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By Luminous Jannamike, Abuja
THE presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has said that next month’s presidential polls will be credible if President Muhammadu Buhari decides to honour his word of bequeathing a legacy of a free election to the nation.
The NNPP candidate, who spoke at Chatham House in London on Wednesday, explained that credible elections required the contributions of different stakeholders, especially the president.
According to him, if the president wants a fair election in February, it will happen.
“I want to appeal to the Nigerian president to leave a legacy of free elections, as a serial victim of electoral fraud, and as the first beneficiary of free and fair elections in Nigeria.
“My 30 years in elections have taught me that free and fair elections require the contributions of different stakeholders, especially the president, if the president wants a fair election, it will happen,” he added.
Kwankwaso blamed the terror rocking the North West and North East as caused by the struggle over mineral resources.
He said, “The fighting in the North West and even the North East is mainly because of mineral resources, people are stealing it from Nigeria and outside Nigeria, including gold and other resources.
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“That has got to stop. All these assets must be taken over by the government and be utilised for all of us.”
On economy and governance, the former Kano governor stated that Nigeria required a reward system and a punishment system to grow the country’s wealth.
According to him, “In Kano when I was governor, nobody would go out to tax one naira. For eight years when I was in power, we did not borrow one kobo, all that I did in Kano was from state resources, that’s why some people then will be asking how we’re getting the money.
“Don’t forget, right now as we’re sitting here, instead of 2.2 million barrels of oil, we (Nigeria) are producing just around 1 million to 1.2 million barrels, the remaining 1 million is being stolen by some people. Where are the people? Who are the people? That’s why we need to stop them.
“We can point fingers at all sorts of factors allegedly responsible for our situation, from coronavirus to global economic recession, from western powers to international capital, etc.
“But for me, we are where we are because of the mistakes and the wrong choices made by the very people entrusted with the business of governing Nigeria in the last 24 years.”
He also gave insight into why the much-talked-about merger with Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, fell flat on its face.
“On Labour Party, I was initially interested in working with them. But at that time, they were at peak of the media hype and we couldn’t reach a compromise. Our party (NNPP) is a national party, and we’re commanding the support of the masses.
“If you have a party which is based on ethnicity and religion, that is the difference between the Labour party and our party, which is a national party, New Nigeria Peoples Party,” he said.
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