president Joyce Banda lost to Peter Mutharika in May.
The governor was talking with Premium Times in Abuja and
told the history of troubles between the Nations number one
and opposition governors.
Excerpts:
Q: What is your view on how the Federal Government is
handling the state of insecurity in Nigeria, especially in the
north?
Kwankwaso: The issue of security is key. Any government
that cannot provide basic needs of its people means it is
simply not there, that is why even the International
Community feels like there is no government on ground in
Nigeria. A leader from America said his government has
wasted too much time waiting for a government in Nigeria
that is almost non-existent. He is not a Nigerian, and that is
exactly the fact of the matter. So many people have
advised this government, especially on the issue of the
North East .
The North East should have a special Marshall Plan to
support them. Every leader has his particular challenge,
when President Yar'Adua came to power he had a
challenge from the South-South, in the Niger Delta and he
did his best to tackle that challenge. By the grace of God
the situation is much better there. Today whether you are
from the South or North, Christian or Muslim does not
matter; what really matter is how to get peace back. We
have seen a situation in this country where some people are
raising their own flags, It doesn't help anybody.
Every square inch of this country belongs to Mr. President; it
doesn't matter what religion, culture or people they are.
People are being killed, maimed and even taken away on
daily basis, like needles, people just disappear. As we
speak we have thousands of Nigerians in Niger Republic,
Cameroun and Chad as refugees and nobody is even
talking about them. They are just there at the mercy of their
hosts. These are the issues on the ground that must be
tackled instead they are going from church to church to
bring in sentiment on the issue.
The people being killed and stolen are both Muslims and
Christians, but it took them 18 days to agree that over 270
Nigerian children were stolen. They never wanted to believe
that it happened. The woman leader of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, was even asking for their pictures,
asking what their names are? They were being mischievous
over the matter.
A government in a blessed and rich country like Nigeria
cannot protect its citizens. Any government that cannot
protect Nigerians doesn't deserve to be in office. Being a
president is not about personal enjoyment, it also does not
mean protecting some and ignoring others. Once anyone is
elected as a President or a Governor, you are no more the
Chairman of your party, you are no more Edwin Clark, who
is the leader of the Ijaw nation, but you are the President for
both who voted for you and those who did not, those who
like you, and those who do not like you. We are seeing a
situation where people are at the helm of leadership but still
feel that they are cheated.
Q: Let's talk politics now. Are we likely to see more
governors joining the APC?
Kwankwaso: Of course, it is possible but what I know is that
whether governors join us or not, the people are already
with us. I have not taken the time to go to the South to study
what is happening, but I had time to study the North. In the
19 states I don't see any state where under free and fair
election, people will go and vote for the status quo.
The status quo is not good for anybody because they have
failed to provide the basic services to justify why the people
voted for this government. They may think they are still
popular, not only do they lack the capacity, the people
around them are even worse, because they don't tell them
the truth, and that is why things keep getting worst by the
day.
Funny enough, they don't even have the true position of
things. As far as they are concerned, everything is ok and
the country is moving in the right direction. That is what they
tell the President. Well, of course, that is not good, but
politically, I think that is good for our party. They will be
shocked. Nigerians will do to them what the Malawians did
to their government. We will Malawi them in 2015.
Jonathan will be number three. I hope APGA and Labour
will stop deceiving themselves. If they can get a good
presidential candidate, he will be number three. He will be
number three pursuing third term.
Kwankwaso is the Governor of Kano State and a
remarkable one at that, he has been one of the top
stakeholders of the APC and has been campaigning against
President Jonathan rumoured second term.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
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