I Won’t Step Down For Atiku- Kwankwaso
Senator Rabiu Kwankwanso, the Presidential Candidate of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has told anyone who cares to listen that he and his people would not merge with any political party. He added that he would not step down for any politician including the Presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Kwankwaso said this on Sunday when he was the guest at the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) forum.
In his words: “We are not merging with any political party, and anybody thinking I am stepping down must be mischievous. We have our names already approved by INEC to contest. NNPP is all out to win the 2023 general elections.
“No serious person should now think of anyone of us stepping down at this stage. I am ready for all candidates for debate.
He answered question on his chances of winning the 2023 presidential election, saying, ” We have largest candidates in the country. It is a huge achievement, and people are more interested in candidates. NNPP is the only growing party. We believe that other parties have nothing to offer.”
What then does he have to offer Nigerians? He responded: “The country is not on the right path and need change. Our blueprint is to address problems and proffer solution. Nigerians are tired of APC and PDP. Between now and January, there will be clearer picture on who will win the presidential election.”
He also said there will be no rerun in the 2023 presidential elections, contrary to the position touted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, recently.
Kwankwaso, who said he would win next year’s presidential election at the first ballot, asked Nigerians to wait for what would happen between now and January 2023.
‘Nigerians are tired of the two main political parties, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as they have both failed the nation,’ he said
He said many Nigerians are joining and supporting the NNPP as demonstrated during their nationwide campaign tour, adding that “Nigerians are demanding for change and showing a lot of love and commitment to our ideals. Anybody who believes in earning a decent living is a member of Kwankwasiya (the name of the Kwankwaso supporters).”
The NNPP presidential candidate said every Nigerian is concerned about the worsening state of insecurity nationwide, adding that “everything is affected, including economy, agriculture and social lives of Nigerians, whether on the abandoned roads in Birnin-Gwari, or Sokoto or Katsina or the whole of the North-East.
“We believe there must security in order to make progress. This is why we would increase the number of the military and police personnel in terms of the global requirement of the number of population ratio to military and the police personnel.”
According to him, “The NNPP is gaining momentum because Nigerians are actually not talking of the parties, but the candidates, and APC and PDP have both failed Nigerians. Some of their presidential candidates are even running away from debates. We are ready for debates, because we know what we want to do and we are serious.
“Before the late Umaru Yar’Adua became president, we would have offered proper advice, because we knew a lot of things. But we were not consulted.”
He insisted that, “No good thing can happen in the country without a good leader. Even restructuring cannot take us anywhere if we do not have a good leader. The problem is not the constitution, but the operators. This will be changed when we get to power in 2023. We left the PDP and APC for good. We are happy where we are and we shall be in power come next year.”
Kwankwaso, who specifically said the NNPP is open to restructuring as everything would be put on the table for Nigerians to choose, explained that he was one of those who supported the 13% derivation in the 1999 Constitution at the National Constitutional Conference. “It is our project, there is no way anybody can say I am against it (derivation),” he stated.
On the prevalence of army of out-of-school children in Nigeria, the former Kano State governor said going by available statistics, Nigeria has about 20 million out-of-school children. “We have done it before in Kano. We practically mopped up children who wanted to go to school. And we selected many universities, both private and public. We are not in a hurry to start new universities, but we would strengthen and improve the existing ones. We will also provide classrooms in each state for the out-of-school children,” he explained.
Specifically, he said funding would not be a problem as “you can imagine how much money this nation can get if there is peace, in the oil and gas and agricultural sectors alone. So many people would also come and invest in Nigeria if we have peace. Indeed, there are so many issues that would be resolved, if we solve the problem of insecurity.”
In particular, he said he is happy that the NNPC has been unbundled and privatized, adding that it is the right way to go, as NNPP would support this and ensure that the whole oil and gas industry is commercially run well and profitably.
