Governor Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State was perhaps one of the most vocal of the five governors that quit the PDP mid-way into preparations for the 2015 general election to join forces with then opposition party APC. In this interview with a group of Journalists in Abuja, Kwakwanso tells the story of how they defeated PDP and what APC must not do to avoid pitfalls, Onyebuchi Ezigbo was there for THISDAY and provides excerpts…

People thought it will not be possible for any government to unseat the present PDP government. How did APC deal with the challenge?

First of all I want to thank you for congratulating me and my party APC for this landslide victory in the last two elections on the 28th of March and 11th of April. Let me also use this opportunity to congratulate you also for that success because our success is success for all Nigerians especially those of us in government. Even you in the media  have done so much to promote the party. The success of APC I believe is the success of this country of course plus our brothers and sisters across the world. We have to say that the election especially  of March 28 has gone a long way in bringing in a lot of quality change in this country even before the President-elect , Muhammadu Buhari is sworn in.  I am sure you have seen how the Naira appreciated, you must have seen how the stock has also appreciated and I think that is a good sign for this country.  I am sure the president when sworn in, will do whatever it takes to get the politics right and by doing that many other things will fall in line like security, economy and of course corruption will be taken care of and all other vices of the economy will be tackled by the new administration. So we feel very happy that things are happening positively and I am also happy that it has been peaceful and the election went very well and the results were internationally and locally accepted as free, fair and credible.

This victory has been a surprise to most Nigerians and it sure didn’t come so easy. As one of those  who were actually in the field can you recount what the experience was like?

Well,  it didn’t come as a surprise to us. It would have been a surprise if APC lost the elections. Then you must not forget that PDP and the government, this last administration of PDP made so many mistakes. Most of them huge mistakes.  So,  some people will have been surprised if they were re-elected. This president should thank God that he spent six years and during that six years, many mistakes were made especially as it has to do with  corruption. He didn’t get the politics right to the extent that many important members of the party left.  Yet they had no experience in protecting the people of the party. Many vital leaders of the party and former chairmen and EXCO members of the party left. So much has happened in the party negatively and they were blindfolded to the extent that they couldn’t even take care of the problem talk less of doing something to stop it and at the end of the day this is what has happened to the party.  And to us in the field as you rightly pointed out it didn’t come to us as a surprise. It came as a result of hard work, real organisation within the party, sacrifices  members made among other  and so on and so forth. So it came as a result of people who believe in this country, people who believe that change is imminent and it was necessary because we want peace in this country. The government made mistakes on the issue of security, when the process started it started very small and it was allowed to grow and the insurgents were allowed to have the capacity and even took a large chuck of the country as well as some forces. At the end of the day we really don’t know what happened but government decided to improve on the political will and at the end of the day you have seen what has happened just within six weeks and if they had used that political will right from the beginning, I believe that most of the lives not all of them that were lost as a result of insurgency won’t have been lost. Most of the properties that were been destroyed as a result of the insurgency won’t have been destroyed.

There are so many losses, like our children in the North-east that were unable  to go to school, like all other economic activities that were crippled and with this in-coming administration, it will come in with a deliberate policy to help the North-east because it has been through a terrible war and therefore will need the support of the incoming administration to build their homes and to build their lives so that they can catch-up with other parts of this country.

You pulled the second highest votes during the APC presidential primaries. Kano State also had the highest votes for the APC president Buhari and you are also the Excellency with the highest vote in the country. How did you manage to achieve that?

