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• Says insecurity has overwhelmed ruling party
• As NNPP rebrands ahead of 2027 elections
From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has scored the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) low in the handling of insecurity in the country.
Kwankwaso, who spoke at the party’s National Convention yesterday in Abuja, said that it was unfortunate that Nigerians were being kidnapped and, sometimes, killed at random despite the presence of security personnel in most places.
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The former Minister of Defense, also mocked the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), claiming that since after the 2023 general elections, it had been struggling to be relevant.
He said that he had tried to straighten rough edges in the PDP with some like minds, but their efforts were rebuffed by some forces, which prompted him to join the NNPP.
He said: “We are all aware that the PDP has completely failed. Many of us decided in 2014, 2015 to bring in some positive changes.
“Unfortunately, we have seen what happened in 2015 to date, with the APC government.
“Therefore, as far as we are concerned, we have a failed party. That is the APC. We believe that this country requires an alternative.
“APC and, of course, PDP have failed. NNPP is the fastest growing party in this country.
“As we stand today in many parts of this country, especially in northern Nigeria, particularly my own part of the North, so many people are being chased out of their homes, so many are being killed.
“Some are in the bushes now, in the forest under the care of bandits and other criminals.
“And it looks like many people do not care. It is even becoming a normal thing for bandits to go and pick people in their homes, on the roads, in the markets and so on.
“I believe it is only in this country that this sort of nonsense is happening, and is the responsibility of every responsible government to ensure peace of his people.
“I personally believe that as a former Minister of Defense in this country, as a former chief security officer of Kano State for eight years and so on and so forth, we can address the problem.
“I believe that we have adequate resources, we have enough manpower, we have what it takes to protect Nigerians in this country today.
“So, it is an opportunity for me to ensure that they join forces with us to bring in stronger, more peaceful, more prosperous Nigeria for all of us.
“Let me say that this party will continue to be fair and just to all of us and all our members will continue to have an internal democracy, so that everyone is given an opportunity to attain his or her potential.”
He said that the convention was targeted at strengthening the party ahead of subsequent polls.
Part of the ratification of the convention was the changing of the logo and slogan of NNPP, which Kwankwaso said would help voters to identify it during elections.
According to him, the party would continue to advance the course of education across board.
He said: “Before we came into this party it was very difficult to remember everybody who knew this party.
“Today, despite all the challenges that we had in the 2023 election, especially in the issue of our logo, we have addressed the problem.
“Even my humble self I found it very difficult to identify our logo during the election. That was why we thought it was very important for us to have a brand new logo for our party.
“In our party, today, we have this logo. You can see new Nigeria People’s Party written very clearly and NNPP very boldly. I believe that in the next elections, nobody will be confused about our logo.
“You can see the red at the top right and without telling you we all know the meaning of red.
“Red is important to us because red signifies struggle. It signifies determination.
“It signifies commitment to eradicate poverty, to stop this insecurity that we have in this country, to promote education, which, of course, because even before now, that is our symbol. We stand for education, our priority over the years.
“Number one is education. Number two is education. Number three is education. And that is why we now have in our logo a book and, of course, by the side of the book, it is written education for all meaning that we will do whatever it takes, like we did in Kano and elsewhere to ensure that each and every child in this country goes to school.
“We have taken note of the challenges of the day, because we are aware that in many states, especially in northern Nigeria, our children are not going to schools now because of insecurity because of poverty and so on and so forth.
“So by implication we are saying that we will do whatever it takes to ensure security, to ensure that poverty is eradicated and we have all what it takes to do that, so that education can flourish, so that every child from primary to tertiary will go to school in this country.
“So, I thank all those who have worked through our constitution to ensure that we have the right logo and, also, the flag as you have seen, is equal to red at the top. Red at the other center.
“You know the meaning of white. It is standing for peace. So this party, I believe is one of the major hopes that this country is having today.”
On his part, the Kano State governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, assured residents of the state that his administration would always prioritise education and human capital development.
