• ‘I am positive Obi and I will have a good working relationship’

Dr Rabiu Musa KwanKwaso is a former presidential candidate and ex-governor of Kano State. In this interview monitored on Arise Television, he speaks on the decision of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South and the likelihood of an Obi-Kwankwaso ticket, among other issues, EVINCE UHUREBOR reports

The NDC has officially zoned its presidential ticket to the South, and you have publicly backed that decision. Why did you support it?

Was that decision driven by principle, political realism or the recognition that the opposition simply cannot afford another bitter internal battle over zoning? Maybe all of the above; but let me say that I am so happy that I joined this rapidly growing party, the NDC.

I believe so far so good. We are doing well and I met people that I can call like-minds, ranging from the leader of the party, Senator Seriake Dickson, the former governor of Bayelsa State. Of course, there is Peter Obi, the former governor of Anambra State and many other leaders that are today in our party, and I believe that many more are coming.

And I’m happy to say that right from day one, we sat down together, we looked at the situation on ground in this country and we decided to take some major decisions, including what you just mentioned, that is zoning the presidency to the South for four years. After that, the presidency will return to the North. We are very happy that we are loyal party members wherever we find ourselves. We realised even before we joined the party, it was contemplating to zone it to the South for many obvious reasons.

Therefore, almost all of us who joined from the North accepted because as it stands now, people are debating, some would say it should come to the North, others say it should go to the South. But from our own end, we believe the best way to go now is to take it to the South, so that we can eliminate the confusion that emanated from the death of our brother, our friend, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. That actually introduced the confusion into the system. Even though, in a way, one can argue that from 1999 to date, the south has done more years than the north.

What worked now is counting from Muhammadu Buhari. Anybody from the South on that side of the argument would say that I had eight years and the South is now doing its first term. In the next one year or so, it will be four years. So, the arguments are there. I believe that it’s good for us to have a consensus. There is no point in fighting. And what is key now is not a president from the North or from the South.

What is key is to have quality leadership. People who are enthusiastic, determined and committed to give the country the leadership it deserves.

For now, those of us in the political trenches will tell you that it is not only the man from your end that will make the country move forward. We have seen what happened. We are part of it. And we believe he has done his best. From there, our brother, our friend, came in, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, of blessed memory.

What is key is to have quality leadership; people who are enthusiastic, determined and committed to giving the country the leadership it deserves

There were issues, especially challenges to his health. When Goodluck Jonathan came, we had many issues, especially the agreement at that time that he would do one term. For whatever reason things changed and many things happened along that direction. But what is even relevant is the Buhari administration.

I worked so hard. I’m sure you remember we brought almost two million votes. But we were not recognised. We put our lives even on the line that time. But unfortunately, we could not see any benefit, either as individuals or the constituencies that we represented. Of course, thereafter, we have this administration again.

Everybody knows there are issues. And therefore, people are determined at the grassroots level, and even at the level we are operating now, that there should be some level of changes. And that is why I’m sure the Nigerians, since we decided to join NDC, have decided to come and join us. And you can see what is happening almost everywhere in this country, and even beyond.

Are we looking at an Obi/KwanKwaso ticket?

Well, that is how it should be. But like I told you, we are loyal party members. The party is supreme. When we took the decision to do this zoning, we all accepted, and we are working on it. Now, the likely chances are what you exactly said, and I’m sure Nigerians will be happy about it.

How difficult was it in convincing your supporters in the North to accept the idea of another southern presidential candidate so soon after the emergence of Bola Tinubu that you would then support?

The issue now is that each and every individual in this country has one issue or the other to demand for change, ranging from the economy to the issue of insecurity, especially in this part of the country, to the issues that we have seen with infrastructural developments, especially in this part of the country, and so on and so forth.

And that is why you see that so many people are not even thinking of, he has to be from my religion, he has to be from my part of the country, he has to be tall, he has to be short, because people are looking for vibrant people who are strong enough to do the job, especially based on recent experiences.

So, nobody is waiting for anybody to tell him what to do, because everybody has a reason to say yes. We are yearning for change, and positive change for that matter. And I believe the names you mentioned and the party itself represents that change people are talking about.