Let me say that I deliberately joined the contest to become a senator, firstly to ensure that Buhari got the maximum number of votes. It wasn’t a matter of just winning in Kano but to get the maximum number and to make sure PDP didn’t get 25 percent. Buhari  is a popular man in Kano and many parts of the north but my candidature and his candidature on the same day was needed to certainly boost that figure. In order words which was better than my only candidature and his only candidature on that day and that was why I decided and accepted the offer by my people to contest for the senatorial seat. For the presidential primary I am very happy that I participated and as you rightly pointed out I was second many people thought that I will do otherwise but that is election and the point is most of the time better to be underrated and see that all of you that were speculating that it was between our leader Buhari and Atiku but when the result came you saw how it turned out. I believe that it was a fair reflection of what happened in Lagos even though I stated lately, even though most people didn’t know me at that time but I think it was great. I was happy and I enjoyed myself. My supporters across the country had done so much and we are happy that the primaries went that way even though I didn’t get the ticket but in my own way I won the election.

What does that say for you in the future? Do you think that it gives you the hope to try at it again, I mean the presidency?

I don’t want to say so much. In this game you don’t elevate yourself, it is best for one to be directed and I am happy to say that I started very well and I will continue to work to support the party and the government of APC to succeed. Because certainly we will be the last people to allow what happened to PDP to happen to APC. PDP was carried away by it successes to the extent that all those who have supported it were hit  one way or the other and nobody was important.  Even those of us with the highest number of supporters in the country and those of us, that by the grace of God have the confidence of the people were not been carried along by PDP.  That is why we are hoping and praying that APC should learn from the bad experience of PDP. PDP elevated itself telling everybody and bragging that they will rule for 60 years and a long time before now we told everybody it wasn’t 60 but 16 years and what happened recently has proved us right.  PDP was supposed to rule  for over 60 years if it was doing the right thing for its  members and Nigeria, but unfortunately the last leadership didn’t handle the politics right and in this business once you fail to get the politics right all other things like security, economy, infrastructure everything will not fall into place and that is exactly what we have seen in this current administration.


People are calling the President a hero for accepting defeat. Will you likely agree with that?

Yes, I believe the President is naive because he had all the opportunities to change direction. I don’t blame him, he didn’t play the sort of game for sometime at the national level. He didn’t know who was who in this country. He was just looking at faces and those who were well dressed and carrying many cell phones and they meet at the airport, they smile and he says well these are good people and sits down to listen to gossips and sometimes he doesn’t even know their names. He made a big mistake by picking the wrong people, let me tell you, our leaders who have been in this game before us especially those who were in the First Republic told us so much about our friends in this country and he happens to come from South south where they are very close to our leaders. We have done everything possible to work with him but of course, he vandalised the opportunities. He didn’t handle it very well up to the extent that most of us saw that we don’t have any future as PDP members and as individuals and that is why we had to come together to organise ourselves to defeat him. Look at what his wife was saying that northerners are this and that; how could you say that to northerners? You can’t insult us and think that you will get away with it. This is democracy, it is a game of numbers and that is why we went back and put Almajiras together to get about two million votes.

Some people in this country feel the senate is like taking you away from certain Nigerians and  have called that you  be  made the FCT minister or any other position in the country what is your take on this?

You see, in this game, if you look at it very critically what you need to do is just to be a politician first. In 1991 when I left my job as a civil servant I worked for 17 years in Kano and when I retired from civil service in 1991, I contested as a member of House of Representative and Deputy Speaker of that House. I was an elected delegate and in 1994/1995. I was governor 1997 and 1993 I was minister of defence for about four years, I was adviser to the president in Somali, I was a member of NDDC representing North-west political zone. Now, you can see that from legislation to political conference to executive at state level to executive at national level and so on and so forth. You don’t go there with a fixed mind; you have to be this or you have to be that. You know I contested as you rightly pointed out to be an APC candidate for the presidency where I came second and when I went back, who won the primary elections of our party thought I would be a good asset at the National Assembly and many other well wishers came to ask me to contest which I accepted and now I am a senator-elect of the Federal Republic and you can see that so many things have been done and now the issue you are raising is an issue that I have also seen in the newspaper, on the social media and so on and so forth. I have seen some residents of Abuja asking the president to appoint me Minister of FCT, I have seen and I can assure you that I don’t know any of them and they had their reasons and I don’t see them as enemies. I see them as people that wanted to benefit from similar projects that have been done in Kano. My position has always been that whatever I am doing, I do open hearted and open handed. I am here to support the party at any position. Those talking about Kano, Kano is only the recent development and if you like go and ask those who were in the house with me, I am one of the most popular people even amongst the principle officers and I can tell you that part of my success at the elections were members of the House of Representatives in the House many of them in APC, many of them in PDP because of I had to cross the line to join APC because in APC constitution members of the house of reps or former members are to elect our president. So many of them across the country came to our party APC because of that my candidature and they have gone a long way in ensuring that the success that I had in Lagos during the primaries and so if you ask them, they will tell you that what I did in the house wasn’t any different from what I did in Kano and what I am doing in Kano now. We thank Almighty God. I always believe it is good to be good as the saying goes and we will continue to be good.

