Kano State governor and presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rabi’u Kwankwaso, spoke with journalists on issues ranging from his presidential ambition to the state of the nation’s economy and other matters.
By Leke Adeseri
General Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Sam Nda-Isaiah and you are the leading presidential aspirants in the APC. How is this situation being handled for the sake of the party in the coming general election?
We are communicating with one another. Atiku and I have been together for over two decades. We were both under the political leadership of the late Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. We were together during the constitutional conference, in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and now APC.
I consider him as an elder brother. Although Muhammadu Buhari and I had never been in the same party until APC, I have always respected him. We will continue to communicate as a family. We will agree on what to do, whether to leave it for one person or go to the primary. Whichever way, I want to assure you that whoever among us eventually emerges, we will rally round him to ensure that the party succeeds because the success of APC is not only for the party members, but also for the country.
We have seen what has been happening in this country for over two years. Insecurity has taken over. Every day, you listen to the radio, watch television, read newspapers or monitor the social media, the issue has always been the same: people being killed, maimed or displaced. We now have about four million internally displaced people.
The government and the entire citizens should realise that these are our brothers and sisters who have found themselves in this mess. They didn’t bargain for it. I am sure many of them voted for this government in 2011 but this is what they get from them — insecurity.There are thousands of Nigerians seeking refuge in Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic and the leadership of this country doesn’t even talk about it. Recently, we sent seven trucks, that is, two trucks of rice and five trucks of maize to Niger, and five trucks each to Borno and Yobe states. Now, we are sending some to Adamawa and other places where you have so many people who are being displaced. I want to appeal to the Federal Government not to keep its eyes away from Nigerians.
What we are saying is, it doesn’t matter who started this crisis or who is executing it, what is important is that this government stops it. People are sick and tired of these killings and destruction of properties. The primary responsibility of any government, either in Nigeria or elsewhere, is to protect lives and properties but this government is far from carrying out this responsibility.
What gives you the impression that if you become APC’s candidate you can defeat the incumbent ?
I don’t know why (President Goodluck) Jonathan and I collected our nomination forms the same day. Maybe the indication is that both of us are going to slug it out in 2015, and once that happens, I am sure you know the answer – he is going to lose.
I don’t see anybody who will be happy to vote for him apart from the hawks in Abuja and of course, those contractors and others who are stealing crude oil and oil money. These are the ones that will be happy to vote for him again so that they can continue milking the economy of this country. But the masses, the talakawas of Kano, Enugu, Zamfara, and Bayelsa will be very happy to have a change, a change that will guarantee security of lives and properties of Nigerians, no matter where they live, no matter their religion or ethnicity. These are going to be the issues in 2015, security, economy, not minding the fabricated figures that come from Abuja, indicating that all is well. All cannot be well where you have crises, where you have insecurity, where people are scared of bringing their investments into the country. All these cannot help the economy anywhere in the world.
We have all these issues on the ground and certainly, sentiments will not work in 2015. All the antics of dividing the country based on religion, based on North and South, based on ethnicity and class will certainly fail in 2015. And I want to advice INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) to be cautious, because somebody was telling me about suspected tricks of INEC using computer to help a particular political party in 2015.
But we will keep our eyes open and make sure that every single vote counts next year.
If you become president, what are you going to do differently in addressing the problem of security in the country?
First and foremost, as a former Minister of Defence who has been associated with the army and the air force and the navy, I feel so much concerned about what is happening with the military today. The military must be supported by all Nigerians. They have done us proud over the years within the country and across Africa. This was a military that was respected by its friends and feared by its enemies. Unfortunately, over time, things have begun to change.
That glory must be restored. We should have a powerful military in this country. No country in the world can be proud of itself if it doesn’t have a strong military. Any country without a strong army, a strong air force, a strong navy, is a failed state. Therefore, our administration will never take the issue of the armed forces, the police, the SSS and all paramilitary organisations lightly.