That is why within a couple of weeks that we joined this party, you find so many people across the country who are pushing, who are coming around, who are registering with NDC, and you always add them at the same time to register with INEC, because it is only when you register with INEC that you can be in a position to bring in effective and positive change.

I am sure you know that critics are already saying that this arrangement that you have in the NDC risks alienating parts of the North politically. Are you not worried that the opposition in general and the NDC in particular may unintentionally weaken itself in key northern states?

Whatever we do, people will bring in some arguments for and against. And that is part of democracy. For us, we stand by the fact that we need a very committed, and of course, effective leadership. That is exactly what this country needs now. For me, it’s not a matter of North or South or any other differences. Yes, people who are on the other side or who are in the other parties will go and tell their own stories but I’m happy we have enough time for everybody to go and tell their own stories.

And probably that is why I’m even here, to convince the people, especially the young men and women and other nationalists, that yes, there is a need to have a credible leadership that will come to stop all these evils that are happening, especially the issue of insecurity in northern Nigeria, and even in the South. There are also issues of infrastructure as well as education. That’s the area that I’m very much interested in. But I can tell you that as a former Minister of Defence, I am shocked and surprised by what is happening.

I can tell you that our soldiers in all parts of this country are people who are well-trained, locally and internationally and they are determined to do the right thing. But in my opinion, what is lacking is the political will. And both of us, my humble self and Obi, have agreed to tackle that issue head-on to ensure that there is peace and stability in this country.

If Obi eventually becomes the NDC candidate, your role would be that of his running mate…

If the party decides that I should be the running mate of any candidate from the South under these circumstances, I will be happy to work together with him.

And you believe that you and Obi are the men to revive Nigeria’s economy, reduce poverty and corruption, lift living standards, put Nigeria on the right path of rectitude. Do you have that much faith in Mr. Obi, the man you just three years ago running against in the 2023 presidential election?

What you said is correct. Personally, I cannot remember any better combination, no matter how much time you are given to find those who can beat us in terms of doing the right thing for this country.

Nigerians have seen alliances collapse because powerful politicians agreed publicly but competed privately. Can you categorically say that there is no hidden struggle for control, not necessarily you and Obi, but between your camp and his camp?

Well, I can tell you from my experience as a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives that I had an opportunity to work with the speaker, and we worked very well. I was in Kano for eight years. Despite the difficulty of my then deputy governor, we were able to work for eight years amicably to the extent that I handed over to him. And, of course, in the Senate and other places, we worked amicably with people.

You see, the problem people are having, especially leaders, is that they are too greedy to the extent that they begin to have issues. But from what I have seen at the federal and state levels, where I had the opportunity to work, there is so much to do. You don’t have to fight. That’s why you have ministers and so many advisers.

So, I don’t see from my experiences of the past why a deputy governor or a vice president should fight with a governor or president. So, I am positive that we will have a very good working relationship. And I can tell you that you can see it even from the past. During the First Republic, the political leadership from the North worked closely with the people from the South-East during the NCNC and NPC days.

It was the same scenario in the Second Republic immediately after the war. Of course, we were younger people at that time, but as a student leader, I had an opportunity to be part of the national movement, which at the end of the day, culminated into NPN and our own portion of PRP. Our leaders, Shehu Shagari and others worked very closely with Alex Ekwueme as his vice president. I think there was a change during the Third Republic, when I was deputy speaker, House of Representatives, where for many obvious reasons there was an election that was annulled.

After that, the government under the military at that time decided to bring in Ernest Shonekan from the South-West, maybe, because of the cancellation of that election. And even after that, the military and other leaders worked together and brought in Chief Olusegun Obasanjo also from the South-West. Even Bola Tinubu, who is there now, probably is a beneficiary of all that.

So, the point I want to make is that right from the beginning, this sort of alliance has been in existence for whatever reason. But now, we are going back to what Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa did during his time, and in the Second Republic, what Shehu Shagari and co did with the leadership of the SouthEast. So, they are our friends and we want to work together with them.

