“Again, in 2007, Kwankwaso was appointed by the then President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as a member of the governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to represent the interest of the North-west geo-political zone. So, Kwankwaso is a dyed-in-the-wood political conservative that had enjoyed political patronage of the PDP now masquerading as a progressive after he joined the APC early this year.
“A President Kwankwaso would surely turn a blind eye to the controversial investment of a whopping $16 billion towards the resuscitation of the comatose power sector by president Obasanjo in 2005-2007 that went awry because of graft and corruption. [eap_ad_2] “In the 2003 general election, Kwankwaso lost his re-election bid when he was trounced by Malam Ibrahim Shekarau of the defunct ANPP.
“Political pundits are of the view that Kwankwaso lost to an obscure Shekarau in 2003 because of the enormous and tremendous political goodwill and support Buhari enjoys in Kano State.
Buhari has consistently won presidential elections overwhelmingly in Kano State. In the 2011 he scoreed 2, 193, 206 votes (82.04 per cent). Buhari won Kano State in 2003 and 2007 general elections with wide margins.
“It is widely believed that in the 2011 election Kwankwaso won the governorship race in the state because he cleverly urged the people of Kano State to vote for Buhari in the presidential election.
“Undoubtedly, Kwankwaso does not have the infectious followership Buhari commands in the North. So, his support base in the North is suspect and if he is picked as the presidential candidate of the APC, President Jonathan with a huge war chest of funds obtained from ‘business people’ and individuals that enjoy the patronage of the federal government coupled with the support of the police, security service and the army would make a mince meat of him.”
The associate of Buhari, one of the leaders of the APC offered an advice saying, “In the light of the above, the likes of Atiku and Kwankwaso should humbly step down for Buhari (who with Bola Tinubu are the grand masters of opposition politics in Nigeria today) in the forthcoming presidential primary election of the APC. Kwankwaso and Atiku are younger than Buhari. Let them wait until 2019 when Buhari would have bowed out of politics after cleaning and rejuvenating the country for a younger person.”
Obono-Obla had last week declared that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, is not qualified to contest the presidential election in 2015 on the platform of the party.[eap_ad_3]