On zoning of key positions of the Speaker of  House of Reps and the Senate President, what advise will you give your party?

My advise is that they should quickly do it as we witnessed what happened in 2011. I believe the party shouldn’t waste anymore time because the implication of delay is that some people will go around the country mobilise support for themselves and if the zoning decides to come late they will be very strong in their campaign to the extent that they can disobey the party just as we have seen during the Tambuwai thing in 2011. Tambuwai went round the country, we gave him our words as a person that we will support him and when the zoning came late we had already committed ourselves to that project and the party at the end of the day was humiliated because we didn’t want to change our position because we promised to support him and with some members of the opposition at that time he won the election against the government’s candidate and things have never been the same again with the PDP because I believe that the man who got the ticket had more appreciation to the opposition rather than those in the party who rarely supported him. I don’t want us to repeat that mistake again. I think it is high time we finish the zoning but anybody can aspire to whatever has been zoned to his or her own part of the country.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/rabiu-kwankwaso-you-cannot-insult-the-north-and-think-you-can-get-away-with-it-/207732/

Now what is this man insinuating

SeverusSnape:
Now what is this man insinuating

lol..you don dey squeeze face..have u read the interesting part where he said GEJ is naïve?

Kwa kwa or whatever your name is. A certain footballer was on the pitch of play and you guys said he was playing so badly. In accordance to laid down rules of substitution, he was changed. As the new player on the field of play, I would advice you just calm down and play not just to entertain the crowd but to score goals as well because that's what really matters instead of spending precious time criticizing your predecessor. My advice comes based on the proverbial saying "the stick used for chasing out the old wife lies at the back of the door waiting to do same to the new wife". So please bring out modalities for rescuing Nigeria out of the mess we are already in because one thing am very sure of is that we won't accept excuses. Thank you!!

Choi! Kwankwanso no go kill me..


well said buh this is a bit harsh

tell him that Nigeria has gone beyond this. ......................... pray for GMB to deliver on his promises.

Aso Rock exit: Jonathan to live in luxury island villa


After May 29, President Goodluck Jonathan will leave the Aso Villa. SIMON UTEBOR was at the President’s Otuoke, Bayelsa State-country home where he is expected to retire to

The air around the sprawling estate is amazingly cool. Looking around, the answer to this quickly dawns on our correspondent. The estate is opposite a creek, and the rolling breeze keep coming.

It is Otuoke, the home town of President Goodluck Jonathan. Otuoke is a small island community in the Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

And there, the estate sprawls over a large expanse of land contrasting sharply with its rustic surrounding. It is said to belong to President Jonathan.

On the long road to the gates, soldiers and members of other security agencies, apparently on sentry duty, walked on the grounds. The overall air suggested guarded and protected serenity. No one needs the gift of clairvoyance to understand they are approaching a restricted zone.

Behind the gates, shoving their heads above the walls are no fewer than eight different structures apparently for different purposes: recreation, security posts and guard quarters. A visitor to Otuoke will not be penalised for calling the place a fortress.

