Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, a
chieftain of the All Progressives Congress who is increasingly becoming
estranged from the ruling party, has said President Muhammadu Buhari will be
defeated in 2019.
He identified the Peoples
Democratic Party as the most potent opposition platform capable of defeating
the incumbent in the upcoming presidential election fixed for next February,
and swiftly added that he is the suitable candidate to fly the party’s flag to
victory.
“I’m a free man now and available
to try my luck elsewhere but I know that PDP is the biggest party and as long
as they follow democratic principle, Buhari will easily be defeated, but if
they handpick and force any candidate on the party, they will fail,” Mr
Kwankwaso told Dele Momodu in an exchange published Saturday.
Mr Kwankwaso, a serving senator
and former governor of Kano State, often claims credits for helping Mr Buhari
secure 1.9 million votes in the state. He also helped Governor Umar Ganduja,
his deputy while he was governor, to power in the 2015 elections.
Mr Kwankwaso’s attack against the
APC comes a few days after he shunned the party’s national convention in Abuja.
The crisis was a fallout of his long-running political battle with Mr Ganduje,
which had repeatedly turned deadly when their respective supporters clashed.
He turned up at the Abuja home of
Atiku Abubakar the night of the convention, fueling speculation about his
readiness to dump the ruling party for the major opposition tent. During the
week, he travelled to Ekiti to meet Governor Ayo Fayose, arguably the most
vocal PDP governor. He was reported to have backed Olusola Eleka, the PDP
candidate in the upcoming governorship election in Ekiti, against Kayode
Fayemi, his major challenger and candidate of the APC.
Mr Kwankwaso served as defence
minister and elected Kano governor on the platform of the PDP, but joined
then-newly-formed APC in 2013 as part of the renegade ‘newPDP’ bloc. But in
recent months, he has been among top ‘newPDP’ bigwigs finding it difficult to
remain in the APC, amidst rankles about marginalisation.
Although talks are underway by the
APC to broker a political accord that would allow Mr Kwankwaso and other
aggrieved members remain in the party beyond the 2019 elections, the latest
statement from the politician indicates he has all but left the ruling party,
even though some party members still believe he is one of them.
“PDP needs someone from the 3k
States, Kano, Katsina and Kaduna to win the next election. That’s where the
votes are. It would be difficult to win if they pick someone from any other
zone…,” Mr Kwankwaso told Mr Momodu of his presidential chances.
Mr Kwankwaso said he was set to
join the PDP, but even then the party would also run into trouble if internal
democratic guidelines are not followed in the award of its 2019 presidential
ticket.
“I can guarantee them that I will
beat Buhari if given the chance,” he said.
Mr Kwankwaso might be the biggest
politician to decamp from the APC since Mr Abubakar left the party last
November on the same anger of marginalisation and poor governance.
Other bigwigs like Senate
President Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, and some senators and governors
who identified as ‘newPDP’ elements in the APC are also reportedly on the verge
of abandoning the ruling party, although their individual plans remained
unclear.
When Mr Abubakar left the APC last
year, he said the scale of injustice in the party would compel others like him
to chat a new political course, a claim the party rejected at the time. Another
visible politician likely to dump the APC any moment is Shehu Sani, a serving
senator from Kaduna State.
Bolaji Abdullahi, a spokesperson
for the APC, did not immediately return requests for comments. The party’s
chairman in Kano was also unavailable and a text message sent to him did not
deliver on Saturday afternoon.
But party strategists said Mr
Kwankwaso’s comments were hardly unexpected, especially as he had removed
himself from the party’s activities, including failure to participate at the
recent convention.
“We had known all along that he
was no longer in the party,” said APC strategist Ayo Akanji. “It was clear that
he was going to leave at a point in time.”
Mr Akanji downplayed the threats
of Mr Kwankwaso, whose rights to association he respects, but said his exit would
have no adverse effect on either the party or Mr Buhari’s political chances.
There are concerns that a mass exodus of bigwigs could leave the ruling party
fractured going into 2019, a crack which some analysts said would be
near-impossible to survive.
“The president’s support in Kano
or anywhere else in the country remains intact and formidable,” Mr Akanji said.
“This is democracy at play, we wish him the best. We’ll bring our best and he
brings his best, we will see how it goes.”
Mr Buhari has declared readiness
to seek re-election, and he is seen as a shoo-in for his party’s ticket. While
Mr Kwankwaso is considered politically-relevant in Kano and possibly other
areas in the North-west, his ability to appeal to the larger populace in a
diverse Nigeria would be keenly watched by political observers.
No comments:
Post a Comment