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From Mohammed Abubakar, Dutse
The vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and former Governor of Kano State, Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has expressed regret for not joining forces with the party’s presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, during the 2023 general elections.
He maintained that, had he known Obi as closely then as he does now, he would have agreed to work with him to stop the APC, which he described as the party for the merchandise, whose intentions are merely to inflict more injuries on the people.
Kwankwaso made the revelations in Dutse, Jigawa State, during the presentation of certificates of return to some of the candidates for the 2027 general elections and the inauguration of the governorship and state assembly campaign council.
Those who received their certificates of return included Babangida Haruna, the party’s deputy governorship candidate; Sabo Gaske, the senatorial candidate for Jigawa North-West Senatorial District; Engr. Sa’id Hassan Muhammad, candidate for Ringim/Taura Federal Constituency; and the party’s 31 state assembly candidates.
The former Kano governor said that, in the short time he had interacted with Obi, he had discovered that they shared a lot in common, especially in the areas of education and human development, which was the hallmark of his administration in Kano.
Referring to the candidates, the former governor commended them for emerging victorious in their party’s primaries, saying it was the beginning of the party’s success. He said: “I’m happy with the candidates, who are brand new people who have not been tainted with any dubious acts in the past.
“These candidates are not part of the serial offenders who have duped the people in the past, that has put the country in its current condition that we are in, especially in Jigawa. People are making progress in other parts of the world, but we’ve been left behind with millions of our children roaming the streets with rubber plates begging for what to eat.
“Nigeria is blessed with abundance of natural resources but because of lack of education among the majority of our people, the few people who have the privilege of going to school have decided to corner virtually all the resources of the people to the benefit of their families and cronies.”
The former governor, who recalled the success recorded by the foreign scholarship for indigent scholars of Kano State, from which over 3,000 people benefited, said he had presented the blueprint to the top echelon of the party.
“Our intention is that, I showed them what we did in Kano and they agreed, he (Obi) did a similar thing in Anambra, under no condition will the son of a common man be left out, we’ll fix classrooms, recruit qualified teachers, fix primary, secondary and tertiary institutions just like we sent over 3,000 scholars to other parts of the world.
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“We achieved this without incurring any form of debts either from the domestic or foreign banks. All we did was to block avenues for corruption, and this is what we intend to do for Nigeria as soon as we’re elected.”
Therefore, Kwankwaso advised Nigerians, especially the people of Jigawa State, not to trust whatever anybody might have been telling them about the forthcoming elections, and cautioned the electorate, especially young people, against complacency.
He criticised members of the Senate and the House of Representatives for allegedly approving policies and bills presented by the President, regardless of public concerns or their possible consequences.
He specifically faulted the National Assembly over the passage of the tax reform bills, alleging that some lawmakers supported the process despite concerns about its implications for ordinary Nigerians.
“The worst part of it is that the session for the approval of the tax bill was chaired by one of us from Kano. Even the Senate President intentionally refused to attend because he did not want to be part of it,” he said.
Kwankwaso further alleged that the Federal Government had delayed the implementation of tax collection because of concerns about losing the forthcoming 2027 general election.
“The bill has been passed into law, but the Federal Government is now afraid of losing the election. That is why it has delayed the collection.
“As soon as they get a second chance, God forbid, Nigerians will suffer from different kinds of tax collection. They will start going from house to house, checking even under your bed to collect taxes,” he added.
The NDC governorship candidate in Jigawa State, Dr Aminu Musa Dutse, promised a radical change in the administration as soon as he was elected the state’s next chief executive. He particularly cited the condition of pensioners in the state, which he said required an urgent overhaul to offer retirees succour.
Similarly, Dutse pledged to revamp the education sector, which he said was in a near-comatose state, describing the people of the state as lovers of education who required a positive direction.
