Former governor of Kano state and presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) for the 2023 election, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are no longer fit for governance, having allegedly failed the populace.
The former Defence Minister, urged Nigerians to reject the candidates of the two main parties in 2023 presidential election on the premise that their respective political parties had failed the nation woefully over the years.
The former governor argued that the parties had performed abysmally in delivering dividends of democracy to the people, saying this reflects in the level of insecurity, joblessness, economic deprivation and hardship that are pervading the land.
Kwankwaso, who spoke in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, during a consultation visit to the state at the weekend, lamented the decayed infrastructure in the country, as manifested the deplorable Akure-Ado road.
He knocked the APC-led federal and state governments for abandoning the people to suffer on the road.
Calling on the people to have trust in the NNPP to transform the country and place it on the right path to progress, he explained that the party had been experiencing surge in membership in the last few months since he joined the platform.
He stated that the rising cases of insecurity across the country and excruciating economic policies, which he said had resulted in poverty, unemployment, inflation were enough reasons for the people to reject the ruling party, adding, “the way we are going now is one way to disaster in the country.”
Kwankwaso who represented Kano Central in the Eighth National Assembly said, “This our party was registered about 21 years ago but in the last four months when I joined the party, so many people have joined us and that is why we have structures everywhere across the country. Not only that so many people have even registered including in Ekiti state.
“We have seen the performance of the APC and PDP and all of us believe that they have failed the country woefully and nobody should expect anything from them again. These people in the two parties have failed and failed woefully, they have nothing to offer.
“Look at the road from Akure to Ado-Ekiti, it is in a very terrible and deplorable situation. You go around any of these cities, Abuja and other areas, you hardly see anything happening, poverty is at the highest level in this country, insecurity also at its peak and we can’t continue like that, because the way we are going now is one way to disaster in the country.
“So, the only way to avert that disaster is for Nigerians to go and sell the ideas of NNPP, which is a progressive party and vote for the party come 2023.”
On the speculations relating to alliance with the PDP ahead of the 2023 election, the former Kano state governor who denied the insinuations, alleged that the main opposition party has no clear-cut agenda for the nation, saying he would never return to his past.
“Don’t forget we have candidates across board now in NNPP ahead of the 2023 elections, so you will expect me to leave and join others in the PDP?
“It is not going to happen. I was a foundation member of the two major parties and they have nothing to offer again, that is why I left them and I can’t go back,” he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Yakubu Ajaka, has said it was impossible for the former Governor of Kano State to become president of Nigeria with a sectional party like the NNPP.
Ajaka, who said Kwankwaso should return to the ruling party, which he helped to build and had great chance to ride on to becoming president, however, dismissed the PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as good customers to the APC during elections.
Speaking with journalists yesterday in Abuja, Ajaka, said it was not too late for Kwankwaso to retrace his steps, stressing that winning one or two states in the North West would not make him the president.
“Kwankwaso knew about the formation of APC, he contributed immensely to its success in 2015 and our leaders hope to repay him at the appropriate time but he cannot be outside to be a beneficiary in the nearest future.
“So, that is why I said it’s not too late for him to return to the APC. That’s where he naturally belongs and has an assurance of becoming a president one day, and not his current sectional NNPP.
“Although some people might be deceiving him by calling him Mr. President already, but just one or two states in the North West cannot make him a president. Kwankwaso needs a national party like APC to achieve his presidential ambition. So, I plead to him to do the needful before it’s too late,” Ajaka said.
The APC chieftain noted that the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi, was only enjoying sectional sympathy at the moment, stressing that when campaign starts, Nigerians would differentiate between boys and men in politics.
According to him, “Just like Kwankwaso, Peter Obi is only enjoying sectional sympathy but a real presidential candidate needs to enjoy acceptability from all parts of the country. So, we believe that Peter Obi should enjoy his social media frenzy for now before the real campaign starts very soon.”
Ajaka pointed out that he didn’t see both the PDP and its presidential candidate as formidable opponent going into the 2023 elections
He noted that the opposition party would make all the noise without facts and enjoy its propaganda for a while, but Nigerian voters would eventually distinguish between PDP’s lies and APC’s record of achievements.
He further added that, the PDP and Atiku, were good customers to APC, who could not go beyond coming second at any election, stressing that, even that second position was threatened with the recent result Ekiti governorship election.
Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja and Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti
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 for the 2023 election, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has said the ruling All Progressives Congress</p>
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