What we are lacking today is the political will to provide the necessary ammunition, kits, welfare and, of course, training and retraining. I think these are the issues, otherwise we have seen the performance of our military. We saw what they did in Darfur, Sudan. We saw their performance in Sierra Leone and Liberia
Those people in Abuja want to remain there but they know they are not performing. We only see them perform on electric poles on the streets of Abuja, telling us funny stories and people are laughing at them. They need to know that people are laughing at them. You should tell them when you see them that people are not only laughing, but they are also very angry with their leadership. You know, they don’t know what is happening on the ground.
They are there in Abuja, in the air; they don’t know the realities on the ground. The realities are that people are not eating well, they have no jobs, they are afraid for their lives. Many have been killed and the killings continue.
This is what is happening on the ground, not what they write on their posters, billboards and say on the national television and their privately-owned TV stations. Only God knows how much they are spending. I was asking my friends who are sponsors of that TAN (Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria)? Before now, no one among the members had N1 million, but now, look at what they are sponsoring. The money must come from the Villa.
Recently, some people threatened bloodshed should Jonathan win the election in 2015. What is your take on this?
What many people don’t understand about democracy is that we have so many people in this country with different backgrounds and understanding of things. You see, this is the first time that we have had democracy for a long time like this. Before now, within a period of two years, somebody would come and truncate it. But now, we are having a real democracy where people are coming out to express their opinions, and that is part of democracy. Today in Kano, on the radio, you hear people raising all sorts of allegations against me and other people. As long as that doesn’t cross the line drawn by the law, I don’t think anybody should worry because they are just opinions. But we will continue to pray for this country. Bloodshed is not good for anybody.
Some people from the Niger-Delta see your comments on President Jonathan as critical. If eventually you get the APC’s ticket, how are you going to sell your candidature in that part of the country?
Some of you may be members of the press but you lack the real knowledge of South-South and other places. I don’t think there are no problems in the South-South. I don’t think it is only in the North that you have security problem.
They are many people from the South – that is, South-East, South-West and South-South – that are living in Kano, and they call Kano their home. Just recently, I met somebody at the airport. I asked him where he was going and he said he was going home. He is an Igbo man. I was surprised when I later met him inside the aircraft en route Kano and I asked him again, and he said he was going home to Kano. I said that was what I wanted to hear from him. I was so happy that he was calling Kano his home.
We have stories of many of them living here in Kano. They go to Abuja for business. They go to the East for business and they come back here, because in spite of our security challenges, here is, still, safer. The wouldn’t want to stay in places where they would be kidnapped or stolen.
Some would come and rob you or shoot you in your house. People think poverty is only here in the North, but the poor man here is as good as the poor man in Bayelsa State.
Despite the fact that the businessmen are flying to South-Africa and other places, their people are terribly poor. So, it is not like the whole of South-South or South-East or South-West is supporting a particular candidate, no. So, there is quarrel between us and the good people of the South-South who want better leadership. People in my village don’t care whether it is a Christian or Muslim who is their leader, their president.
We always give the example of what happened in the past so that people can understand our antecedents.
You will recall 1993 when we had election between (MKO) Abiola and Bashir Tofa. You know that I come from the same polling booth as Bashir Tofa, in Gandu Albasa, so, why didn’t he win there? He didn’t win in the ward. He didn’t win in the local government. He didn’t win in the state. Abiola, from Ogun State, won. So it was in 1999 when Abubakar Rimi from Kano State was contesting. He got close to zero delegates from Kano while (Olusegun) Obasanjo, a Christian from the South, got delegates and won the election here in Kano. So, politics here doesn’t have to do with sentiment; we are looking for the best. Once we identify the best man, whether he is an Igbo or Yoruba or Tiv or any tribe, we will vote for him. But in any case, if you look at history, you will know that this part of the country has always been very friendly with the South-South. It is only this group of people who came and stole everything.
We are only lucky that we have people like Rotimi Amaechi, Adams Oshiomhole and other leaders that are bringing us together again, while the godfathers there like Edwin Clark, people who should know better, are doing otherwise. Before now, when his memory was good, I think he was a good man. Now, he is fighting and destroying things, but we will always forgive him because we know that when we are close to 100 years, our brains will probably be in the reverse.
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