Activities in this place, a source within said had been at a lull until a couple of weeks ago. And it is largely believed that come May 29, after the expiration of his tenure, President Jonathan would relocate to the place.

As if the President had the premonition that he would not live in Aso Rock beyond 2015, he was reported to have begun acquiring properties adjacent his sprawling country home by late 2013.

The President, SUNDAY PUNCH gathered, acquired properties on an area which runs to about seven acres of Otuoba which were around his mansion that had been there earlier.

The place was thereafter expanded to encase the mansion while new structures were erected round it.

It was also gathered that adequate compensation was paid to the owners of these properties to enable them relocate elsewhere.

It was learnt that Jonathan after acquiring those buildings in 2013, engaged the services of a construction company, Jiito, to expand the estate to accommodate his new acquisition.

Today, Jonathan’s mini – estate, which overlooks a creek that links Otuoke to other coastal communities of Bayelsa, is a cynosure of all eyes.

A visit to Otuoke on Thursday showed that Jonathan’s mansions, which had been undergoing construction and reconstruction in the last 10 years are now ready for habitation. The area they sit on is best described as an island.

It was learnt that before now, each time the President visited Otuoke, he usually slept in his wife’s (Patience) castle which is directly opposite the Federal University, Otuoke.

It was also learnt that the Jonathans own the choicest properties in Otuoke. The President was said to have built a two-storey building each for his mother and father opposite his own.

His wife, Dame Patience, asides a hotel, is also said to have numerous buildings that have been converted into hostels for FUO female students.

On the readiness of the Jonathans to return to Otuoke, one of the military personnel guarding his houses said all the mansions in the estate were ready except one.

The soldier, who declined to give his name, said the contractors were fixing air conditioners and window blinds on the last mansion.

The security operative said, “I can tell you that the houses are ready. Everything is in order. It remains only one building where the contractors are putting window blinds, curtains and air conditioners.

“I overheard some of the workers saying that they had been instructed to finish the last building before the second week of May. I think it is because the President is returning home.

“As of now, no domestic staff or relatives are living here. All his relatives have their homes. It is only military men and policemen that are living in some of the buildings.

“Even at that, many buildings are left unoccupied because the buildings are so massive and it will take a community to occupy them.”

The soldier, who said he had been living at the place for the past four years, claimed some of the President’s domestic staff were in his Kpansia, Yenagoa mansion, which he built while he was Deputy Governor of Bayelsa.

That the President will be returning to Otuoke according to the soldier, is only symbolic, stressing that apart from the mansions at Otuoke, Jonathan and his family members have numerous buildings at Okaka Estate, off Isaac Boro Expressway in Yenagoa.

Many residents of Otuoke are indeed longing to see President Jonathan, one of their illustrious sons, return home.

For them, Jonathan has made Otuoke, once a relatively unknown place, known to people outside it and turning it to a city to be reckoned with.

A resident, Prere Goodthinking, said though President Jonathan lost his re-election bid, he is God-sent, not only to Bayelsa people but to the entire country.

Prere said, “Whether people like it or not, Jonathan can best be described as an icon of Nigeria’s democracy. He is a man of peace, a gentleman and a great statesman.

“He has proved to the whole world that he is not a power-monger. He has shown the world that his ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian. We want other leaders to emulate him. We are going to celebrate his return and I hope Nigerians and the world will also celebrate our illustrious son.”

Another resident, who gave his name only as Ebilari, said Jonathan had made Otuoke to be on the world map for good reasons.

She said, “About 12 years ago, Otuoke was a jungle. Most houses there were decrepit. But today, you can see that the place that was once a hamlet has become a wonderful city.

“Buildings are springing up everywhere. Life has become more meaningful for the people. Before you mention three prominent places in Bayelsa, Otuoke must come up. Thus, we are proud of our son Jonathan. We are waiting enthusiastically to receive him after his national