So, for me, it wasn’t just about going to the South-East just because of the South-East. I looked around together with our leadership in the North to see who we think is capable, who can come and work together with us, so that we can move this country forward, along the line we realised that Obi is at the forefront of it. That’s why we all accepted to work together.

Both of you command two of the most passionate political movements in Nigeria, Kwankwasiya and the Obidient Movement. How difficult has it been managing those two and getting them to come together to achieve a common end?

You see, even before we say a word, they are all working together. And of course, they created what they call OK. Before we were told of the zoning by the party, some from the Obidients will say OK and some from Kwankwasiya will say KO, but at the end of the day, they are working not only in this country, but all over the world.

So, I don’t think we have any problem with that and I can assure you that our group is so disciplined. Our group is such that we can’t hear any serious negative issues from their side.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar seems to think that your command of votes in the Kano area had been split. In other words, he was trying to suggest that you had a very limited scope in terms of the kind of votes that you can bring and that even within your natural territory, which is Kano, the votes are now split because you split with your protégé who is the current governor of the state. What is your reaction to that?

I have no issue with that and I think we have past that level now. We are in NDC and for now I know they are in ADC. I wish them well. Let’s wait for the election and see whether our votes are split in Kano or not. I think even Obi himself decided to leave ADC not because we are fighting with Atiku or anybody there.We decided to leave that party because we realised that there are some issues.

As it stands now, they have three major issues, which we believe from our own side, are very difficult to resolve and field candidates. Now, people have to be flexible. This is our time. And whatever advantages and disadvantages on ground, you have to look at them. So mainly, we decided to leave the party because of those issues. Whether they will be able to field candidates or not is just a matter of time.

It will come and pass. So, it’s not like we had the primary election. This was the first time we had stayed to have a primary election with our leader, Atiku. I remember that in 2015, we had a primary in Lagos. Buhari was number one, I was number two, he was number three, Rochas Okorocha was number four and Sam Nda-Isaiah was number five.

There was a primary election again in 2019 in Port Harcourt, he won the election. I was his coordinator for the North. We worked for him. Politics is just like a game, I’m not fighting anybody and I’m not expecting anybody to fight me. But the fact remains, as you rightly pointed out, so many things have changed in this country. We have leaders; many of them don’t even realise what is happening on social media.

We have leaders who hardly have any contact with the young men and women. People of their age, my age, or especially the age of Atiku, are very few in this country compared with the younger people. The younger people have their own way of thinking. Even our children will be surprised. Even in the 2023 election, in my own house, my own daughter was telling me to go and work with Obi. She didn’t say she was Obidient, but she wanted me to work together with him.

Now and vice versa, you’ll be surprised, even in your house or anybody’s house in the South, there may be Kwankwasiya people there and you wouldn’t know. Maybe, your security man is Kwankwasiya. Maybe, your houseboy that cooks for you is a Kwankwasiya. Unless he knows you are interested, he will not tell you because he doesn’t want to offend you.

So, you see there is a lot happening in this country, but people at that level we are talking about don’t even understand. People are talking about religion. People are talking about ethnicity. People are talking, especially those of other levels at our ages. But the younger people are looking for the right leadership for this country, and I think they are absolutely right.

APC supporters argue that while the opposition keeps reorganizing itself endlessly, the ruling party is consolidating power quietly and strategically. I mean they control 31 governorships across this country; they have 600 or more local governments in their back pocket. What is your reaction to that?

The election of 2027 is going to be unique. The election will be between Nigerians, and I don’t know whether to call them the leaders or the oppressors or whatever. That is what is going to happen. It is not going to be between this party and that party.

I can tell you for free that our governors, most of them, I wouldn’t say all, have made so many mistakes politically, to the extent that most of them are not with the people, and that is why people are yearning for change. I can tell you that as it stands today, all the governors, whatever number they are, are relying on Tinubu to win the election.

And Tinubu himself is also relying on the governors. The question is which governors? Where are the governors now with due respect? They made so many mistakes. You see, if you are a president, if you are a governor, try and look for credible people, people who relate with their constituencies.